The Vivero Letter. Desmond Bagley
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Название: The Vivero Letter
Автор: Desmond Bagley
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Триллеры
isbn: 9780008211189
isbn:
Fallon said, ‘What did you think of it?’
‘He was a good man.’
‘Is that all?’
‘You know damn well that isn’t all,’ I said without heat. ‘I see the point very well. Would I be correct if I said that this city of … Uax … Uaxua …’ I stumbled.
‘Wash-wan-ok,’ said Fallon unexpectedly. ‘That’s how it’s pronounced.’
‘… Anyway, that this city hasn’t been uncovered by you people?’
‘Score one for you,’ said Fallon. He tapped the file and said with intensity, ‘On Vivero’s evidence Uaxuanoc was bigger than Chichen Itza, bigger than Uxmal – and those places are pretty big. It was the central city of the Mayan civilization and the man who finds it will make a hell of a name for himself; he’s going to be able to answer a lot of questions that are now unanswerable.’
I turned to Halstead. ‘Do you agree?’
He looked at me with smouldering eyes. ‘Don’t ask damnfool questions. Of course I agree; it’s about the only thing Fallon and I agree about.’
I sat down. ‘And you’re racing each other – splitting your guts to get there first. My God, what a commentary on science!’
‘Wait a minute,’ said Fallon sharply. ‘That’s not entirely true. All right; I agree that I’m trying to get in ahead of Halstead, but that’s only because I don’t trust him on something as important as this. He’s too impatient, too thrusting for an important dig. He’ll want to make a quick reputation – I know him of old – and that’s the way evidence gets destroyed.’
Halstead didn’t rise to the argument as I expected. Instead, he looked at me sardonically. ‘There you have a fine example of professional ethics,’ he said mockingly. ‘Fallon is ready to run anyone’s reputation into the ground if he can get what he wants.’ He leaned forward and addressed Fallon directly. ‘I don’t suppose you want to add to your own reputation by the discovery of Uaxuanoc?’
‘My reputation is already made,’ said Fallon softly. ‘I’m at the top already.’
‘And you don’t want anybody passing you,’ said Halstead cuttingly.
I’d just about had enough of this bickering and was about to say so when Katherine Halstead interjected, ‘And Professor Fallon has peculiar means of making sure he isn’t passed.’
I raised my eyebrows and said, ‘Could you explain that?’
She smiled. ‘Well, he did steal the original of the Vivero letter.’
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