"Gene Wolfe - The Ziggurat" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wolfe Gene)

"I haven't heard a thing! I don't have listen to this!"
It had sounded like a shot, but had probably been no more than the noise of a large
branch breaking beneath the weight of the snow. "I've lost my train of thought," he
admitted, "but I can make my position clear in three short affirmations. First, I won't
sign that paper. Not here, not in Voylestown, and not in the city. Not anywhere. You
might as well put it away."
"This is completely unfair!"
"Second; I won't go back and haggle. That's Phil's job."
"Mister high-tech himself, roughing it in the wilderness."
Emery shook his head. "I was never the technical brains of the company, Jan.
There were half a dozen people working for me who knew more about the equipment
than I did."
"Modest, too. I hope you realize that I'm going to have something to say after
you're through."
"Third, I'm willing to try again if you are." He paused, hoping to see her glare
soften. "I realize I'm not easy to live with. Neither are you. But I'm willing to try --
hard -- if you'll let me."
"You really and truly think that you're a great lover, don't you?"
"You married a great lover the first time," he told her.
 She seethed. He watched her clench her perfect teeth and take three deep breaths
as she forced herself to speak calmly. "Emery, you say that unless I settle for what
you're willing to give we'll fight it out in open court. If we do, the public -- every
acquaintance and business contact you've got -- will hear how you molested my
girls."
Unwilling to believe what he had heard, he stared at her.
"You didn't think I'd do it, did you? You didn't think I'd expose them to that, and I
don't want to. But--"
"It's not true!"
"Your precious Phil Gluckman has questioned them, in my presence and my
attorney's. Call him up right now. Ask him what he thinks."
Emery looked at the twins; neither would meet his eyes.
"Do you want to see what a court will give me when the judge hears that? There
are a lot of women judges. Do you want to find out?"
"Yes." He spoke slowly. "Yes, Jan. I do."
"It'll ruin you!"
"I'm ruined already." He stood up. "That's what you're refusing to understand. I
think you'd better leave now. You and the twins."
She stood too, jumping to her feet with energy he envied. "You set up one
company. You could start another one, but not when this gets around."
He wanted to say that he had seen a unique opportunity and taken it -- that he'd
had his chance in life and made the best of it, and finished here. All that he could
manage was, "I'm terribly sorry it's come to this. I never wanted it to, or..." His throat
shut, and he felt the sick hopelessness of a fighter whose worst enemies are his own
instincts. How would it feel and taste, how would it look, the cold, oiled steel muzzle
in his mouth? He could cut a stick in the woods, or even use the red pen to press the
trigger.
"Come on, girls, we're going. Goodbye, Brook."
Brook muttered something.
For a brief moment Emery felt Alayna's hand in his; then she was gone. The cabin
door slammed behind her.