Шкловский Лев Переводчик
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Шкловский Лев Переводчик
Размещен: 28/12/2025, изменен: 28/12/2025. 31k.
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that afternoon, but the cooperation I needed was
promised reluctantly. Their job was to get the right
people in the Colombian government to authorize a
counterstrike against a small Cuban landing force in
the Gulf of Darien. Sabotage against the Panama Canal
would be hinted at, and Steyer, it was agreed, need not
be mentioned. It was guaranteed to be neat and quiet,
carried out with surgical precision. The Colombians
ought to buy it. Unlike some of their neighbors, their
present government had few, if any, illusions about
Uncle Fidel.
Later that same evening a cab brought me to Bo-
gotå's ultramodern Eldorado airport in time to make
the last flight of the day from the capital direct to
Riohacha, the coastal town closest to Steyer's island
base. I had passed the word along through Hawk that
Frederick Dey should meet me there tomorrow, Friday,
to set up the raid. The town was probably full of Cu-
bans, and possibly Subarov himself was there, so we'd
have to lie low.
There was still more than an hour to kill before my
plane was due to leave, so I treated myself to a double
martini in the airport bar. They don't call them cock-
tail lounges—a bar is a bar is a bar, as far as Spanish-
speaking people are concerned—but this one tried too
hard to ape the worst of its international counterparts,
with too much blond wood and red plastic and more
chrome than you could steal from a Cadillac factory.
The martini, however, was decent enough.
I was on my way to the newsstand, looking for
something to read on the plane, when I spotted her.
Same frizzy-haired girl from the bus, struggling to
carry a strapped, red-canvas duffel bag on her shoul-
der, stuffed with all her worldly goods. It took a couple
Of seconds for the name to come back to me. Linda—
that was it. She strolled by without a second glance,
probably because I was cleaned up this time and
smelled human. I wasn't looking for company, so I let
her pass on by without looking up. Probably she was
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NICK CARTER: KILLMASTER
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NICK CARTER: KILLMASTER
just now on her way back to the U.S.A. and hopefull
out of trouble.
But I didn't escape that easily. I was paying the ma
for last week's Time, when she came up behind me, I
her pack thing rest on the ground, and said, "It's yout
isn't it?"
"I'm me," T admitted. I remembered that I nevet
had got around to mentioning my name.
"Wow. I wasn't even sure at first. You look a littl
different from the last time I saw you."
The last time she saw me I had been held a prisoneg
for four days, come three thousand miles, been in at
airplane crash, been drilled with a couple of bullets;
killed a man, climbed down a mountain, and wound ur
practically raped by a bunch of sex-starved India
women—you bet I'd looked a little different then. Tha
got the understatement-of-the-year award.
"Life is full of changes," I said, or something inan
like that.
She spent a good half minute eyeing me warily, tak
ing in the well-cut suit, black knitted tie, and even—fo
God's sake—polished shoes, no less. I'd given mysel;
away as a dues-paying member of the Establishment
all right. Already her front teeth were picking at he
lower lip, fretting about having told me the gory deta•
of her cocaine-collecting escapades.
"How—how's it going?" she said finally.
"Fine. Great. A lot better, anyway. I see you madl
it to Boeotå all right. I gather this is vour final farewel
to the Republic of Colombia tonight."
"Yeah. There's a Pan Am flight to Miami at t
twenty-five, and I'm on it."
"In that case, the offer to buy you dinner still goes
if you're still interested."
"I'm interested, but I already had something to ea
tonicht. But if you'll buy me a drink somewhere, I su
p
pose we can write all debts off as canceled."
"Fair enough." I grabbed her pack and lifted if
"Let's stash this away in a locker somewhere first,"
Back in the chrome-and-tinsel wonderland I order
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another martini, and Linda asked for a rum and Coke.
"Just for future reference," I told her, "south of the
border it's called a Cuba libre. Pronounced with an 00
as a moose."
"I didn't know that. Tell you something else I don't
know. Is it any big secret where you're going tonight?
You're not on your way back to the States, are you?"
"No secret. There's an Aviaco flight to Riohacha in
forty-five minutes, and I'm going to be headed there on
business."
"Oh, what kind of business?"
"Just business business." I didn't think it was neces-
saty to bother making up a story.
"Hmmm," she said. "I wonder if you were on
business too when you got on that bus going to Santa
Marta."
No sense making a mystery out of it. "As a matter
of fact, yes."
This made her thoughtful. After a pause she said,
' 'That must be an interesting job."
"It has its moments, the same as any other. But I
wouldn't say it's so interesting." Time to get off the
subject. "Anyway," I added, "I'm sort of surprised my-
self that you suggested having a drink. From what you
were telling me in that bus, I didn't think a legalized,
respectable stimulant like booze would appeal to you."
"Well, you're wrong," she snapped. "Why shouldn't
I enjoy a drink if I'm in the mood for one and you're
inviting me?"
"I wasn't generalizing about the generation gap. T
was just thinking that it's strange to find a frustrated
dope smuggler like yourself with such broadminded
tastes."
"Ob." She looked as if she had been hoping I'd for-
gotten about our conversation in the bus. "l guess I am
a smuggler, but I didn't say I was a slavering, dope-
crazed addict. Or is that what you really think? I don't
fool around with it myself, if you must know. I tried it
a couple of times, and it was fun. That's all. It's not
very good for you."
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"Why is that?" 1 asked.
"Lots of reasons. Mainly because it's so ridiculous
expensive. This guy I knew at Berkeley was selling
for seventeen hundred dollars an ounce, and that's
ter it's been cut with baby laxative or vitamin B. It?
too much of a status thing, because only rich fre
can afford it. Rock musicians who want to show
how much money they have, you know, that kind
thing."
"I see. You're only in it for the money."
Linda took a sip from her amber glass and sai
C 'Righto. I told you I wanted to get the money
graduate school, didn't I? And if it weren't so expe
sive, it still wouldn't be any good. It ruins your nose
ter a while, when you sniff it. I saw it happen to
friend of mine." She took another sip and watched f
my reaction.
"Interesting stuff," I said. Actually, I hadn't kno
very much about cocaine except that it's illegal and
had a small part to play, indirectly, in keeping v
quantities from coming into America by knockin
Steyer out of the game.
"I'll tell you something." Linda was looking ve
carefully at me now, conspiratorially coy. "For a m
ment there I almost thought you might be a narc.
government agent. I started to think I was crazy
talking to you on the bus, but there hadn't been anyo
to talk to since my boyfriend split, and you looked so
of harmless, like an ordinary ..
"Bum," I supplied. I laughed a little. "And w
about now?"
"l don't think so. For one thing, you're too intel
pent. And you don't look the part. A cop gets to I
like a cop after a while, no matter what kind of cop
is. You don't look like a cop. But I wouldn't say you'
the public-librarian type either. It's none of rr
business, right?"
I shrugged and finished off my martini.
"Before you go; I better tell you the rest of t}
story. You heard Part One, so you might as well hek
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Part Two. It's got a happy ending, after all. After I got
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Part Two. It's got a happy ending, after all. After I got
to Bogotå—it was really easy, by the way—I was
thinking it would be a shame to go home with nothing.
Really nothing. No coke, no boyfriend. So I wrote to
this girl I know back in Berkeley explaining the situa-
tion, and she wired down a thousand dollars of her
own savings to invest. I got a little over seven hundred
gams. We'll split what we make on it fifty-fifty, and
that's for sure better than nothing."
"Sounds nice. I suppose you've got a plan worked out
for smuggling it through customs."
She frowned and thought a while before answering.
"No—not exactly a plan. My theory is, if they're going
to get you, they're going to get you—it's all a matter of
karma. I know it sounds pretty stupid, but I figure I've
got to take the chance. I've got most of it hidden away
inside this hollow ceramic figurine I bought, along with
some other souvenir things. The rest of it—just a tiny
bit that wouldn't fit—I'll tape to my body. I only hope
they don'flook too hard."
"Where is the cocaine? Packed away already? I
wouldn't have noticed it if you hadn't told me."
"Not yet," she answered gravely. "Right now I've
got all of it stashed away in one of these coin lockers. I
didn't want to carry it around with my luggage while I
waited—it's illegal in this country, too. Just before I go
to check in, I'll get it ready. Tell me if you think it's
going to work."
"l don't know. I hope it does for your sake." Which
was almost, if not quite, the whole truth. Intercepting
smuggled goods is mostly a hit-or-miss process, and
she might be lucky this one time. Or she might not.
Customs men have a knack for spotting innocent-look-
ing objects that make handy receptacles, have a feeling
for what the weight of a thing should be. It's not the
kind of game you play on optimism alone,
I glanced at my watch. "I've got to make my fight
in a few more minutes, so I better say goodbye now.
I'll give you a hand carrying that duffel bag, if you
,Nant."
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