Читать книгу Cargo 069 - Александр Скуридин - Страница 8

Dmitry Bystrov and Vitya Kotov took the news of the suspension of such important experiments very hard. They understood what it was all about. All sober-minded officers knew Eagle’s nature and his pathological indecisiveness in all important but not entirely understandable issues. In such cases, he tried to secure himself with the good old “safe side” principle. But the Deputy Head was a former military officer checked in military difficulties and complexities. He even was wounded once.

And besides, all orders are peremptory. The fact that Igor Ivanovich called his decision a recommendation did not change anything. Prudent General Larin did not dedicate his friends to all these semantic subtleties.

Besides, the nature of the Deputy Head was not very much discussed in the system. Sometimes somebody spoke about this in an ironic manner. But that was all, since something “more” could undermine leader’s authority.

And as you know, the intentions and actions of bosses are inscrutable.

Administrative “tops” ignored the specific traits of Igor Ivanovich’s character. It was worthwhile to have such a cautious leader in our difficult times. You can easily make the wrong move and…

Igor Ivanovich never made big mistakes. He had a couple of minor fails, but they had no effect on the overall positive outcome of the case. That’s why higher authorities appreciated and respected Lieutenant General.

However, when it was up to deal with the issue “for the sake of the Motherland” in detail, Deputy Head of the Main Intelligence Directorate did it in a quick and aggressive way. He discarded all of his eagle maneuvering and started acting with a fair amount of gradual and petty scrupulousness.

And now Igor Ivanovich called General Larin and Colonel Burlak to his office in the very morning.

This time, he did not show balancing trick with his glasses, but spoke in a serious manner:

“You already know the text of yesterday’s intelligence report, and therefore we will start without any foreword. I decided to send a couple of our best officers to China. We shall not only overcome the United States in this matter, but also to find out what they are going to find in Tibet. Do you have appropriate candidates, Comrade Burlak?”

“Yes, Comrade Lieutenant General!” started the Colonel as if he was a hobbled horse and his restraining bonds suddenly disappeared. “The best professionals in the unit I command are Lieutenant Colonel Bystrov and Captain Kotov!”

“Ah… astral fighters!” Igor Ivanovich smiled showing his white teeth.

“They are not only strong in astral science but are also good at martial arts. Dmitry Bystrov, for example, perfectly mastered the technique of contactless combat!” continued Sergei Petrovich, very pleased with such a rapid positive change.

“That’s what we could do in China, astral fights… In some way we could even put the famous Shaolin monastery to shame,” exclaimed the Deputy Head of the Directorate, without explaining his words further. He understood that the smart commandos will be more than happy to follow his recommendations not to get involved in any “fights”.

It was a good symbolic conversation.

Actually, Sergei Petrovich expected that the office owner would remind that Bystrov was Larin’s son-in-law. But the owner of elegant thin spectacles did not say a word, although he knew for sure about the relationship between Lieutenant Colonel and Lieutenant General. He knew that the personal file of each “character” described it in details. And it was the responsibility of Igor Ivanovich to know about this. The famous Russian expression “bosses should be known in person” had a reverse direction as well…

“Colonel, please prepare your unique specialists for another foreign trip,” exclaimed Igor Ivanovich firmly.

He stood up from the table quickly. He still hadn’t gained any weight because of the sedentary job he had. The subordinates also jumped up.

“May we go, Comrade Lieutenant General?” Larin asked formally snapping to attention.

“Yes! You may go!.. This task shall be entirely under your responsibility, Sergei Petrovich,” Igor Ivanovich instructed looking at the analyst’s back.