"Kate Wilhelm - Baby, You Were Great" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wilhelm Kate)

as if he could taste the hatred he felt, and the taste was unfamiliar and pleasant.

Herb stopped pacing and stared at him for a moment. "Why'd she call you? Why does she want you
down, too? She knows you're not mixed up with this end of it."

"She knows I'm a full partner, anyway," John said.

"Yeah, but that's not it." Herb's face twisted in a grin. "She thinks you're still hot for her, doesn't she?
She knows you tumbled once, in the beginning, when you were working on her, getting the gimmick
working right." The grin reflected no humor then. "Is she right, Johnny, baby? Is that it?"

"We made a deal," John said coldly. "You run your end, I run mine. She wants me along because she
doesn't trust you, or believe anything you tell her any more. She wants a witness."

"Yeah, Johnny. But you be sure you remember our agreement." Suddenly Herb laughed. "You know
what it was like, Johnny, seeing you and her? Like a flame trying to snuggle up to an icicle."

At three-thirty they were in Anne's suite in the Skyline Hotel in Grand Bahama. Herb had a reservation
to fly back to New York on the six P.M. flight. Anne would not be off until four, so they made
themselves comfortable in her rooms and waited. Herb turned her screen on, offered a helmet to John,
who shook his head, and they both seated themselves. John watched the screen for several minutes; then
he too put on a helmet.

Anne was looking at the waves far out at sea where they were long, green, undulating; then she brought
her gaze in closer, to the blue-green and quick seas, and finally in to where they stumbled on the sand
bars, breaking into foam that looked solid enough to walk on. She was peaceful, swaying with the
motion of the boat, the sun hot on her back, the fishing rod heavy in her hands. It was like being an
indolent animal at peace with the world, at home in the world, being one with it. After a few seconds she
put down the rod and turned, looking at a tall smiling man in swimming trunks. He held out his hand and
she took it. They entered the cabin of the boat, where drinks were waiting. Her mood of serenity and
happiness ended abruptly, to be replaced by shocked disbelief and a start of fear.

"What the hell тАж ?" John muttered, adjusting the audio. You seldom needed audio when Anne was on.

"тАж Captain Brothers had to let them go. After all, they've done nothing yet тАж" the man was saying
soberly.

"But why do you think they'll try to rob me?"

"Who else is here with a million dollars' worth of jewels?"



file:///J|/sci-fi/Nieuwe%20map/Kate%20Wilhelm%20-%20Baby,%20You%20Were%20Great.Txt (4 of 11)17-2-2006 2:47:11
 file:///J|/sci-fi/Nieuwe%20map/Kate%20Wilhelm%20-%20Baby,%20You%20Were%20Great.Txt

John turned it off and said to Herb, "You're a fool! You can't get away with something like that!"

Herb stood up and crossed the room to stand before a window wall that was open to the stretch of
glistening blue ocean beyond the brilliant white beaches. "You know what every woman wants? To own