"Linda Nagata - Hooks, Nets & Time" - читать интересную книгу автора (Nagata Linda)

Zayder felt a cold flush of horror. "No! The great white may be the last of its species. If you slit its belly,
you'll kill it. You'll kill the species."

Ryan's eyes narrowed. "That would be a terrible thing," he agreed. "And I would be very upset if I did
such a thing, only to find its belly empty." He pressed his finger against Zayder's chest, then drew a hard
line down to his belly. "I might feel the need to similarly gut the man who had misled me."

The bodyguards leveled their weapons at Zayder's chest. Zayder stiffened, but his gaze remained fixed
on Ryan's face. "I'll need the harpoon," he said. It was still lying on the deck, where he'd left it after his
aborted hunt for Tiburon.

Ryan took a step back, then stooped to pick it up. "I'll handle the weapon," he said. "You find the shark."

Sharks were unpredictable. Zayder had never developed a reliable way of calling them, except to chum
the water with blood. Ryan knew that. But Ryan wanted Tiburon now. Zayder squinted as his gaze
swept across the surface waters of the pen. It had been ten minutes since Commarin slipped into the
ocean. Tiburon had seemed to follow . Zayder remembered the fury of the shark that morning, when the
pen walls had kept it from its selected prey. "All right," he said. "I think I know where I can find him."

Zayder led them along the deck, some three hundred meters, until they neared the point above the
underwater caves in which Commarin was hiding. He imagined Tiburon below, listening to the vibrations
of their footsteps, the shark's blood fury roused by the scent of inaccessible Commarin. He searched the
clear blue water inside the pen. Smaller sharks swept past, their movements quick, agitated. Cautiously,
Zayder crouched at the edge of the deck. He could feel Ryan's presence close behind him. "Well?" Ryan
demanded.

Zayder thought he saw a huge gray shadow in sinuous motion far below. Come on, Tiburon. You
vicious old bastard.

The shadow turned, circled, then began driving towards the surface. Zayder looked up to see Ryan
staring at the charging shark. "He's the last of his species," Zayder said. "And he tends to hold a grudge."

Ryan raised the harpoon; took aim. The bodyguards moved up beside him, edging close to the deck,
even leaning over, so they could see the action. The shadow of the shark seemed to grow enormously
large as it approached. Sweat appeared on Ryan's cheeks. "It's not slowing down!" he hissed.

Zayder readied himself. As Tiburon burst from the water, Zayder dove diagonally across the deck -- and
collided with Ryan! Ryan blocked his way -- and he'd failed to fire the harpoon. Instead, he'd thrown
himself back, rolling to safety across the deck as the shark crashed onto the black surface of the
photovoltaic cells. Zayder scrambled to escape Tiburon's snapping jaws. But the shark was faster. He
felt the huge triangular teeth rake furrows in his leg. He screamed and clawed at the deck, slithering
away. Twisting around, he looked back in time to see the thrashing shark snap at one of the bodyguards.
It took the stunned man in its massive jaws and bit down. The man never even screamed as his spine was
snapped. Then the shark shook its massive head. Blood flew as it dropped its victim. It turned to the
second bodyguard and lunged, snapping once, twice as the screaming man scrabbled across a deck that
was suddenly slick with blood. Tiburon's maw closed on the man's leg, taking it off just above the knee.

Then, as if he'd collected his due, the shark slipped quietly back into the water.

Zayder found himself on hands and knees in the center of the blood-washed deck. The wounded man