Cinderella's Secret Agent. Ingrid Weaver

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СКАЧАТЬ cameras, weapons and body armor. Two video cameras and a parabolic microphone were hooked up to a bank of recording equipment, all of it focused on the window of the apartment across the courtyard.

      A studio apartment identical in design to this one, the place hadn’t undergone any major renovations in years. Apart from a countertop fridge and a range in the tiny kitchen, and half a dozen folding chairs, it was unfurnished. There was little to recommend it to a potential tenant…other than the location. Situated in midtown Manhattan near the East River, it happened to have an excellent view of one of New York’s most famous landmarks: the shimmering glass cereal-box-shaped structure that housed the headquarters of the United Nations.

      Weeks ago SPEAR intelligence had learned that particular apartment across the courtyard had been rented for Simon’s use. What they didn’t yet know was why.

      It had to have something to do with the proximity to the UN, that much was obvious. But why? Was Simon’s next target some diplomat or politician? Was he going to use the apartment’s vantage point to coordinate an assault or hide a sniper? Until now, all Simon’s schemes had been aimed at destroying SPEAR itself. Had he changed his tactics?

      Del rubbed his face wearily. There were too many questions. With luck, this surveillance would bring them some of the answers.

      “By the way, what happened to your hands?” Bill asked without lifting his head. “I hadn’t thought those burns were so deep.”

      Del focused on his hands. To his surprise, he noticed the healing pink skin behind his knuckles was marred by crescent-shaped gouges in several places, deep enough to be noticeable even in the dim light that filtered through the window.

      He felt a moment’s confusion before understanding dawned. The marks were from Maggie’s fingernails. She must have done it when she’d been holding on to him during those contractions.

      Immediately, the simmering frustration of his hunt for Simon faded. Despite the state-of-the-art equipment that surrounded him and the grim reality of his job here, Del felt an echo of Maggie’s presence. Her warmth, her twinkling good nature seemed to brighten the stark apartment.

      It was such an unlikely juxtaposition. Only a few hours ago he had shared in the most basic event in life, the birth of a child. Now here he was immersed in the complex business of international terrorism. His world and Maggie’s world couldn’t get much further apart than that.

      “Those cuts aren’t from the explosion,” he said. One corner of his mouth quirked upward in a half smile. “They have nothing to do with Simon. They’re from something else entirely.”

      “Something else? Like what?”

      “Do you remember that short blond waitress who works in the diner on the next block?”

      “The diner that Polish guy runs?”

      “Hungarian. Laszlo’s place.”

      “Blond waitress,” Bill said, frowning into the eyepiece. “You don’t mean the one that’s pregnant, do you?”

      “Yeah. Maggie.”

      “I didn’t know you went in for pregnant women.”

      “It’s not like that.”

      “Isn’t it? You’ve been eating there practically every day since we started this gig. What happened? Didn’t she like the tip you left her?”

      “She had her baby tonight.”

      Now Bill did lift his head, peering at Del over the telescope. “You’re kidding.”

      “She went into labor right there at the coffee shop. She held my hand during the contractions. I doubt if she realized how hard she was gripping.”

      “So you were there?”

      “That’s right.”

      “Geez, what a place to have that happen. The ambulance would have needed to use the sidewalk to get through the traffic.”

      “The ambulance got there too late. I delivered the baby.”

      “Holy—” Bill removed his pipe and pointed the stem toward Del. “You delivered a baby?”

      “Yes. It was a girl.” He paused. “She has blond hair and blue eyes just like her mother.”

      “Are they all right?”

      “They’re both doing fine.”

      “Good God, what do you know about delivering babies?”

      “There wasn’t that much I needed to know. It was Maggie who did the work. All I really did was catch.” He thought about the look of sheer wonder that had lit up Maggie’s face when she’d gazed at her daughter for the first time. He cleared his throat, surprised at the sudden thickness he felt there. “Bill, it was incredible.”

      “If you say so.”

      “I was the first person to touch that child. She took her first breath while I held her in my hands.” He turned his palms upward. “I actually saw the exact moment when she filled her lungs with air.”

      “And you said she’s all right? She’s healthy?”

      “That’s what the paramedics said. She has all her fingers and toes. And she’s not too small, either. She felt like she weighs about the same as a nine-millimeter Colt submachine gun with a thirty-two round clip.” He smiled with satisfaction. “That would put her at over six pounds. Not bad for a few weeks early.”

      Bill shook his head. “I just can’t believe this.”

      “Did I mention her eyes were blue? She looked right at me, and her eyes hardly crossed at all.”

      “Maggie?”

      “The baby. That’s pretty smart for a newborn. She’s going to be a bright kid.”

      “Listen to yourself,” Bill said, chuckling. “This really got to you, didn’t it?”

      “It was an experience I’ll never forget. I felt…privileged to be there.”

      “Privileged? I would have been scared spitless.”

      That made Del laugh. Bill might look like a harmless middle-aged professor, but he was as stolidly fearless as a bulletproof vest. Del couldn’t think of anyone else he’d rather have covering his back in a tight situation. “Yeah, right.”

      “You think I jest?” Bill asked. “I’d rather juggle six pounds of Semtex with a nitro fuse than take on an infant.”

      “You’d like this infant,” Del said. “She’s a feisty little thing, just like her mother.”

      “Spoken just like a proud papa.” Still chuckling, Bill put his pipe in his mouth and returned to the telescope.

      The shaft of pain took Del off guard. Papa? No, not him. Holding Maggie’s child would be as close as he would ever get to that. His grin faded.

      “And СКАЧАТЬ