Memoria (46 page)

"Wait."

The veteran
swung around. Frank
looked into his eyes as he searched for the right words.

"Well?" the veteran
drawled.

"I don't want to
argue with you," sudden
ly, Frank realized that he had to accept this huge angry man
standing in front of him
as he was.
Barney
Douggan
had been around the block a few times. He remembered a lot. Frank still had a lot
to experience.

Barney
's expression changed. His face softened good-naturedly.

"Forget it. Out with whatever the Captain told you."

Frank looked up at him and said in a quiet voice,

"He warned us about
Claney
. According to him, he's only a
puppet. There're much more powerful forces behind him, and he doesn't yet know what they are."

"That's pretty obvious."

"Don't interrupt me,"
Frank shook his head. "Just like you,
Claney
was
under
control. His body was literally studded with
mnemocapsules." He fell silent waiting for two civilians to walk past. One had a detective's
ID pinned to
his
lapel
.

"All right,"
Barney
mumbled,
perplexed. "What now, then?"

"The Captain is asking you to leave New York. He suggests you lie low for a while.
You know how to remove the bracelet so disappearing off their radars won't be a problem. Know what I mean?"

Out of
habit,
Barney
touched the bare skin under his nose where his fat mustache used to be. Frank could guess what he was thinking.

"
Let's go,"
Barney
said. Then he added, agitated, "Maggie's waiting for us. I've made some stew. Took me all morning. Did my best for you two. That's why I was late." He wanted to add something
else, waved it off and started limping down the steps.

Frank overtook him. He
had no doubts what the veteran wanted to talk to them about during the meal. He opened the back door of the cab waiting by the curb, threw one last glance at the department windows and stepped inside after
Barney
.

"Where to?" the d
ark young driver turned in his seat.

"Home," the two said in unison and looked at each other.

"Oh well," the driver
raised his
eye
brows
and started the engine.

A
lex (Ale
ks
ei) Bobl is a
Russia-based
science fiction writer, author of 1
1
novels. An ex
-p
aratrooper, he used his military knowledge and experience to write his debut novels for
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
, a
bestselling science fiction
action adventure series
set in a post-apocalyptic Chernobyl.

After his initial success, Alex Bobl teamed up with his friend and
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
co-author Andrei Levitski to create a SF project of their own. Entitled
TechnoTma: The Dark Times
, this action adventure series is set in a post-apocalyptic future where the Black Sea has dried out and the Crimea has become a major desert. The
eight
books of
TechnoTma
had a total print run of over 250,000 copies and
have been
translated into German
and Spanish
. Talks are now under way about translating
TechnoTma
into English.

Memoria. A Corporation of Lies
is Alex's last science fiction novel to date - a hard-boiled men's adventure set in a dystopian New York. Alex Bobl lives in Moscow with his wife and two boys and is currently working on his next
science fiction
novel,
The Continent Anomalous
.
You can follow its progress
in
Alex's blog,
Obviously Incredible
,
as well as
on
Twi
t
ter
and
Facebook
.