"Arkady & Boris Strugatsky - Roadside Picnic" - читать интересную книгу автора (Strugatski Arkady)

He frowned and banged his pipe against the ashtray in irritation.
"That doesn't concern you," he said. "As an old friend, I'm warning you. Knock it off, knock it off for
good. If they get you a second time, you won't get off with six months. And they'll kick you out of the
institute once and for all, understand?"
"I understand," I said. "That I can understand. I just don't understand what bastard could have
squealed."
But he was looking through me again, puffing on his empty pipe and flipping through the file. That
meant that Sergeant Lummer had returned with case #150.
"Thank you, Schuhart," said Capt. Willy Herzog, also known as the Hog. "That's all I wanted cleared
up. You're free to go."
So I went to the locker room, pulled on my lab clothes and lit up. All along I kept thinking where the
rumor could have come from. It had to be all lies if it came from within the institute, because nobody
there knew anything about me and there was no way that anyone could. If it had been a report from the
policeтАФagain, what could they know there except for my old sins? Maybe they had gotten Buzzard?
That bastard, he'd drown his own grandmother to save his skin. But even Buzzard didn't know anything
about me now. I thought and thought and didn't come up with anything very pleasant. So I decided the
hell with it. The last time I had gone into the Zone at night was three months ago, and I had gotten rid of
most of the stuff and had spent almost all of the money. They hadn't caught me with the goods, and I was
too slippery for them to catch me now.
But then, just as I was heading up the stairs, I suddenly saw the light, and saw it so well that I had to
go back to the locker room, sit down, and have another cigarette. It meant that I couldn't go into the
Zone today. Nor tomorrow, nor the day after. It meant that those toads had their eye on me again, that
they hadn't forgotten me, or if they had forgotten, then somebody had reminded them. And now it no
longer mattered who had done the reminding. No stalker, unless he was completely off his rocker, would
go near the Zone even at gunpoint, not if he knew that he was being watched. I should have been
burrowing into the deepest, darkest corner at that very moment. Zone? What Zone? I hadn't been in any
Zone, even with a pass, for months! What are you harassing an honest lab worker for?
I thought the whole thing through and even felt a sense of relief that I wouldn't be going into the Zone
that day. But what would be the nicest way of informing Kirill of the fact?
I told him straight out.
"I'm not going into the Zone. What instructions do you have?"
At first, of course, he just stared at me bug-eyed. Then he seemed to understand. He led me by the
elbow into his little office, sat me down at his desk, and sat on the windowsill facing me. We lit up.
Silence. Then he asked me, careful-like:
"Has something happened, Red?"
What could I tell him?
"No," I said. "Nothing happened. Yesterday I blew twenty bills at pokerтАФthat Noonan is a great
player, the louse."
"Wait a minute," he said. "Have you changed your mind?"
I made a choking noise from the tension.
"I can't," I said to him through clenched teeth. "I can't, do you understand? Herzog just had me up in
his office."
He went limp. He got that pathetic look again and his eyes looked like they were a sick poodle's
again. He shuddered, lit a new cigarette with the butt of the old one, and spoke softly.
"You can trust me, Red. I didn't breathe a word to anyone."
"Skip it," I said. "Nobody's talking about you."
"I haven't even told Tender yet. I made out a pass in his name, but I haven't even asked him if he'll
go."
I said nothing and went on smoking. It was funny and sad. The man didn't understand a thing.
"What did Herzog say to you?"