Crossroads. Chapters 13 and 14

0x000C

Dmitry Halperin, frozen in an uncomfortable position on the edge of the chair pushed to the coffee table, watched the red cloud move across the screen of the Egel Mac Pro ’. When this cloud mixed with another dark gray, he said hoarsely:



- This is Sasha, my driver.

Halperin got up, walked over to the window, turned his back to him and sat down on the window sill. Sergey was surprised to meet Dima in a completely sober and calm state. He heard that their former friend had been drinking heavily lately and had difficulties in business, and he and his wife, he heard rumors, was at odds.



- Dima, I regret that I had to show you these unpleasant shots, but there is no place for loving feelings, - Sergey stopped himself, - ugh, damn, forgive me, I’ve lost my tongue! Here we are talking about an attempted murder. Are you even aware of?

')

Dmitry looked at the second visitor, Danik Shevinsky, and he spread his hands.



- Scrooge, if you hear for the first time that Sasha Smolkin almost killed a girl, an actress who participated in one scene, in one episode of the game, then sit down and listen.



Dima rubbed his temples and shook his head, as if shaking off his calmness.



- Idiot! I guessed that Lenka would come up with something dirty, I was guilty: I gave her the opportunity to monitor your affairs, but to kill? It could not, should not have happened. Tell me in detail about everything, I will do everything that you demand from me, I have nothing to lose, someone would shoot me myself - I would just say “thank you”.



All of this Halperin uttered, without changing the expression of his face, in an even hoarse voice.



Sergey told about what happened in the gateway on Farringdon Street, how to change a gun in the trunk of the Rover, and that the girl is now in the hospital and her life, thank God, does not threaten anything. Dima sat silently smoking, and only by the trembling of the tips of his fingers holding a cigarette was it visible how tense he was.



“I am guilty in this whole story as much as Lenka,” he squeezed the unfinished cigarette, put it out with his fingers, and threw it into an ashtray.



- I understand how you can relate to me now. I am crap and there is no forgiveness for me, so you can treat me as you please. Seryozha, you can make a mannequin out of me, work out your Krav Maga on him, I will be glad to you at least be useful in this ... But if you have at least some opportunity to alleviate the fate of my wife, I will be indebted to you for the rest of your life !



Danik looked at Sergey and he stretched out in a low voice:



- In both!



Danik, Sergey and Igor went up to meet Cohen and Smolkin when they were walking along the long corridor of the police station after they had their documents and belongings returned to them, along with a form announcing release from custody. At this moment, Alexander Korolchenko and Elena Halperin were taken out of Sergeant Holmz’s office:



“An epic encounter,” said Smolkin.



Lena, passing by, turned away, and Korolchenko, on the contrary, tried to linger and patted in a patter:



- Guys, the devil lured me, I am always with you with all my heart, do not hold on to evil, by God, it confused my head to me Lenka!



Holmz immediately, as soon as the whole five came into his office, began to gather and said that the chief inspector was waiting for them and, apparently, some other bosses, and there was already a bus in the street, which he asked everyone to go through.



- Do you know? - Igor turned to Ilya. - What a meeting?



- I think they were interested in our programs. They looked at how we compared Korolchenko’s mockups — the one that the surveillance camera took, and the one that was taken by us when Alexander repeated the same route — and how we calculated it using our know-how. "Red clouds". Sergeant Holmes something already told me, but without details.



At the table of the senior inspector, Oliver Alsopp, was a man in a civilian suit.



When Perekrestok’s partners took the chairs offered to them, Olsopp respectfully introduced the gentleman sitting at his desk:



“Superintendent Audley Connor,” and added: “Mr. Connor is the head of the department in charge of the police department database.” The department is located in the buildings of New Scotland Yard. Their structure uses the national IT system, the main search system of the Ministry of the Interior, better known by the abbreviation HOLMES, developed for the requests of all security forces. In addition, they use a new curriculum for the training of special forces, it is called “Elementary”, in honor of the great detective Sherlock Holmes.



Connor smiled and stopped the verbosity of his subordinate with a gesture.



He began addressing invited guests:



- I have a proposal that was prepared by the Department of Innovation Development of the Ministry of the Interior after our specialists got acquainted with the materials provided to us by the senior inspector Alsopp on the course of the investigation of the history of weapon substitution and injury of the actress, the investigation, which was attended by the gentlemen present here . The offer is as follows. We will provide you with video recordings of several hundred persons registered for special account. These people are in charge of special police departments. They are known to us, and we have comprehensive information about them. Then you will receive a video recording of surveillance cameras with six personalities, whose appearance we were unable to identify, but we are aware of their involvement in the commission of offenses representing a special degree of public danger. Sorry for the official syllable, - he smiled, - I understand that I am dealing with people who are not connected with our department, but nevertheless I will allow myself to continue in my usual manner. We would like to conduct a test using your program, bearing in mind the little experience that was used with your help in capturing those people who changed weapons in the trunk of your car. If you succeed in identifying these six Mr. X, however, there may be a lady there, we will be very grateful to you and continue the conversation on a different level.



When he finished, Mr. Connor looked around at the men in front of him with an inquisitive gaze, clearly trying to figure out from whom of them he should get an answer. Audley noted with satisfaction that he was attentively listened to by those present and did not rush them. The young man stood up and introduced himself as a blond, dressed in a black suit:



- My name is Ilya Cohen. We listened to you with great interest and, of course, are ready to help the police as much as our competence allows. Please tell me where we can get the materials you have told us?



The officer shook his head in satisfaction.



- No doubt your answer. And the materials are in front of you, - and he turned the display of his computer towards Cohen. - You can view the video about which I told you. We are ready to transfer these materials to you, since they are not secret, and he, pressing a few keys, displayed a picture with a string of moving figures.



Ilya watched for a few seconds what was happening on the screen and continued:



“If you allow me to use your computer, we will solve the problem you have set for a few minutes.”



Caleb, who was sitting at a distance, grunted with pleasure, and then, mixing with unrestrained emotion, drowned out his quacking with a deaf cough. However, a light blush appeared on Mr. Connor's pale cheeks from such an answer:



- What, right now, in this office you are able to conduct this test?



- Yes, Mr. Connor. I will log into our system through your computer and give the program a task that it should cope with in ten to fifteen minutes if the number of identifications offered to it is less than a thousand.



Connor wiped his forehead with a handkerchief and said: two hundred and ninety options. While Cohen focused on the keyboard of the police computer, everyone was offered drinks and sandwiches with ham and cheese. No one gave up the delicious pink ham buns, and the sandwich platter emptied faster than Cohen displayed the picture. The superintendent did not take part in the absorption of sandwiches, he drank tightly brewed tea and, seeing what appeared on the screen, put the cup on a saucer with a loud bang issued by his excitement.



- Mr. Cohen, can you display the image on the big screen?



Ilya agreed to nod his head, and everyone turned around to the lighted panel.



At the top of the screen, six unidentified figures made movements resembling tin soldiers marching in place. In the center of the panel were the camcorder characters of the police file cabinets. They were moving in an accelerated mode, and from this it seemed that they were running. Sergey looked at Mr. Connor and pushed Danik in the side:



“Look at how this guy started up - the whole bloodhound is trembling. That's what a professional means!



But the excitement already engulfed all those present at the moment when one of the tin figurines sank down and merged with one of the runners. Ilya stopped watching: the first identified hero of the experiment turned out to be a full elderly gentleman with a beard and a tattoo on a bull neck in the form of an open wolf's mouth.



- Wulf Shenking! - both Senior Inspector Alsopp and Sergeant Holmes exhaled at the same time.



- Can I continue? - Cohen asked in an imperturbable tone.



Four tin soldiers found their identity among the policemen running through the defendants. Mr. Connor threw off his neat jacket and stayed in a light blue shirt, on which dark spots of sweat acted treacherously, showing unusual excitement that seemed strange to such an accomplished gentleman, a policeman who had seen many scenes in his age that could excite any person.



“Gentlemen, I am impressed, and I will provide a report on what we just saw at the nearest board of the police commissioner,” and he tapped a hard, polished fingernail on the notepad on the table with the royal coat of arms of Great Britain. “I will insist that the Ministry of the Interior acquire your identification program, including the method that Senior Inspector Alsopp showed me, indicated in his report by the term“ red cloud ”.



There was silence in the room, which, after waiting a couple of moments, Smolkin broke. Sasha, in his childishly direct manner, disregarding the pomp of the surrounding walls and the seriousness of the dramatic moment, blurted out:



- And in less than a hundred million, we don’t sell our know-how!



Sasha spoke this tirade in Russian and immediately, depicting repentance, patted his lips. Danic was the first to respond. He hissed Smolkin in ear:



- What are you doing? You are not on the "brought".



But the thing was that the polished gentleman in the sweat-soaked shirt knew Russian - and not only Russian, but also Odessa slang: his grandmother and grandfather were from Odessa, and their love for this city was carried through his whole life, and as soon as the fall of the Iron Curtain, they had the opportunity to visit this city near the Black Sea, they still began to visit it, taking on their journey and their children, and then their grandchildren, one of whom was Audley Connor.



Connor knew Russian and knew about the "delivery". He understood everything that was said by these guys, and then he, the high rank of the British police, deputy high commissioner, laughed like a boy, and it is so infectious that he destroyed the general tension, having amused everyone - even those who did not understand it. , constables Olsoppa and Holmza.



- I heard you! - Audley addressed Smolkin and continued in Russian, which is quite understandable, having already turned to Cohen: - How long will it take for you to prepare a concrete proposal on the topics I have listed?



“Two months,” Ilya replied without thinking.



“Well, then,” Connor returned to his native speech, “you can coordinate all questions that arise during the preparation of the materials with Senior Inspector Alsopp and Sergeant Holmes.

0x000D

Sasha drove the car. He somehow quickly adapted to the right steering wheel.



- And what, men, this “Rover” is now a full-fledged hero of a detective, - Sergey lovingly stroked the gray plastic of the panel.



“The acting character of the adventure blockbuster,” Danik supported his colleague.



- Ilyukha, tell me, how did it all start with the artists? We still do not know where these guys come from?



- We, in fact, have already told you about this.



It all started spontaneously, in the course of our dispute with Smolkin. The realism of the picture in that alley seemed insufficient to me, but Sashka rested: everything, in his opinion, was perfect. They argued on the way from this gate to the nearest pub, but this pub was not quite normal - this is a mini-variety show. There we saw this girl Vanda and her partner, the typical blond beast of Fitch, by the way, his surname is suitable - Muller - and they moved around the stage so easily, gracefully and plasticly, that we stopped arguing, looked at them and then at one voice: “To go nuts!”, and then I say: “Ideal prototypes!”, and Smolkin: “For a gate”.



They asked them to sit down at our table, they explained the task in general terms, and in return for payment - such as ask, you get so much. They agreed with pleasure, and ...



Smolkin, interrupting Ilya, started his own:



- And imagine, I have her a little ...



Ilya looked sympathetically at Smolkin.



- Would you see what happened with him in the camera! We could lose a friend!



“Partner,” Danik added, and all made mournful mines.



Sasha saw in the rearview mirror their erntial exercises and sharply spun the wheel. All indignantly yelled.



- Perish, so all together, exclaimed a desperate Smolkin. “Because we have one for all and ...”



- All for one! - obediently shouted all five already.



Chamber at Royal National Orthopedic Hospital.



The spacious quad room looked quite at home. The equipment, which was connected to the wounded girl in the first twenty and which symbolized the belonging of this apartment to a medical facility, was taken to another room, and the picture that the friends caught crossing the threshold of the room with a window all over the wall looked quite idealistic.



Wanda, in her loose blue pajamas, was sitting on Muller’s lap and alternately alternating between her left cheek, her right, her forehead, and her neck. These petite movements did not stop even when the guests had already found places for themselves to sit in. The athlete's strong hands wrapped around the waist of a dancer. Müller’s blue eyes were filled with a mist of desire for the embraced object of his love. Wanda, in contrast to the boyfriend, his eyes sparkled with a clear polar star. This couple paid no special attention to the guests until Smolkin hissed:



- It seems to me that these people invite us to participate in group sex.



Wanda burst out laughing.



- And who says that? The man who aimed at my heart!



She has already managed to hear enough of Sashka's lamentations and has already forgiven him a hundred times and, in general, has asked not to bother with her conscientious remorse.



- I'm alright! You've paid so much to everyone that there won't be even scars on your arm. The technology they have some cool. The rib is not broken, only a strong bruise, so I'm fine, and I have to tell you that in recent years I have never had such an awesome rest!



All this time, Muller stroked the girl as gently as his big hands allowed.



“Fitch and I,” Wanda continued, “conferred and decided to ask you ...”



Here Muller’s voice cut through:



“Guys, at first I wanted to strangle you all alone, but now that everything was so happily resolved, I loved you with all my soul.”



The guests looked at each other in complete bewilderment: they were struck by the meaning of what was said, the text itself, and the manner of its presentation.



“My God,” Danik drawled, “it was so happily resolved” after “strangling one by one”!



“He can love us one by one,” added Smolkin, frightened.



- With all my heart, - Sergey reassured.



The guys voiced this roll call in Hebrew, but the "beast" apparently caught the tone of the guest excitement and continued in a different, businesslike tone:



“Wanda and I have decided to ask you to take our couple into a business on an ongoing basis.” We read your business plan ...



“Sasha gave us to read, not everything, but where the essence of the idea was, he explained popularly, well, as for teapots ...” Wanda jumped out of the German arms and showed a few pas, as if she was a kettle that was about to boil.



Then her movements turned into a pantomime, which she accompanied with jerky phrases, revealing them with Müller's ambitious plan:



- We will be your Bonnie and Clyde! We ourselves, if you allow, will be able to invent plots, we know what the public wants, and we will spin them up so that everyone doesn’t seem to be enough - and Wanda spun around.



“We'll get rich in a crazy way,” she braked abruptly, she fell to her knees, threw her arms up, and added:



- And you, of course, with us!



Igor was skeptical:



- After all, you are actors, performers, and real artists should be poor and slightly hungry, then they have a fire in their eyes and there is a motivation to get a sandwich with sausage and cheese.



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