"Steve Perry - The Man Who Never Missed" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Steven)

The soldier she was talking to was about eye-level with Dirisha and he was
obviously angry. He wasn't going to let go of his rage that easily. "Yeah?
Well, I don't think dick-nose over there can smash anything!"

Dirisha's voice got very quiet, and she smiled, her teeth bright against her
dark chocolate skin. People strained to hear her. "I wasn't talking about him
hurting you, Deuce, I'm talking about me. You can sit and smoke your smoke or
you can walk, but you can't fight in here." Her voice was even and there
wasn't a gram of bluff in it.

The soldier seemed to wilt a little.

Khadaji smiled. Dirisha could take the soldier without having to suck a deep
breath and the man was perceptive enough to pick up on it, even if he'd never
seen her in action. If he had, he would have sat as soon as she approached. He
had to get one last shot in, though.
"What about him?" He pointed at the man behind Dirisha.

She didn't bother to turn and look at the second soldier. "He's got the same
options you do, Deuce. So what say you just have a seat and work this out like
preachlegals." It was not a request.

The tension seemed to drain away suddenly. The larger man behind Dirisha sat
on his stool and reached for his mug of splash. The soldier facing Dirisha
wiped at the back of his uniform collar with one hand and nodded. "Okay. We
don't want any trouble with the Flower, we can work it out later, maybe."

Dirisha's smile broadened. "Good thinking, Deuce. Tell you what, the house
buys the next round for this table, tell the server Dirisha okays it."

She turned and walked away quickly, in Khadaji's direction. He smiled at her
and she stopped. The pub noises picked back up around them.

"Nice work."

She nodded. "For a second, it could have gone over and I would have had to
thump him. You lose points when you have to thump them."

Khadaji nodded. He understood. He had spent much of the fourteen years after
Maro studying various fighting disciplines and that had been a point in most
of them: to have to use physical technique was a failure of sorts. An expert
should be able to project enough ki so that a potential opponent would stop
hostility. A real expert could defuse almost any fight situation simply by
being there.

"Ever give any thought to your future, Dirisha?"

She shrugged. "I take it as it comes."