"Kristine Smith - Kilian 1 - Code Of Conduct" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith Kristine)

Jani checked her timepiece. Shuttles to the NorthPort docks departed every half
hour, but with the slowdown, there was no guarantee they'd follow their normal
schedule. She sat on the narrow bed,
bomb in hand. If this all turned out to be nothing, there would be hell to pay. Naxin
lingered like bad memoriesтАФthe station would require a thorough decontamination.
Expensive decontamination. In
other words, kiss this job good-bye.

But who knew? Maybe the desk clerk's friend with the Registry job would come to
her aid. Jani
smiled sadly. Who could guess the offer of a Registry job would hold enough
attraction to make her
drop her carefully maintained guard?

Someone who knew her well.
And who knows you that well, Captain Kilian?

She broke the seal on the protein bomb, set it on the mattress, and hurried toward
the door. Within seconds, the device's outer housing would split, releasing a steady
yellow stream of digestive mist.

Just as the door swept open, the station's proximity alarm activated. "Skimmer
approaching from north-northwest," the tinny voice entoned. "Speed sixty-five
kilometers per hour. Single occupant. Estimated time of arrival two minutes."

Jani looked back at the bed. The protein bomb emitted a sound like cracking ice,
releasing the first puffs of corrosive fog. Too late to hurl it out the door. A few good
pulls of Naxin would turn her lungs to soup.

She let the station's inner door close behind her, backed against the narrow entryway
wall, and forced
the outer door to remain closed by pushing with her left foot against its raised metal
frame. Then she reached up and shattered the casing of the overhead light with the
grip of her shooter, plunging the small space into darkness. In the meantime, the
barest whiff of Naxin had worked its way through the gaps in the inner door seal.
Jani closed her eyes against the stinging mist and stifled a cough.

The alarm spoke again. "Approach is made."

She activated her shooter. After her visitor made a few attempts to force the door,
she'd pull her foot away. Allow the door to open. Then wait for that first tentative
step forward into the dark.

Oblique line of fireтАФaim for the head.

Jani heard the crunch of footsteps, a plastic click as someone inserted a card into the
reader, silence
as the jammed door forced the reader to deny access. Again, the click of the card.
Once more, nothing.