"Smith, Guy N - Crabs 01 - Night of the Crabs" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith Guy N)

Shell Island was a veritable maze of narrow roads, with ample parking places. Everywhere tents were pitched as campers made the most of the unexpected heat wave, A signpost stated that the South End lay to the left, and the North End to the right.

Ian swung the steering-wheel hard over to the left, noting the sign guiding them to the bathing beaches. Half a mile further on he turned off the road, and parked the car on the top of a steep rise which afforded them a view of sand-dunes and an extensive golden beach beneath.

'Isn't it marvellous!' Julie breathed, the welcome stiffening breeze ruffling her auburn hair. 'All these people camping here - yet we've almost got the beach to ourselves!'

They've probably all had their early morning dip, and are snoozing it off,' Ian stretched. 'Now, let's have that picnic, and then we'll see how warm the water really is!'

Half an hour later, clad in their bathing-costumes, they were racing across the beach towards the incoming tide, laughing and shouting as they splashed ankle-deep through the white foam.

'It's really warm,' Julie laughed. 'Shall we go for a nice long swim?'

'Suits me,' Ian glanced down at the front of his bathing-costume. Julie always made him like that, damn her! He thought of stripping off, showing her what she had seen in the bedroom only last night. Why the hell shouldn't he? There wasn't a soul about. All the same, somebody might have a pair of field-glasses, and the watcher might be prudish as well as being a busybody, and report him. He thought of all the publicity . . . Uncle Cliff . . he shrugged off the thought and splashed after Julie. God, what a figure she had! Enough to make any man want her badly, really badly...

Julie, the water up to the top half of her bikini, turned back to him.

'Come on,' she yelled. 'What's keeping you? Race you round that headland. Maybe there's a quiet cove there where we can...'

Tan never heard the rest of the sentence, for with a seductive smile she dived backwards and began kicking out with her legs. Yes, he smiled to himself, maybe there is a quiet little cove just around the headland where we can...

He plunged into a crawl, losing sight of his fiancщe as his head went under water. He powered on, heading out to sea. About a couple of hundred yards, and then he would veer left, following the coastline, maybe even catching up with her...

'Julie Coles was a strong swimmer, too. She even matched Tan for speed, and after ten minutes or so there were still a good fifty yards between them. Of course, she had got a good start on him. He increased his efforts, clawing the salt water as he strove to narrow the distance.

Ten minutes or so later he paused. Damn these waves. He couldn't see her. Turn, you fool, turn, he swore inwardly. We're far enough out to sea!

Still she persevered with a direct course.

'Stupid bitch,' he gasped aloud- 'You'll be too far out... '

He closed his eyes and mouth as a wave enveloped him. The swell was getting stronger out here. Now he couldn't see her at all. He began to swim desperately. Overtaking her was no longer a game. Their very lives might depend upon it!

Occasionally he caught glimpses of her amidst the rising swell. At last! He breathed a sigh of relief. At feast she was turning now, even though she had come too far out to sea.

He decided to strike out diagonally, and head her off. A faint stirring down in his bathing-costume told him that things were getting back to normal. Soon they would be lying on the sun-drenched golden sand of some desolate cove, far from prying eyes where they could strip off, and...

Her shrill scream disrupted his daydreaming. A wave obscured his view of her. Christ! If she got cramp out here ... He trod water looking for her. Suddenly the sea around him was empty. There was no sign of Julie Coles!

'Julie!' he yelled desperately, a note of panic starting to creep into his voice. 'Julie!'

For the first time in his life he felt completely helpless. She was gone. How the hell was he to look for her here?

Strangely, even this far out, the water was comparatively shallow. As he trod water he realised that he could just touch the bottom. He' was above some sort of sandbank. Then he espied a large ripple between the ever-increasing waves heading towards him. He blinked and looked again. There was no doubt about it. It had to be Julie. What a stupid trick! She had screamed to frighten him and now she was trying to sneak upon him underwater!

He rested his feet on the sandy bottom, and laughed, almost hysterically. Well, so long as she was all right...

Suddenly he staggered back, his own piercing scream muffled by the water as his head went under. He fought to free himself from whatever it was that had a hold on his left leg that could only be compared with a pair of garden shears with serrated blades, biting deeper into the bone with every second. He fell full length on to the sea-bed, already gulping down mouthfuls of the murky, sandy water. He began to panic, kicking out with his free leg. There was no escape. That much was quite clear to him. Furthermore, he knew that he was going to die. He knew, too, that whatever it was that was attacking him had also claimed Julie Coles!

There was a red mist before his eyes. No, it wasn't a mist... he could taste it, taste it like that time in his boyhood when he'd fallen on the beach and cut his lip. If was blood! For a second, he almost felt that he was free. That grip had lessened. He made one last, desperate effort to surface, being wrenched back instantly as his right leg was grasped by his unknown attacker.