"Энди Макнаб. День независимости (engl) " - читать интересную книгу автора

"Mom used to bring me here when I was a kid," Carrie said.
"She called it Marblehead's gangway to the world. That sounded pretty
magical to a ten-year-old, I can tell you. Itmade me think my home town was
the centre of the universe."
It sounded pretty magical to me, even now. The place I'd grown up in
was the centre of a shit-heap.
"She used to tell me all kinds of stories of fishing boats setting off
from here to the Grand Banks, and crews gathering to join in the
revolutionary war and the war of 1812." She smiled.
"You're not the only history buff around here. I hope you're
impressed." The smile faded slowly as her thoughts turned elsewhere. She
looked into my eyes, then away, across the water.
"Nick, I don't really know where to start with this."
I gave her hair a stroke. I didn't know where this was going, but I
guessed it had to do with Aaron. I had a sudden flash of him sitting under
guard in that store room in Panama, smoking. His nose was bloodied and his
eyes were swollen, but he was smiling, maybe feeling happy with himself that
he'd helped the rest of us escape into the jungle as he enjoyed his last
cigarette.
I hadn't had a clue how I was going to get him out of there. I was
unarmed; my options were about nil. Then he had made the decision for me.
The door burst open and Aaron launched himself into the night.
As he slithered into the darkness there was a long burst of automatic
fire from inside the house. Then the guard got to the door and took aim with
a short, sharp burst.
I had heard an anguished gasp, then a chilling, drawn-out scream. Then
the sort of silence that told me he was dead.
"I brought him here, you know, soon after we'd met. We came up from
Panama one vacation. I knew it would scandalize my parents. Turned out they
had a whole lot of other stuff on their minds. George was too busy fighting
whoever were the designated bad guys that year to notice I was there. I
shouldn't have been surprised. He couldn't even remember Mom's birthday. So
back we went to Panama to study while the folks got divorced." She smiled
wistfully.
"Jeez, I'd gone to all that trouble to round off my rebellious years by
getting laid by my teacher, and my straitlaced parents were too busy messing
up their own relationship to pay any attention ... Shit!" she said, rolling
her eyes.
"Maybe I shouldn't be encouraging you into college."
I gave her a squeeze.
"I spent my rebellious teenage years nicking cars, and the ones I
couldn't get into I'd just smash up. I think they're over now."
Suddenly she pressed herself against me.
"I hated you being away, Nick. It scared me. I guess it made me realize
how much I've got used to having you around. After Aaron died I told myself
I'd be very careful about laying myself open to that sort of pain again."
I lifted a hand to her face and brushed a tear from her cheek.
"I was worried about being with you, Nick. Dependability isn't exactly
high on your resume."
I gave my resume, as she called it, a quick glance. This time last year