"Charles Stross - A Colder War" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stross Charles)

turns on the spot, paces back to the far side of his desk. "You understand
the fundamentals. I like that. A few more guys like you running the
company and we wouldn't have this fuckup in Tehran.'' He grins,
contagiously. The colonel is a firestorm of enthusiasm, burning out of
control like a forties comic-book hero. He has Roger on the edge of his
chair, almost sitting at attention. Roger has to bite his tongue to remind
himself not to call the colonel 'sir' -- he's a civilian, not in the chain of
command. "That's why I've asked Deputy Director McMurdo to reassign
you to this office, to work on my team as company liaison. And I'm
pleased to say that he's agreed.''

Roger can't stop himself: "To work here, sir?'' Here is in the basement of
the Executive Office Building, an extension hanging off the White House.
Whoever the colonel is he's got pull, in positively magical quantities.
"What will I be doing, sir? You said, your team --''

"Relax a bit. Drink your coffee.'' The colonel paces back behind his desk,
sits down. Roger sips cautiously at the brown sludge in the mug with the
Marine Corps crest. "The president told me to organize a team,'' says the
colonel, so casually that Roger nearly chokes on his coffee, "to handle
contingencies. October surprises. Those asshole commies down in
Nicaragua. 'We're eyeball to eyeball with an Evil Empire, Ozzie, and we
can't afford to blink' -- those were his exact words. The Evil Empire uses
dirty tricks. But nowadays we're better than they are: buncha hicks, like
some third-world dictatorship -- Upper Volta with shoggoths. My job is to
pin them down and cut them up. Don't give them a chance to whack the
shoe on the UN table, demand concessions. If they want to bluff I'll call
'em on it. If they want to go toe-to-toe I'll dance with 'em.'' He's up and
pacing again. "The company used to do that, and do it okay, back in the
fifties and sixties. But too many bleeding hearts -- it makes me sick. If
you guys went back to wet ops today you'd have journalists following you
every time you went to the john in case it was newsworthy.

"Well, we aren't going to do it that way this time. It's a small team and the
buck stops here.'' The colonel pauses, then glances at the ceiling. "Well,
maybe up there. But you get the picture. I need someone who knows the
company, an insider who has clearance up the wazoo who can go in and


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A Colder War - a novelette by Charles Stross

get the dope before it goes through a fucking committee of ass-watching
bureaucrats. I'm also getting someone from the Puzzle Palace, and some
words to give me pull with Big Black.'' He glances at Roger sharply, and
Roger nods: he's cleared for National Security Agency -- Puzzle Palace --
intelligence, and knows about Big Black, the National Reconnaissance
Office, which is so secret that even its existence is still classified.

Roger is impressed by this colonel, despite his better judgement. Within