"Smith, E E Doc - d'Alembert 8 - Eclipsing Binaries" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

were supposed to gather at a remote location for an important assignment. The chief
officer on Bolshaya logged the call into his records, exactly as he was supposed to, and
assembled his people according to instructions. When we heard nothing from Bolshaya
for several days, we had agents from nearby Rellan go over to investigate. It seems our
personnel on Bolshaya were ambushed and massacred all of them. They were not
inexperienced people; the only reason they walked into the ambush without the slightest
suspicion was because the call came from Agents Wombat and Periwinkle."

Jules and Yvette exploded with indignation. "We were never anywhere near there!" Jules
exclaimed, and Yvette added, "We've been here on DesPlaines for the last six months. "

"I know all that," the Head nodded. "Let me continue. Precisely twenty-six days later, on
Blodgett, events repeated themselves. All the agents except one, who was in the hospital
recovering from surgery, were lured to a remote location and slaughtered by two people
claiming to be Wombat and Periwinkle. Then three days ago-exactly twenty-six days
after the massacre on Blodgett-the same thing happened on Arcta."

"I don't like having our names taken in vain." Anyone who knew Jules could have told
from the cold fury in his voice that someone was going to pay heavily.

"And I don't like the fact that fifty-three good, decent people were senselessly murdered
simply for serving the cause of justice," the Head told them. His anger was not as visible
as Jules's, but his voice was equally determined. "I know you're not involved in this-if you
wanted to betray the Service you could have thought of better and subtler ways. But we
cannot allow this imposture to continue. "

"I presume you want us to take care of it," Pias said. The Head paused, a rare trace of
indecision on his face. "That's what I called to discuss. I'm not completely sure that would
be the right thing to do. As I see it, this whole maneuver is a trap aimed specifically at
Jules and Yvette." "How can you tell?" Vonnie asked.

"We know the conspiracy has been tapped into our information for some time. They
know a great deal about us, but I don't think they know absolutely everything. They do
know the agents codenamed Wombat and Periwinkle are the two best we have, and that
there are standing orders for everyone in the field to give them the utmost, unquestioning
cooperation. But I don't think they know your identities, because that is not generally
known; to the best of my knowledge it's never been written down or entered in any
records. We thought this would be the safest course of action; it gave you total
anonymity to act as you felt necessary, yet it gave you access to the Service's resources
when you needed them.

"Lady A wants to destroy your effectiveness, either by handicapping your operations or
by killing you outright. Look at the choices we have open to us:

"We could do nothing at all, in which case they'd probably go on wiping out station after
station. That is unacceptable; too many people have already died because of this
subterfuge.

"Or we could put out the order that anyone identifying themselves as Wombat or
Periwinkle should be shot on sight. That would keep our agents from being duped by the