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

"That might just be enough. Periwinkle and I have pretty important missions, too. We'll
need everyone you've got. We've got a gang of traitors trapped in their hideout, but we'll
need help prying them out." He gave the location and continued, "Can you get all your
people there within three hours?"

"If you want them, you've got them." Pulling some of his people out of their present
assignments was a big sacrifice and months of work would be lost-but assisting Wombat
and Periwinkle always took top priority. By helping them he could hope to win some good
words in the official report of their mission.

Without further word of explanation, Agent Wombat cut the circuit. Colonel Hein didn't
consider it rude; agents in the field didn't always have time for the niceties. Within a few
minutes he was arranging calls to all his own agents, giving them the rendezvous
coordinates. Once that was done, he had to arrange for weapons and transportation.
Wombat hadn't told him how large a mob he'd be facing, so he picked armament with
maximum firepower and versatility.

The last thing he did before leaving his office was to enter a record of the call in his
official daily report. This sounded like a dangerous job; if he didn't come back, there had
to be some record so Headquarters on Tellus would know what had been going on.

Arcta was a cold world, circling its red dwarf star near the outer limits of the zone of
habitability. Its north polar ice cap was a barren stretch of glacial ridges and valleys,
almost totally uninhabited. Here, in the midst of a howling gale, was the spot where
Wombat had asked to rendezvous on the top of a bluff overlooking a narrow valley
carved out by a river that was currently frozen. By the side of the frozen river was a
two-story prefab building, presumably the hideout Wombat had mentioned.

Hein and his agents were gathered on the bluff within the time allotted. It hadn't been
easy, and some of the agents had been forced to come here ill-prepared for the freezing
weather. Most of them sat in their copters with the heaters on, awaiting further
instructions. Hein looked around for some sign of the two agents who'd summoned them
all here.

A copter appeared hovering overhead and the vidicom in Hein's vehicle came to life.
"Have you got them all?" the voice of Wombat asked.

"All present and accounted for," Hein said proudly. "Good. The gang we're after is holed
up in there, as you may have guessed. There are somewhere between fifteen and
twenty of them-a bit too many for us to tackle ourselves. We want your people to go in
and get them.

Take as many alive as possible-we hope to get some good information out of them."

"What about you?" Hein asked.

"Periwinkle and I have decided it's best not to show our faces just yet. We'll hover up
here and keep the area covered in case any of them escape and get past you."