"Дон Пендлтон. The Libya Connection ("Палач" #48) " - читать интересную книгу автора

general himself.
"Tell me about Rideout," said Bolan. "What did you learn from him?"
"Ah, truth serum, it's wonderful stuff," said Lansdale. "Jericho owns a
villa forty miles southeast of here in Bishabia. Rideout says that's where
he was headed. He was supposed to contact the villa when he landed in
Benghazi."
"That was this morning?"
"Yes. Rideout told us that a mercenary named Kennedy is honchoing the
operation at the villa. They'll want to know why you're late. But air travel
is notorious in these parts, and you can build a story around that."
"Does Rideout have any idea what Jericho's operation is all about?"
"Negative. He was told stateside that Jericho Industries needs a
temporary security force for one of their Libyan business concerns. That's
all he knows except that they told him he'd be back home by the end of the
week."
Bolan tried to fit what he was hearing into the puzzle.
"So we've got a paid-off general in the States and a covert security
force here in Libya," he said. "I think that Jericho has been supplied by
Thatcher with something big, has had it transported here, and now he needs
his own force to safeguard it. But if Khaddafi is Jericho's buyer, why does
Jericho need a civilian outfit with people like Rideout? Why aren't
Khaddafi's own forces taking over security?"
Lansdale answered immediately, but there was something of a weariness
in his young man's voice.
"Khaddafi is not Jericho's buyer. There is bad blood between Jericho
and Khaddafi. Remember when Reagan cut off Libyan oil imports to the U.S.?
Khaddafi went through the roof. He instigated reprisals at the time against
most American interests in Libya. These reprisals never made the world media
for a variety of reasons. We still don't know everything that happened. But
the Libyan government shut down several U.S. business concerns here,
including several that were clearing big profits for Jericho. Three of
Jericho's top men in Libya disappeared in the middle of the night and were
never heard from again. That was Khaddafi's work and Jericho knows and
resents it."
The agent flipped open a folder on his desk and handed a 12x13-inch
glossy photograph across to Bolan.
"Here is the man we're fairly certain Jericho is doing business with.
Colonel Ahmad Shahkhia. Shahkhia and Khaddafi have been close friends since
childhood. Shahkhia is second-in-command, under Khaddafi, of the Libyan
army."
Bolan studied the Arab face in the picture. The photo had evidently
been snapped without the colonel's knowledge. Shahkhia was in uniform,
sipping from a cup at a sidewalk cafe. Even from a photograph, in repose,
the military commander emanated an aura of forceful ambition. Bolan
memorized the face and handed the picture back to Lansdale.
"A coup?"
Lansdale nodded.
"We tumbled to it thanks to our tap on the Russian Embassy in Tripoli."
"I thought Khaddafi was in Moscow's pocket."
"He was and still is, for the time being," said Lansdale. "But that old