"Mark Phillips - The Queen's own FBI Trilogy - Brain Twister, The Impossibles, Supermind" - читать интересную книгу автора (Phillips Mark)

 "I won't get dressed, then,тАЭ Malone said. тАЬWhatever you say."

"Just do something!тАЭ Burris told him desperately. тАЬYour country needs you. Pyjamas and all. Malone, it's
a crisis!"

Conversations with Burris, Malone told himself, were bound to be a little confusing. тАЬI'll be right down,тАЭ
he said.

"Fine,тАЭ Burris said, and hesitated. Then he added: тАЬMalone, do you wear the tops or the bottoms?"

"The what?"

"Of your pyjamas,тАЭ Burris explained hurriedly. тАЬThe top part or the bottom part?"

"Oh,тАЭ Malone said. тАЬAs a matter of fact, I wear both."

"Good,тАЭ Burris said with satisfaction. тАЬI wouldn't want an agent of mine arrested for indecent exposure.тАЭ
He rang off.

Malone blinked at the intercom for a minute, shut it off and then, ignoring the trip-hammers in his skull
and the Eagle Scouts on his nerves, began to get dressed. Somehow, in spite of BurrisтАЩ feelings of crisis,
he couldn't see himself tying to flag a taxi on the streets of Washington in his pyjamas. Anyhow, not while
he was awake. I dreamed I was an FBI agent, he thought sadly, in my drafty BVDs.

Besides, it was probably nothing important. These things, he told himself severely, have a way of
evaporating as soon as a clear, cold intelligence got hold of them.

Then he began wondering where in hell he was going to find a clear, cold intelligence. Or even, for that
matter, what one was.


CHAPTER 1

"They could be anywhere,тАЭ Burris said, with an expression which bordered on exasperated horror. тАЬThey
could be all around us. Heaven only knows."

He pushed his chair back from his desk and stood up, a chunky little man with bright blue eyes and large
hands. He paced to the window and looked out at Washington, and then he came back to the desk. A
persistent office rumor held that he had become head of the FBI purely because he happened to have an
initial J in his name, but in his case the J stood for Jeremiah. And, at the moment, his tone expressed all
the hopelessness of that Old Testament prophet's lamentations.

"We're helpless,тАЭ he said, looking at the young man with the crisp brown hair who was sitting across the
desk. тАЬThat's what it is, we're helpless."

Kenneth Malone tried to look dependable. тАЬJust tell me what to do,тАЭ he said.

"You're a good agent, Kenneth,тАЭ Burris said. тАЬYou're one of the best. That's why you've been picked
for this job. And I want to say that I picked you personally. Believe me, there's never been anything like
it before."