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

"Jericho paid the guy's way out of the slammer in 1980," supplied Hal.
"Jericho takes great care to keep the connection secret. The media image
Jericho has created for himself is some sort of a modern Robin Hood. He's
almost a folk hero - the smart con artist who got away."
April could not take her eyes away from the face of Santos on the
screen.
"A mother and child... What does he do for Jericho?"
"Whatever dirty work needs doing," said Hal, "and there's plenty of
that in Jericho's world."
"And Santos has Eve," grunted Bolan. "What about the Thatcher
character?"
Kurtzman punched up another head shot, this time front and profile.
It was a craggy face dominated by steely eyes that were impossible to
read. The jawline was that of a determined military man in middle age.
"General Arnold L. Thatcher," said Kurtzman. "I put through a tracer
when the computer kicked his name out, and the Pentagon's Internal Affairs
Division was very interested in what we wanted to know and why. They're in
it with us now. The general is chief of security at a classified base in the
Rockies, north of Denver. The installation is a storage depot - part of the
army's NCB program."
Bolan knew those initials. Nuclear, Chemical and Biological.
He scrutinized the frontal portrait on the screen. He saw a brokenness
and a cynicism in the face that stared blankly back.
"Thatcher is two days into a five-day leave and no one's been able to
run him down yet," reported Brognola. "But considering his sensitive
position in the NCB program, the Pentagon and the CIA are of course giving
this top priority and we should have our hands on this bad general soon
enough.
Internal Affairs launched a backtrack investigation and they came up
with a bombshell this afternoon that confirms he's the Thatcher we're
looking for.
The general took a medical leave late last year. His hospital records
showed treatment for stomach problems that were supposedly cleared up. But
the Pentagon investigators found more - they asked the right questions of
the right people in the right way.
General Thatcher has seven months to live. He's dying of cancer. He's
ripe for a sellout. Maybe he's trying to establish financial security for
his family after he's gone."
General Thatcher's likeness disappeared from the briefing-room screen.
Comfortable indirect lighting filled the room.
Bolan spoke first.
"Jericho bought something from Thatcher, or paid Thatcher to do
something.''
"The connection is Libya," said Kurtzman. "Those are the Jericho
impostor's words. And Hal's got major information coming up."
Bolan lit a cigarette.
"I think Eve Aguilar pieced the whole thing together," he said. "Manny
Mandone was aboard the yacht. There was a lot of strange stuff going on. And
she knows all about it."
Kurtzman turned from processing continuing data.