"E. E. Doc Smith - D' Alembert 5 -Appointment at Bloodstar" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

make the entire structure of nobility insecure. Revolts had been organized on weaker
grounds than that.

"So we're stuck with these new people. Any evidence that they're traitors?"

"None at present. But they're the sort of people who could easily be persuaded to fall in
with the wrong company."

"You suspect, then, that some conspiracy has gotten tired of waiting for the older
nobles to die off and has taken advantage of the Princess's wedding to give them a little
help?"

"Precisely. For all I know, Lady A herself might be involved."

"Speaking of her, I can't say I've found anything dramatic on my research assignment,
but I did come across one item of interest." He told the Head about the picture taken at
the engagement announcement where Lady A had unmistakably been present.

Zander von Wilmenhorst listened with great attention to the report. When Jules had
concluded, the Head was silent for a moment, then nodded. "Yes, that seems to fit. I'm
more inclined now than ever to believe she's mixed up in this business. She showed an
obvious interest in the Princess's wedding, which provides us with a tentative tie-in. The
murders are the kind of long-range planning her organization seems interested in, too.
If I were a gambling man, I'd put a nice sum of money on her being at the bottom of
this."

Jules smiled slightly. What were they all in this organization if not gamblers? Every
agent and officer in SOTE had to risk his life and/or reputation on a wild hunch
sometimes. If that wasn't gambling, he didn't know what was.

The Head stood up and walked around to the front of the desk, standing in front of
Jules. He leaned back against the desk top, saying, "We've done some analyses of
likely targets, and we're putting extra guards around the names who came out on top.
There's one man, though, whom I'd put on the top of my personal list to be hit-Duke
Hanforth of Melenaria. He's an old man, a bit eccentric, but totally devoted to the Em-

pire. His son squanders money on fast women and fast living as though he had inside
information the ruble would be devalued tomorrow. No indications that he's dishonest or
disloyal, but if his debts grow too badly he'd be easy prey for some blackmailer.
Besides, I'd like to keep Hanforth alive for personal reasons; he's a longtime friend.

"I'm assigning you to guard the duke yourself, in addition to the security team I've
already assigned. You can pretend to be his valet or personal servant; Bozhe knows,
he can use someone to tidy up after him. Think you can handle that?"

"Sounds simple enough. But is he a real problem?" The Head laughed. "The Empire
should have more problems like that. You'll like him, believe me. Oh, and I've taken the
liberty of assigning you a new partner while Yvette's off on Newforest. Any objections
_to working with Yvonne Roumenier?"