"E. E. Doc Smith - D' Alembert 3 - The Clockwork Traitor" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

off handsomely. It was a brooch that had been stolen two nights ago-gold set
with
several small diamonds in the center of a triangle of enormous emeralds. It
was an
expensive piece, but totally useless in its present form because it was an
original and
easily identifiable. He had paid the thief only two thousand rubles for it,
which was less
than half the value of the stones and the gold by themselves.

But when he was finished practicing his art, the piece could easily be worth
five times
what he had paid for it. Using ultra miniature equipment, he could alter some
of the
crystal striations in the stones so that even under radiometric tests they
would not
appear to be the stolen ones. The gold he would melt down and re-form into an
entirely
new structure, so beautiful it would command a fine price and so different
that he could
even sell it to its original owner without fear that it would be recognized.

This was Winsted's trade, and he was a master at it. So intense was his
concentration
upon the brooch that it took him several seconds to realize that someone was
knocking
on the door of his rented studio. Concealment was second nature to him; he
slipped the
brooch into a secret pocket of his vest and walked cautiously to the door.
"Who's
there?"

"Police, Gospodin Winsted. Open up at once."

Rawl Winsted knew a moment of blind panic. There was enough evidence in this
room
alone to send him to prison for twenty years. He fought at the mist that
beclouded his
mind, and then remembered that he had arranged a back exit to this room
specifically
against the possibility of being discovered. Without saying another word, he
moved
toward the concealing door that led to the crawlspace that in turn led to the
roof, where
his personal copter was waiting.

My mind is working slowly today, he thought as he crawled through the hatchway
and
pulled the door shut behind him. Must be the aftereffects of the hypnotic
block. But I'd