JК
The Stars My Destination ( Tiger! Tiger! ) :: Bester Alfred
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«Let me have the Weekender. You can sit safe in Joburg and collect.»
«Collect when?»
«When I get back.»
«You want my ship on trust and a promise to pay?»
«A guarantee.»
Quatt snorted. «What guarantee?»
«It's a salvage job in the asteroids. Ship named 'Nomad.'»
«What's on the 'Nomad'? What makes the salvage pay off?»
«I don't know.»
«You're lying.»
«I don't know,» Foyle mumbled stubbornly. «But there has to be something valuable. Ask Jiz.»
«Listen,» Quatt said, «I'm going to teach you something. We do business legitimate, see? We don't slash and scalp. We don't hold out. I know what's on your mind. You got something juicy but you don't want to cut anybody else in on it. That's why you're begging for favors . .
Foyle writhed under the needle, but, still gripped in the vice of his possession, was forced to repeat: «I don't know, Sam. Ask Jiz.»
«If you've got an honest deal, make an honest proposition,» Quatt said angrily. «Don't come prowling around like a damned tattooed tiger figuring how to pounce. We're the only friends you got. Don't try to slash and scalp-.»
Quatt was interrupted by a cry torn from Foyle's lips.
«Don't move,» Baker said in an abstracted voice. «When you twitch your face I can't control the needle.» He looked hard and long at Jisbella. Her lips trembled. Suddenly she opened her purse and took out two ~r 500 banknotes. She dropped them alongside the beaker of acid.
«We'll wait outside,» she said.
She fainted in the hall. Quatt dragged her to a chair, and found a nurse who revived her with aromatic ammonia. She began to cry so violently that Quatt was frightened. He dismissed the nurse and hovered until the sobbing subsided.
«What the hell has been going on?» he demanded. «What was that money supposed to mean?»
«It was blood money.»
«For what?»
«I don't want to talk about it.»
«Are you all right?»
«Anything I can do?»
There was a long pause. Then Jisbella asked in a weary voice: «Are you going to make that deal with Gully?»
«Me? No. It sounds like a thousand-to-one shot.»
«There has to be something valuable on the 'Nomad.' Otherwise Dagenham wouldn't have hounded Gully.»
«I'm still not interested. What about you?»
«Me? Not interested either. I don't want any part of Gully Foyle again.
«Let me have the Weekender. You can sit safe in Joburg and collect.»
«Collect when?»
«When I get back.»
«You want my ship on trust and a promise to pay?»
«A guarantee.»
Quatt snorted. «What guarantee?»
«It's a salvage job in the asteroids. Ship named 'Nomad.'»
«What's on the 'Nomad'? What makes the salvage pay off?»
«I don't know.»
«You're lying.»
«I don't know,» Foyle mumbled stubbornly. «But there has to be something valuable. Ask Jiz.»
«Listen,» Quatt said, «I'm going to teach you something. We do business legitimate, see? We don't slash and scalp. We don't hold out. I know what's on your mind. You got something juicy but you don't want to cut anybody else in on it. That's why you're begging for favors . .
Foyle writhed under the needle, but, still gripped in the vice of his possession, was forced to repeat: «I don't know, Sam. Ask Jiz.»
«If you've got an honest deal, make an honest proposition,» Quatt said angrily. «Don't come prowling around like a damned tattooed tiger figuring how to pounce. We're the only friends you got. Don't try to slash and scalp-.»
Quatt was interrupted by a cry torn from Foyle's lips.
«Don't move,» Baker said in an abstracted voice. «When you twitch your face I can't control the needle.» He looked hard and long at Jisbella. Her lips trembled. Suddenly she opened her purse and took out two ~r 500 banknotes. She dropped them alongside the beaker of acid.
«We'll wait outside,» she said.
She fainted in the hall. Quatt dragged her to a chair, and found a nurse who revived her with aromatic ammonia. She began to cry so violently that Quatt was frightened. He dismissed the nurse and hovered until the sobbing subsided.
«What the hell has been going on?» he demanded. «What was that money supposed to mean?»
«It was blood money.»
«For what?»
«I don't want to talk about it.»
«Are you all right?»
«Anything I can do?»
There was a long pause. Then Jisbella asked in a weary voice: «Are you going to make that deal with Gully?»
«Me? No. It sounds like a thousand-to-one shot.»
«There has to be something valuable on the 'Nomad.' Otherwise Dagenham wouldn't have hounded Gully.»
«I'm still not interested. What about you?»
«Me? Not interested either. I don't want any part of Gully Foyle again.