"James Rollins - Subterranean" - читать интересную книгу автора (Romeyn Henry)

"Well . . ." he said, stumbling for words, the wind knocked out of his sails. "A child could have done a
better job."

"Then that makes you right for the job."

He looked sharply at her, and she gave him her best innocent expression. Seemingly satisfied, he turned
away, his compass in hand.

She shook her head. Sometimes he and Jason were frighteningly similar. "If everyone is ready," she said,
"let's proceed. I want to be into the new territory by the time we set up camp tonight."

Ashley hesitated.

"Just a little farther," Ben called to her from below.

Sucking at her lower lip, she stared down the steep slope before her. It looked more like a mile.
Greased with mud, the cliff was slick as ice. Her eyes snaked upward, following her rope. Michaelson
was snugged into a crevice several yards above and secured in place with a safety rope. Above him, at
the lip of the cliff, hung Villanueva, clinging to a spur of rock and secured with a safety line. It was these
two men's jobs to ensure a safe descent for the other teammates.

Ashley took a deep breath and pushed away from the wall as she had been instructed, allowing the rope
to brake in the carabiner bars to stop her descent. She scrabbled downward, the toe of her left boot
balancing on a protruding stone. Just a little farther.

The stone that had been supporting her suddenly slipped loose and tumbled downward. She plummeted
after it, the rope racing between her gloved hands. Ben had schooled them to yell, "Falling!" when this
sort of thing happened, but with her breath caught in a fear-constricted grip, all she could do was let out a
high-pitched whine.

After a heartbeat, the whistling rope snagged in her carabiner and her descent jerked to a halt. A grunt
of protest echoed from above as Michaelson caught her weight.

"Hey, careful up there," Ben yelled. "You damn near gave me a rock facial."

"Sorry," she said to the muddy wall swinging inches from her nose, both hands clamped on the rope.

"C'mon, relax, kid," Ben said. "Just get those feet back on the wall and finish the descent. You're almost
on solid ground."

It was the solidness of that ground that concerned her. She had pictured her head slamming into that
solid ground as she was falling, but she wasn't about to remain hanging here. There was only one way out
of this predicament. Pulling into a squatting position, she got her boots up on the wall and straightened her
legs out, pushing from the wall. With a jump, she rappelled down two yards and caught the wall with her
boots. Not hesitating this time, she shot outward again and dropped another couple of yards. After two
more hops, she felt Ben's arms around her waist.

"There you go," he said in her ear. "Piece of cake."