Читать книгу The Oracle's Message - Alex Archer - Страница 9

She heard voices. That was enough to tell her she wasn’t underwater.

But was she dead?

“Miss?”

She opened an eye and found a tanned, handsome face staring into her own. Judging by the scar on his cheek, he’d seen some sort of fighting at one point in his life. But there was an eagerness in his expression that told her he was very concerned.

She tried to speak but coughed instead. A bottle of water found its way to her lips and she took a greedy gulp, coughing some more and letting the better part of it dribble all over her face.

“Easy, easy.” His voice was strong and soothing.

Annja smiled. “I guess I’m not dead, after all.”

“Almost. But not quite.”

Annja propped herself up on one elbow and saw she was in a boat, one much larger than her catamaran. “What happened to my boat?”

“It sunk.”

Annja frowned and then remembered that the tiger shark had rammed the pitifully small catamaran. And when she’d surfaced after killing the shark, she must have hit her head against a piece of it. She felt her head and found the large bruise. She winced at the touch as pain sliced through her body.

“You’ll need to get that looked at, I suspect.”

Annja touched the spot again. The skin was bloated, swollen, and felt a little mushy to the touch. But she thought it was probably nothing worse than a bad knock. “I’ll be all right.”

“For a moment, you weren’t.”

She looked into his eyes and then smiled. “My name’s Annja.”

“Hans.”

“You’re German?” She could hear the accent now.

“I am.”

Annja sat up and saw another couple of men sitting in the boat looking at her with a mixture of amusement and concern. “I’m on your boat, I take it?”

Hans nodded. “We saw the commotion in the water, saw your diving flag and wondered if you might be in some sort of danger.”

Annja shrugged. “Tiger shark.”

Hans started. “A tiger shark? You’re sure?”

“I know those stripes, Hans. Trust me.”

“How did you get away?”

Annja shook her head. “I didn’t. I killed him instead.”

That brought a low murmur from the other men on the boat. Hans smiled. “How large was the shark?”

“Probably fourteen feet. Give or take a few inches.”

“And you killed it? With what?”

Annja almost said something about the sword but caught herself. “I had a diver’s knife with me.”

“That must have been some knife,” Hans said.

“I stabbed the shark in the head with it over and over until it died.”

“You’re quite a remarkable woman, Annja.”

“I don’t feel so remarkable right now.” Annja groaned. The bobbing of the boat, which wouldn’t have bothered her if she’d been uninjured, now made her intensely nauseous.

Hans moved out of the way just in time as Annja rushed forward and vomited into the sea. After heaving a few more times, she leaned back and wiped her mouth. “Got any more of that water?”

Hans handed her the bottle and held up his hand. “Perhaps you shouldn’t drink it quite so fast this time.”

Annja nodded. “Yeah, that would be good idea.” She swirled the water around in her mouth and then spat it out along with the taste of bile. She took another sip and tried to hand the bottle back to Hans.

But the German only held up his hand. “That’s fine. You can keep that bottle. We have more.”

Annja smiled. “Not into sharing with the damsel in distress?”

Hans shrugged. “Well, ordinarily, I would not mind. But seeing as you have just, uh, purged…”

“Yeah,” Annja said. “I don’t blame you.”

Hans leaned closer. “Where is the person who was diving with you?”

Annja shook her head. “It was just me.”

“You? Alone?”

“Yeah.”

Hans whistled. “You are either incredibly brave or rather foolish.”

Annja eyed him. “Probably a little of both. But I’m an expert diver. I didn’t see anything wrong with going it alone.”

Hans shook his head. “Anything can happen under the waves. As you found out. I hate to think what would have happened to you if we hadn’t been in the area.”

“I would have died,” Annja said.

Hans looked at her. But seeing nothing in Annja’s face that betrayed a sense of weakness, he merely sighed. “I think that would have been a shame.”

“I agree,” Annja said. She glanced around the boat. Oxygen tanks, regulators and fins were stacked neatly nearby. “You guys going diving, too?”

“We were.”

“Were?”

“Well, before we found you. Our diving plans will now take on a secondary importance until we determine you are safe.”

“I’m safe.”

Hans pointed at her head. “I would rather have a medical doctor make that decision, Annja.”

Annja frowned. “I know my limitations, Hans. I’ll be all right.”

“Still.” Hans smiled. “You are on my boat right now. And I shall make the decisions. Now, you’re free to stay aboard, accept my hospitality and the ride back to the resort. You’re staying at Club Noah, I presume?”

“I am.”

“Excellent. In that case, we can take you right into the medical facility. I know the doctor there quite well.”

Annja sighed. “I don’t have a choice here, do I?”

“Not unless you’d like to jump overboard and swim back.”

Hans had a smile on his face, but Annja saw there was no way he was going to budge on his decision. She shrugged. “What the hell.” At least he seemed to genuinely be concerned about her. That was a nice change.

Hans said something quickly and quietly to another man on board and the engine churned beneath their feet. Instantly, the boat swung around and zipped back toward the resort.

Despite her nausea, Annja found the sea spray and breeze a welcoming relief. She might have a concussion, she decided. And if that was the case, she did need to get checked out.

Hans pointed ahead of them and Annja saw the resort looming. The ship’s engine downshifted and the boat slowed as they neared the shore. Hans said something else in German to the driver, who guided the boat up toward the dock close to the medical facility.

Annja groaned as she saw the dive master coming down the dock. As he noticed the boat approaching, he squinted, saw Annja and then frowned.

“Great,” Annja said. “Here comes the ‘I told you so.’”

Hans stepped out on the dock and helped Annja ashore. She turned and watched the dive master striding toward her, his tanned bald head gleaming.

“What happened, Miss Creed?”

“I had a run-in with a tiger shark.”

That brought him up short. “Tiger shark? In these waters?”

Annja frowned. “They’re all over the place around these parts. Nothing unusual about that.”

But the dive master shook his head. “We don’t usually see them around here. For some reason they tend to avoid the area. Most of our sharks are blacktip and reef.”

“Well, you don’t have to worry about the tiger shark anymore,” Annja said. “I killed him.”

“You did?”

Hans laughed. “I was just as amazed as you, my friend.”

The dive master seemed to remember what he’d come to do and pointed a finger at Annja. “I told you not to go diving alone, didn’t I? You could have been killed out there and no one would have known it.”

“I would have known,” Annja said. She nodded contritely. “But yes, you did warn me and I ignored your advice. I’m sorry. It was wrong and don’t think that I’ll be doing it again. I’m not in a rush to repeat that particular mistake.”

The dive master seemed marginally mollified. “Well…good.”

Hans put a hand under Annja’s elbow. “We need to get her to the doctor, however. Annja knocked her head on a piece of her catamaran—”

“What happened to the boat?” the dive master asked.

“The tiger shark rammed it. It’s gone,” Annja said.

“Good Lord.”

Annja grinned. “Think of how I felt.”

“You said you killed him?”

“Yes.”

The dive master turned and walked away. “Well, at least that’s done.”

Annja glanced at Hans. “I think he was more concerned about the boat than he was about me.”

“I think you’re right.”

Annja took a deep breath and felt her legs go wobbly. “Whoa.”

Hans caught her arm. “Easy, Annja. We need to get you inside. You can’t stay out here in this blazing sunlight. It isn’t good for your condition.”

He guided her up the ramp toward the main path and then steered her into the doctor’s office.

A dark-skinned Filipino rushed over as soon as he heard them enter. “What happened?”

Annja winced as her head throbbed. “Hit my head on a part of the boat.”

Hans took over and told the doctor what had happened. The man introduced himself as Dr. Tiko. He grabbed a pen-light and peered into Annja’s eyes for a few seconds. Annja winced as the light pierced her brain. “Damn.”

Dr. Tiko stepped back. “A mild concussion, I think. Not too serious, although right now she probably doesn’t feel all that well,” he said to Hans. He glanced at Annja. “Do you, Miss Creed?”

“No, I don’t feel very well at all.”

Dr. Tiko gestured for Hans to help him and they got Annja up onto one of the beds in the facility. Dr. Tiko covered her with the sheet and then checked Annja’s blood pressure and pulse. “You need to rest. I’ll stay here and keep an eye on you.”

“I don’t want to rest,” Annja said. “I just need a few minutes to get myself back together.”

But Hans put a firm hand on her shoulder and kept her from getting up. “Annja, I will have to insist that you stay here and let Dr. Tiko take care of you.”

“Last I checked, we’re not on your boat anymore.”

“No, we’re not.”

“Then I don’t have to do what you say,” Annja said.

Hans shrugged. “That’s true. I would prefer it if you stayed here, though. After all, it would be a shame to see any lasting harm come to you.”

Annja sighed. “Well, okay, since you put it like that.”

Hans looked at Dr. Tiko. “You’ll stay here with her?”

“As long as it takes to make sure she’s okay.”

“All right, then.” Hans looked at Annja. “I’ll come back later to check on you, if that’s acceptable to you.”

“It’s acceptable.”

Hans smiled. “Good.”

“You’re going back out there, aren’t you?”

Hans nodded. “We didn’t get a chance to complete our dive when we ran into you.”

“Thank you for bringing me back here and not listening to me being stubborn.”

Hans smiled again. “My pleasure. Now rest, Annja. I will see you later. And then we can talk further.”

Annja watched him go and, in another minute, she felt the blackness swallow her up whole.