"Linnea Sinclair - Gambit" - читать интересную книгу автора (Sinclair Linnea)

"I don't trust you. I'm just a small-time short hauler-"
"Who carries two illegal ion cannons and a fully loaded plasma torpedo rig? Not
normal armaments for a Class III freighter."
Evidently he'd done some nosing around while she sat in his brig. "Look. I've been
working the Colonies for over five years now. That's close enough to your territory
that I carry ion cannons, legal or not."
"Pavir jhadna, Gent'Duren." A young lieutenant stood a few feet away, at attention,
apologizing in formal Jhenian for his intrusion.
Gent'Duren. Lord Captain, Ty translated.
Jhen-Aris nodded at the lieutenant, then, to Ty, "A moment, if you will." He left her
alone with her thoughts.
So he was Lord Captain now. Climbing the political ladder as well as the military
one. And yet he wanted to bargain with a lowly freighter captain who was clearly
someplace she didn't belong.
But she was, Ty knew, exactly where she belonged. She'd discussed the plan with
Fy'ella and Sagar over a pitcher of blue ale in Port Charleston. A single person stood
a greater chance of gaining access to the T'Sri than a whole fleet coming in. Who
would suspect a lone freighter, drifting off- course, stellar drives in disarray?
Except it wasn't the T'Sri whoтАЩd found her.
"I need some answers from you." Jhen-Aris returned to the bridge railing, suddenly
all business.
She shook her head. "You're wasting your time. I'm in no position to help you with
Pajtok. Unless you intend to salvage my ship for scrap to fund the mission. Which I
doubt. So the best thing you can do is let me go."
He leaned both hands on the railing and tilted his face down to hers. "And let you
drift about in T'Sri space unprotected? Now what kind of honorable captain would
do that?" The mocking, teasing tone was back again.
"Seems to me there've been a lot of freighter captains left to drift all over occupied
space. After the Jhen have stripped тАШem bare."
He was silent. Then: "Moran, you're not cooperating."
She faced him squarely. "I have nothing to offer you."
"I could dispute that."
He said it so quietly she almost missed it.
She looked at him, startled. Not so much by his words, but by a tone she had heard
enough times before in spaceport pubs. A soft tone, suggestive. Intimate. Definitely
not all business.
"I hardly think...." But she had thought, and she let her sentence end right there. He
was standing too close, watching her too intently. And for a moment it was as if
there were no one else on the bridge but herself and Kirand Jhen-Aris. The few
inches that separated them seemed to crackle with a primal energy. She felt the heat
rise to her cheeks.
Then mercifully, he looked towards something at a far point on the bridge. The hard
edge returned to his voice. "You ask that I let you go?"
"Yes."
"Denied. I can't do that."
"Why not?"
"Don't be a fool."
She inhaled sharply. "Who am I going to tell what I've seen? My drinking buddies in
Port Charleston? Even if I did, I'm not qualified to interpret this." She motioned to
his crew at their stations and was surprised to see how steady her hand was. Inside,