"Destroyer 036 - Power Play.pdb" - читать интересную книгу автора (Williams Remo)

"Not so fast," Chiun said.
"What now?" asked Remo.
"The hotel room keys," he said. "Give them to her." He pointed to Theodosia as if he expected her to run out of the room. She smiled at Remo who shrugged.
"Anything you say, Chiun. Anything you say," said Remo wearily.


Wesley Pruiss was drinking beer from a can when they arrived back at the country club. Theodosia sent the three bodyguards outside, then snatched the can of Rheingold Extra Light away from Pruiss.
"Hey," he said.
"Hey yourself," she said. "No drinking. You know that."
"What difference does it make?"
He saw Remo and Chiun standing at the foot of his bed. He had not heard them enter the room.
"Who are these guys?"
"Your new bodyguards."
Pruiss looked at them carefully, his face seemingly undecided between a scowl and a sneer. "Bodyguards. They look just about right to guard half a man."
"You were a half a man before you got hurt, Pruiss," Remo said.
"Is that how you talk to all your employers? What are we paying these guys?" he asked Theodosia.
"Remo, leave this to me," hissed Chiun. "Not nearly as much as we usually charge for such services," he told Pruiss quickly. "But we came along just for the pleasure of protecting such an enlightened person as you." He smiled and folded his hands inside the sleeves of his flowing green evening robe.
"You did, huh?" Pruiss's voice was still wary but his face showed satisfaction at the ego-stroking.
"Yes," said Chiun. "Would you like to hear my poetry?"
"No," said Pruiss.
"Some other time," Chiun said agreeably.
"I doubt it," Pruiss said.
"Don't doubt it," Remo said. "You're going to hear so much Ung poetry that you're going to be able to recite it, Pruiss. You'll learn it by heart. In Korean. You'll be able to give us three hours on a flower opening and two more hours on a bee landing on the flower. You'll be the life of the orgy."
"Don't give away the story," Chiun told Remo.
"Get these two out of here," Pruiss told Theodosia.
"Suits me," Remo said. "The only reason we'd even take this job is so you can go ahead and do your thing with solar energy. Sure as hell not because we like you."
Pruiss waved his hand, dismissing solar energy.
Remo waved his hand back.
"The hell with solar energy," Pruiss said. "I don't care if everybody freezes to death."
Theodosia stood alongside Pruiss, looking at Remo and Chiun. She said blandly, "I don't think Wesley really feels that way. It's just the strain of everything."
"Strain, my butt. That's the way I really feel," Pruiss said.
"Swell," said Remo. "Come on, Chiun, let's go."
After they had passed the guards in the hallway, Chiun asked Remo: "Why did you say that?"
"She pulls the strings," Remo said. "Let her work on him. It's better than us arguing with him."
They walked down the broad curved staircase of the old country club and out the front door into the pleasant spring night of Indiana.
At the end of the long driveway was a small street. Across the street stood the reconstructed tenement building.
"That is where it happened?" Chiun asked.
"Yes."
"I would see it."
The moonlight streamed in through the kitchen window and illuminated the kerosene lamp on the table. Remo went to light it with a match, while Chiun went unerringly toward the other end of the railroad apartment. When Remo had the light on, he turned to see Chiun crouched down, feeling the floor.
"This is where the assassin stood," Chiun said.
"How can you tell that?"
"Because he was here waiting for Pruiss. This is the only spot in this room where the floorboards do not creak. He could have stood here in perfect silence to wait his moment."
Remo nodded.
"A knife thrown from the blackness of night," Chiun said softly, more to himself than to Remo. "This is not good."
"Why?" Remo asked.
Chiun seemed to ignore the question as he rose and stared at the floor. "The man stood here," he said, "and waited for the big-mouthed one to enter the room. Then, across a distance of twenty feet, he threw a knife that almost took the life from Pruiss. But not quite. Now, he was alone with his victim. Did he then go to him to finish his task? No."
"Maybe something scared him off," Remo said.
"No," said Chiun.
"Why not?"