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

his long jaw, the line of his neck.
What I used to do to that neck.

Correction, what the girl in the ID used to do to that neck.

Evan sipped his coffee. "The reason I didn't attend the welcoming ceremony for the
ambassador,"
he said quietly, "is because the PM requested I stay away."

"That makes no sense. You knew Tsecha when we were stationed in Rauta Sheraa.
You're the only minister who can claim that. Doesn't Cao realize how valuable that
experience is?"

Evan smiled grimly. "Thanks for the vote of confidence. I'll add you to my list of
supporters. There's plenty of roomтАФ it's shrinking as we speak." He watched the
storm rage outside. "How much have
you heard out here about my wife's death?"

"We heard what we were told," Jani said. Every aspect picked over in sickening
detail. Tsecha's welcoming was the first program she had watched in the four
months since. "Lyssa died at the spa
on Chira."

"An accident?"

"With mitigating circumstances. Hints she'd been ill." Jani hesitated. "Later, there
were rumors she'd
been drinking, doping. She tried to hop the road skimmer she was driving over a
narrow gorge. Road skimmers don't hop. She lost control, flipped into a rock
formation.'' She remembered the OC-Net
cut-in, the crumpled skimmer, and the reporter running his hands over the rocks in
question with the bright-eyed wonder of someone who had never seen a person die.

"AnyтАФ" Evan's voice cracked. He pulled the thermoflask from beneath the seat and
refilled both their cups. "Any speculation that I could have been involved?"

Jani studied the side of Evan's face. Only the way his jaw muscle worked indicated
the tension he otherwise managed to hide. "No. Why would there be?"
"There have been rumors, damning enough for the Cabinet to initiate a Court of
Inquiry. That's why
Cao asked me to stay away. Because things are so touchy. Our relations with the
idomeni. Earth's relations with the colonies. Our colonies butting heads with the
idomeni colonies. Does the term 'vicious circle' mean anything to you?" Evan's hand
moved to his throat. "Cao's trying to use it like a noose around my neck. She and
her old school friend, Exterior Minister Ulan-ova. I don't agree with the way they do
business. They want me gone."

"You once told me the occasional purge is a fact of political life."

"I don't possess the edge I used to, Jan. My wife is dead. Our children died years