"Энди Макнаб. Огненная стена (engl) " - читать интересную книгу автора

wasn't hungry, just worried. I sat there waiting, with the sound of Sergei's
teeth mashing and jaws clicking as the wind whistled around the wagon.
I sat and thought as he sucked his teeth clean. So far, Valentin had
evaded the authorities, mainly because he had learned early on that it was
good to have friends in powerful places and officials on the payroll. Key
witnesses were routinely murdered before they could testify against him.
Just a few months earlier, Sergei said, an American journalist who'd delved
a bit too deeply into Val's business affairs was forced into hiding, with
his family, after a phone call was intercepted in which Val was heard
putting out a contract of $100,000, not just on the reporter's life, but
also on those of his wife and child.
It was for those who betrayed his trust, however, that the worst fate
was reserved. Two senior managers who oversaw his prostitution empire had
been caught skimming a bit off the top at his Moscow brothels. Even though
they'd fought alongside him in the Braveheart days and had been faithful
lieutenants ever since, Val had had them taken out and staked to the earth
on waste ground not far from Red Square, where he'd personally slit their
bellies, pulled out their intestines, and waited patiently for them to die.
The "Viking's revenge" appeared to have done the trick: Ever since then, not
a single ruble had gone astray from any of his tills.
I heard six quick squelches in my earpiece. The three pickup Meres were
mobile toward the hotel.
I replied with two squelches, then heard another two from Nightmare and
Carpenter, who should now be getting out of their car and heading for the
hotel. All six of us knew it was time to start performing.
Sergei didn't say a word, just nodded. He might speak English, but it
had to be squeezed out of him. I nodded back, checking my weapon was still
in position.
I got out of the 4x4 and left Sergei staring downhill. Pulling up my
coat collar to protect me from the wind, I headed in the opposite direction,
away from the main street. My route took me up the hill for one hundred
feet, then a right turn to the next intersection. That put me on the road
adjacent to the hotel and down to the main drag again.
I could see the large gray concrete hotel in front of me on the
left-hand side of the road. Just short of it was roadwork surrounded by
steel fencing; the cobblestones were up and the pipes were being repaired. I
didn't envy the poor bastards who had to finish the job in this weather.
The noise from the main street grew louder as I walked downhill. The
James brothers would be on it now, following the Meres. Nightmare and
Carpenter should be walking into the hotel from the opposite side and Sergei
would be positioning himself so that he'd be able to move in on the Meres at
the front of the hotel.
I crossed the road, passing the hotel's rear service and parking lot
entrance. Two white Hilux delivery vans were parked up on the red asphalt.
There was a glass door giving access to the hotel beyond the delivery bays,
but you could only get through it by buzzing reception, and I didn't want to
make myself any more conspicuous than I had to. Neither of the two loading
bays was open; it was far too cold. I continued downhill, the hotel now
obscured by a line of high conifers.
Valentin Lebed's weakest point would be tonight, in Finland, in this