"E. E. Doc Smith - D'Alembert 10 - Revolt of the Galaxy" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

success.
She returned to her room and tried to get involved with the programs on the trivision and
sensable, but she simply couldn't concentrate. She'd pinned so many of her hopes on locating Pias
quickly, and now she was feeling lost and helpless on a strange world, without friends or family
to give her the support and encouragement she needed to carry on. She stared listlessly at the
images in the trivision cabinet, then switched it off in frustration. Donning the nightgown she'd
brought with her, she went to bed and, after tossing and turning for over an hour, finally fell
asleep.
If she hadn't been so nervous, her story might have ended there. But, edgy as she was, she awoke
in the middle of the night to the strong feeling of danger and the certain knowledge that
something was horribly wrong. Her heart fluttered in an irregular rhythm as she tried to bring her
mind fully awake so she could focus on the problem.
The room was almost pitch black; the heavy curtains cut out all but a fraction of the street
lights outside the hotel. There was no smell of smoke, so it wasn't the threat of a fire that had
awakened her. She strained her eyes against the darkness and, at the same time, held her breath so
she wouldn't miss the slightest sound that might alert her to the trouble.
There it was, a faint scratching noise at the door. Someone was working quietly on the lock,
trying to break into her room. With that realization came the certain knowledge that this was not
some ordinary hotel sneak thief. This could only be someone hired by her brother Tas to bring her
back to Newforest before she could talk to Pias - or to kill her.
Her first impulse was to grab the com unit beside the bed and call hotel security, but then she
heard the faint click of the lock opening. She could be very, very dead before security managed to
send someone up here.
She reached under her pillow and grabbed the hilt of her knife, kept there for just such
emergencies. Then, pushing the bedcovers aside, she slid silently across the room to take up a
position behind the opening door. The intruder was moving slowly and carefully, trying not to make
any sound that would alarm his victim.
This gave Beti time to brace herself for the action that was to come.
The few seconds that she stood there in the dark stretched out immeasurably, and her heart was
pounding so violently in her chest she was sure it would alert the intruder to her presence. Her
hand trembled slightly. She held the knife point upward as she'd been trained to do, and was
grateful that it was considered necessary for everyone in the Gypsy culture of Newforest to learn
how to fight with a knife, even female members of the nobility.
As the door opened slowly, a ribbon of light streamed in from the hall outside. At first Beti
could see nothing from her position, but she heard the unmistakable hum of a stun-gun and supposed
her would-be attacker had fired at the tangle of covers on the bed, thinking she was asleep there.
Then, perhaps feeling a little more confident, the intruder opened the door wider and stepped in
side the room.
Beti forced herself to wait until she had a clear view of him before she acted. Then, taking two
quick steps for ward, she brought her knife up hard under the man's ribs. For all her practice at
knife fighting, this was the first time she had actually stabbed anyone, and it was a jolt to feel
the impact of her knife digging through living flesh. She had no time, though, to be shocked by
what she'd done. Her only thought was to kill, or at least incapacitate, this man who'd meant to
do her harm.
The man gave a gasp of surprise and pain as the blow hit, and turned awkwardly to look at his
assailant. He tried to shift position and shoot her but the shock of the stab wound was too much.


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