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

She crouched on her knees, waving him toward her.

He crossed to her, inhaling her scent, a hypnotic perfume in the moist air. "What is it?"

She lifted a curled shell, dripping and luminescent in the lamp's glow, that had been partially hidden by a
rock in the shallows. Khalid cocked his head to the side. It looked similar to a snail's shell, but it was
huge. Almost the size of a watermelon.

He asked again. "What is it?"

She rolled into a seated position, cradling the large shell in her lap. "If it's what I think it is . . ." She
shook her head and placed a hand on his knee. "If it wasn't for your insistence that we stay a little longer,
I may have missed it."

Her hand was a burning ember on his knee. He fought against pulling her into a hard embrace. A
tightening in the crotch of his coveralls protested his restraint. "What's so special about an empty shell?"
he asked in a strained voice.

Before she could answer, voices intruded.

"I'm telling you, the damned skeeter bit worse than a snake with broken fangs."

***

Ben spotted Khalid and Linda crouched by the shore of the pond. He noticed Linda slip her hand from
the geologist's knee just as they rounded the rocky escarpment. Ben raised an eyebrow.

Ashley cleared her throat, announcing their presence. "Linda," she said as she approached, "Ben was
just bitten by an insect that looks a lot like a mosquito. We wanted your opinion."

"Oh, sure, no problem. Did you catch one?"

"Well, kind of," he said, pointing to the smashed bug still smeared on his forearm.

She smiled, taking his forearm in her hands and rotating it into the light. "You didn't leave me much to go
on." She leaned in closer. "I can't say for sure. There are hundreds of species of blood-hungry midges,
flies, and mosquitoes. This could be anything." She released his arm.

"I was curious," Ashley said. "Ben told me there are seldom any biting insects in caves."

Linda scrunched up her eyebrows. "That makes sense. Whatwould they feed on? No warm-blooded
species down here." She shook her head. "They must gain sustenance in some other manner, but this
individual was taking advantage of a new source for lunch." She shrugged. "These caverns just get more
and more curious."

She clasped one arm around a large shell. "Look at this, for instance." She held up the shell for Ashley
and Ben to examine. "Do you recognize this?"

Ashley took it from her and held it up, rotating it to view it from all angles and running a hand along its
spiral loop. "Looks like a mollusk shell, but I'm unfamiliar with the species. Besides, you're the biologist."