Phantom Prospect - Alex Archer [64]
She returned the sword to the otherwhere and swam through the waves toward the shark. Her strokes were broad and powerful and Annja cut her way through the current, almost oblivious to its pull on her.
Her legs fluttered like a motor and Annja gained on the slow-moving shark.
But then the dorsal fin turned.
The shark headed straight toward her.
Annja stopped and treaded water. “Yeah, that’s right. Come and get me, you bastard.”
Annja summoned the sword and held it up in front of her, its point up, the blade between her body and the approaching shark.
Her heart hammered in her chest, but she felt no fear. Not this time. She was done being scared. And she would see this creature dead by her hand.
The fin bore down on her. Annja had estimated the distance from the dorsal to the shark’s mouth at about fifteen feet. She knew she had about three seconds to ready herself.
The head reared up out of the surf, the massive gaping maw widening and showing the serrated teeth that had shredded three other humans.
Annja gripped the sword as the blackness of the maw seemed to suck all the light out of the surrounding area.
It’s even bigger than I thought, Annja realized. In an instant, the mouth swept over her, blocking the night sky. Annja almost closed her eyes but then forced herself to dive forward and down the gullet of the fish before the teeth could start to shred her.
She had no idea what was happening. She’d expected it to stink of rotting flesh. But it didn’t.
She realized she could see some sort of light somewhere ahead of her. How was that possible?
Then she heard a sound. Like a motor.
Behind her, she felt the mouth close and the outside world vanished. Annja was inside the shark.
But this was no shark.
Ahead of her, Annja could see very little, but a dim red bulb gave off light. She could breathe. Oxygen was being pumped into the area. She could almost sit up, but stayed on her stomach, aware that there was a small amount of water on the floor of the belly of the shark. Not that she cared. She’d already been soaked when she jumped into the ocean.
She almost laughed. So this was what Cole was trying to tell her.
“The shark is fake.”
Or something like that. It didn’t really matter at this point. Annja knew that she had nothing to fear from this machine. She even twisted around and felt her way back toward the opening of the mouth and ran her finger over one of the teeth. They were made of heavy-duty rubber.
But what was the point of this thing? Who would go through the incredibly complex and expensive process of building this machine? And why would they resort to using it?
Annja leaned back in the holding compartment and listened as the engine sounds changed. They were revving up and she felt the shark start to turn and then descend, vanishing from close to the surface.
We’re going deep, she thought.
Wherever this led, Annja wanted to be ready for anything, so she kept the sword with her. There wasn’t much sense in going into the unknown unarmed. She’d already had enough surprises thrown at her.
“At least I’m not dead,” she said quietly to herself. Considering it all, she was amazed at what had come over her. What made her think she could jump overboard and take on a forty-foot shark that had supposedly killed three people?
Insanity.
But she decided it was simply a matter of being tired of the stalemate that existed. Coupled with the sudden violent loss of Cole, it had just been too much for her to put up with.
Drastic times call for drastic measures, she thought. She glanced around. Although this thing might be the most drastic of all.
Her ears started to pop from the increasing pressure. Annja swallowed reflexively and the pressure dissipated momentarily. She felt the shark level out and the engines seemed to kick up another notch. Wherever they were headed, they were going fast.
Was this what happened to Cole earlier? If so, then surely he had