Читать книгу Unconditional Surrender онлайн

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"I think I could have guessed that."

"Yes, I was illustrating an extreme example. Now here"--he picked a chit from his tray--"is a genuine enquiry. I've been asked to find an officer for special employment; under forty, with a university degree, who has lived in Italy and had Commando training--one, two, three, four, five--" Whirr, click, click, click, click, click. "Here we are. Now that is a remarkable coincidence."

The card he held bore the name A/Ty. Captain Crouchback, G., R.C.H., att. H.O.O. HQ.

Guy did not attempt to correct the machine on the point of his age, or of the extent of his Commando training.

"I seem the only one."

"Yes. I don't know what it's for, of course, but I will send your name in at once."

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Thirty-seven years old, six foot two in height, upright, powerful, heavier than he had been in the Middle East and paler, with a hint of flabbiness in the cheeks, wearing service dress, a well-kept Sam Brown belt, the ribbon of the M.M. and the badges of a major in the Intelligence Corps; noticeable, if at all, for the pink-grey irises of his eyes; the man whom Hookforce had known as Corporal-Major Ludovic paused reminiscently by the railings of St. Margaret's, Westminster.