"Smith, Kristine - [Kilian 2] - Rules of Conflict" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith Kristine)

government know I'm alive, all they have to do is follow the trail. I'm a goddamn walking disaster siren!"
"Jani, weЧ" Val's voice cracked. "Do you hate us that much?"
"Do you really want me to answer that?"
"No." He sniffed. Cleared his throat. "You need more in-depth assessment than I can give you here. Come back with me to Seattle. You and I always got along, and Eamon isn't around much these days." He hesitated. "And whatever you think of John, he would like very much to see you."
Bits of memory flitted through Jani's mind. Some were more vivid than others. "Does he still play the violin?"
"Yes." Val's voice lifted hopefully. "You'd enjoy listening to him nowЧhe's gotten rather good."
"Just the three of us basking in one another's company and listening to John fiddle. That sounds familiar." Jani looked out the tableside window. Fifty floors below, early-evening skimmer traffic crammed Felix Majora's main thoroughfare. Above the nearby mountains, barely visible through an artificial forest of scancrete and glass, the setting sun glowed like a weld spot. "You and John live in a dream world. Eamon would know better. He wouldn't be able to shove me out the door fast enough." A cramp shot through her abdomen. She tore open a packet of crackers and forced them down.
"Jan, we can keep you safe. No one will even suspect you're Earthside."
"Really? Is Neoclona a sovereign state? I read the news-sheets, Val. I watch the 'Vee. Funny the stories that keep cropping up. Rehashes about how human-idomeni relations took a dive after Knevcet Sheraa. Garbled rumor about the death of Rikart Neumann. Portraits of Evan as the emotionally battered son and lover. Can't you see what's happening? His attorneys are scrambling for a defense, and I'm it."
"Jani, he gave the order to have your transport blown out of the sky to cover up his involvement in Knevcet Sheraa. Nobody's that good a scrambler."
"Oh yeah? Has he been formally charged?"
"John knows he's guilty. He told meЧ"
16 Kristine Smith
"Has Evan been formally charged?" Jani nodded as the uncertainty flickered in Val's eyes. "The term is plea bargain. He's telling the Service all about me. I won't even need a trialЧthey'd just shoot me at O'Hare."
"We have influence."
"Val, I killed Neumann. My commanding officer. The first N in NUVA-SCAN. The Families are closing rank." She stood and headed for the door. "Your influence and a vend token." She took one step. Two. Before she could take a third, popping sensations worked across both soles, followed by stinging wetness, then raw agony as though she skated over metal blades.
Jani didn't feel herself fall; she only knew she was on the floor. As pain radiated up her legs and she gasped for breath, she felt a hand close over her shoulder.
"You're not running out on us, Jan," Val said gently. "Not this time. And when you finally do go somewhere, it's going to be with me."
In the end, they compromised.
"I don't like this one damn bit." Val snaked the Neoclona staff skimmer down one of Felix Majora's less-traveled side streets. The sleek, silver two-seater didn't meet Jani's standards as a getaway vehicle. It drew the eye like a stone skipping over water. Pedestrians stopped to stare as it passed.
At least it wasn't purple.
"You have to keep your date with Hugh," she said. "He can tell you what they're saying about us in the staff room."
Val checked a street sign, compared it to the name on his directional screen, and frowned. "He's not like that. No matter his feelings, he's always kept his own counsel."
"Oh, I'm sure you can work around his better judgment. Use your legendary powers of persuasion." Jani watched out her window as large commercial buildings gave way to the smaller residential structures of the city's mountain side. It took her some time to realize Val hadn't spoken; she turned to find him eyeing her with ill-concealed discomfort.
"I don't like playing the tart while you're running loose doing God knows what."
RULES OF CONFLICT 17
"Staying put in my apartment. Packing."
"Packing. Right." Val pointed to the directional's touch-pad. "I like Hugh. The idea of working him repulses me."
"Considering your performance this afternoon, I find that difficult to believe."
"That was/лл!" Val sighed. "Would've been fun. This is different. There's too much at stake, and I don't know what the hell I'm doing."
"Just find out what they're saying about us. If Hugh asks about me, bring up the massive clinical study you're planning. Tell him you want to base it in a colonial facility for a change. Mention it will need a director. Throw in that famous smile, and you'll be in like a greased weasel." Val shifted uneasily, and Jani forced a grin. "Look, if it's any consolation, I've done the tart thing once or twice. If / can do it, you're a lock."
Val stopped at an intersection and glanced at the directional. "You say left, it says right."
"Take a left."
He shrugged and turned left. "Sometimes, at the end of the day, when we've worked to the point of exhaustion and all our internal safeguards have burnt out, John and I will uncork a bottle of wine and talk. About you. Where you could be living, what you could be doing. John does most of the talking." He glanced at Jani sidelong. "I don't think I'll repeat this conversation to him anytime soon."
They turned another corner. The sudden brightness of the streetlights hit Jani full in the face. She closed her eyes against the battering glare; they watered anyway. "Fuck you," she said. "Stop here. I'm getting out."
"What!" Val jerked the wheel in surprise, sending the skimmer over the curb boundary and up onto the sidewalk. The vehicle's proximity alarms blatted as he tried to regain control from the autonav, which fought to turn the skimmer in the opposite direction. By the time he maneuvered into an idling slot near a small playground, residents from nearby buildings had gathered in windows and doorways to watch. Scattered applause sounded as the vehicle shuddered to a stop.
18 Kristine Smith
Jani watched a woman across the street point at the skimmer and laugh. "You have a future in this business, I can tell."
"Oh, bullshit!" Val glared at their surroundings. Much of the playground equipment had been dismantled, lighting was intermittent at best, and several less-polished-looking skimmers had already veered by for a look at the spiff new visitor. "I'll be damned if I'm letting you out hereЧthis place is a dump!" He pointed to the directional touchpad. "I don't know why you told me to bring you here, anywayЧ-the address code on Shane Averill's MedRec saysЧ"
Jani popped open her door, but Val dragged her back inside the skimmer before she could flee. His grip on her an-imandroid upper arm made her gaspЧhe knew just where to grab and how hard to squeeze. "Shane Averill was a one-shot, wasn't it? Something you patched together to get through the visit to Neoclona? You don't work at Felix Cruiseways, and you don't live at the address in your file!" He struggled to pull the door closed with his free hand. "We're supposed to meet tomorrow morning at your apartment, Jani. Now how the hell are we supposed to do that when I don't know where you live!"
Jani tried to wedge her right leg through the shrinking gap between door and seal. "I'll meet you at your hotel."
"You said you didn't want to go back there anymore. You said it was too risky." Val swore as Jani wriggled halfway out of the skimmer. He tried to drag her back into the cabin without releasing his grip on the door pull, but before he could set himself, the gullwing flew upward, pulling him headlong across Jani's lap before finally wrenching free.
Hot, dry night spilled into the cabin.
"Hey, Undo, que pal" A wiry Feliciano, bare to the waist and sporting a half-shaved head, stood in the gaping entry. He leaned forward while still holding on to the door pull; the stretched pose accentuated his thin waist and bony chest. "What's wrong, pretty man with the pretty skim, you don't get your money's worth?" He leered at Jani. "Hard girl like this don't earn her pay?" He rapped the door sharply, and shapes moved into the range of the skimmer headlights. Four
RULES OF CONFLICT 19
of them. "Maybe we give you both your money's worth."
Jani eased her other knee from beneath Val's body. "When I bolt, you floor it and go."
"Oh shit, Jan, don'tЧ"
Jani kicked out. Before she'd left Val's hotel room, she'd supplemented her booties with three pairs of his socks and a pair of his hiking boots. Her padded and armored feet connected perfectly with Shaved-head's solar plexus; he dropped to the ground. She scrambled out of the cabin and over his gasping form, pounding off in the direction opposite his cohorts before any of them could react. After a few strides, she heard the gratifying whine of an accelerating skimmer, followed by the much-less-welcome sound of pursuing footsteps. She tried to pick up her pace, but her feet burned as though she ran through flame. Her chest ached. Her legs turned to cement.
Behind her, the pounding grew louder.