"Reed, Robert - TreasureBuried" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reed Robert)

"I need sleep," Wallace conceded. "I'm going home now."

"On Monday moming? You can't just leave us dangling!" Mekal waved a finger at
him. "Hampston and Yates hit another wall with their pigeon project. Not with
the natural genes, but it's the tailoring part. I know that's not your area, but
this is a contract job and the client's getting nervous -- "

"Tomorrow," he promised. Then he said, "I just wanted to talk first. I've got a
problem of my own, a little thing . . . but it might be important. I don't know
why, but I keep getting this feeling."

"Well, great!" Mekal meant it. "Jesus, we get bonuses because of your hunches.
Soon as you're done with the pigeons, I'll schedule you some extra time."

"I've had time. I can't figure it out."

"Really . . . ?"

"Maybe, I was wondering . . . you could try, maybe. How about it? I'll give you
the file codes, my notes, and you work on it. At your own pace. Give me a
vacation from the damned thing, okay?"

"Really?" Mekal was more surprised than suspicious. Wallace giving him work?
Trusting him with a puzzle beyond Wallace's reach? It took Mekal several seconds
to engage his ego, then he nodded and accepted the challenge. "What the hell,
sure. I'll muscle in time. Cin's got volunteer stuff tonight, she'll be out of
my way . . . yeah, I can give this bird a try."

Which he did. For several days he played with the bird's wings, looked into its
eyes, and accomplished nothing. For more than a week Wallace avoided his
associate, eavesdropping on the man's use of his files but nothing more. Wallace
had set things up to make nothing too obvious, yet he'd left enough hints to
lead in proper directions. Or had he? What seemed transparently obvious to
Wallace was baffling Mekal. Mekal wasn't stupid by any means; but sometimes,
watching the man pull and replace files, Wallace felt like bursting into his
office and shouting at him. Telling him, "It's so damned obvious. Just think
about it this way!"

"What I think," Mekal reported next week, "is that it's useless crap. It's
something persistent, sure, but that's because of structural properties. Nothing
else."

"Not true," Wallace replied without doubts. "And why's it everywhere? Can you
explain its distribution?"

"I know, I know. It looks odd, you're right. The same parts are always the same,
regardless of species. The middle stuff varies, and I can't explain why. Maybe a
dead old virus code --"

"Inside oak trees and people?"