[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

it, and the tzar's reference to Golovin, I doubted that it would be explosive.
Still, since it had no lock, I found a coat hanger and made a hook and padded
it.
 Johan . . . this, it is necessary?
 Probably not . . . I grunted as I eased up the cover, which was no chore, so
easily did it open. The grunts were partly for effect, and partly because I
was doing it in a way so as not to scratch the finish.
There were two items in the box an envelope and a narrow velvet box. Llysette
opened the velvet box first. It contained a heart-shaped emerald pendant on
what seemed to be a platinum rope-style chain. The emerald was easily ten
carats in size.
We both swallowed, looking at a jewel that was probably worth more than all we
owned and might ever own.
There was a click from the foyer, and we both turned as Colonel Sudwerth
appeared, wearing not his undress uniform but a black flight suit.
 Greetings, most honored Minister Eschbach. Sudwerth's voice was jovial as he
walked through the small entry foyer and into the salon.  Pardon my walking
in, but I knocked, and the door was ajar.
It hadn't been.
At the sound of Sudwerth's voice, Llysette set down the velvet jewel box on
the Haaren and clutched the black metallic handbag that was both larger than
the usual evening bag she carried for performances and also didn't quite match
the black and silvered green performing gown.
 Good evening, Colonel. How can we help you?
 You're a bungling idiot, Eschbach.
No fancy titles, now.
 Oh?
 I could report you straight to the Okhrana . . . for murdering Yelensov.
 Murder? I'm not aware that I murdered anyone.
 You turned him into a zombie like you did Corporal Bromwood.
 I don't recall seeing you at the Winter Palace, Colonel.
He just smirked before going on.  All you think about is how pure you can make
things and how you can make money for the merchant bankers of Asten and New
Amsterdam. The rest of us have more important things to worry about. Things
like the survival of Columbia. . . .
 I worry about it, too, Colonel, I pointed out.  And like you, I've fought
for her.
Page 151
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
 I don't understand you, he said.  What did you do to Yelensov?
 I didn't do anything. Or rather, I stopped him from doing something to me. He
pulled out a gadget, except I thought it was a gun. It went off, but it had
antennas, and it stunned him. I decided to leave him with the gadget and slip
away. But it was really a setup, because there were some elite Rocket Corps
soldiers and a colonel waiting for me . . . but, then, you knew all about it.
You helped set it up.
 Why would I do anything like that?
The question was a dead giveaway.
 Because you're the conduit between the Columbian Air Corps zombie project, or
whatever they call it, and the Imperial Rocket Corps. I really didn't want to
use the pen projector on Sudwerth. That would have been extremely hard to
explain, even if I could have gotten it out of my pocket without his noticing
it. Even if I could have, it was discharged, and I had no more batteries
nearby.
 You're both traitors. The gun that appeared in his hand was on me, but his
eyes darted back and forth between Llysette and me.
 You're part of the conspiracy that turned zombification and de-ghosting
technology over to the Russians not to mention the AmeriSun solid rocket
fuel and we're traitors? Could you explain that, Colonel?
 We can't stop Ferdinand by ourselves, Eschbach. Look at the failures, year
after year. Time after time. You're here, practically begging the tzar for the
right to purchase his oil. That's strength? That's a foreign policy?
 And you wanted to give the Russians rocket technology and spur them into
developing a nuclear-powered zombiebomb? So that they could turn sections of
Europe into lands populated only by zombies? And what would Ferdinand do then?
He'd send his heavy bombers eastward and turn all of Russia east of the Urals [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]