The Contestant. Stephanie Doyle

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СКАЧАТЬ dog-paddling her way to the beach. Sam was a few feet behind Marlie and struggling. He had chosen to leave his life jacket on, too, which was a good thing considering his uncoordinated moves. Fortunately, he was kicking strongly, propelling himself forward.

      Not surprising, Reuben was the strongest swimmer. Maybe even as strong as she was. He was eating up the ocean stroke after stroke as cleanly as a hot knife cutting through an ice-cream cake. The thought made her mouth water slightly…the ice cream, not the man.

      “How you doing, Nancy?” Talia called over her shoulder. The woman was a few feet back, but she was kicking her legs consistently. Not waiting for an answer, Talia dipped her head below the surface, eyes open as she surveyed the blurry perimeter. She could see the movement of creatures beneath the surface, not too clearly, but clear enough to make out the basic shape of the fish. Small fish. So far so good, she thought.

      The sound of the small motorboats trailing them greeted her ears as she came up for air. Turning on her back to tread water, she watched the two cameramen focusing in on their natural prey—dramatic humans. Purposefully, she dipped beneath the water again when she saw Dino turn her way. Below the surface, she rolled her body over.

      That’s when she saw it. Out of the corner of her eye. A large shadow moving so gracefully, it would have made her gasp had she seen it safely from the boat.

      Actually, it made her gasp anyway.

      Purposefully, she kept her movements fluid as she surfaced for air. Raising her hand she tried to get the attention of one of the boats, but both were too far off in either direction to notice. Evan was steering Joe toward Tommy, who was going to be the first to reach the shore, and the crewman who had piloted the other boat was a few yards behind Reuben about thirty feet off to the right.

      The shadow loomed to her left, but didn’t seem to come any closer. There were no deliberate moves to indicate any sort of intent to attack so, theoretically, there was no need to worry. The trick was going to be alerting Nancy without panicking her.

      Talia moved back and came up beside the older woman who was still making progress. “Not too much farther. Think you can pick it up a step?” she calmly suggested.

      “Oh, I don’t think I could go faster,” she panted. “But you don’t have to wait for me. You’re going to lose the race.”

      “That’s okay,” Talia said casually, her eyes searching for trouble. The shadow was out of view, but that wasn’t a good sign. She would have much preferred having a bead on the big fish the entire way to the beach.

      To keep the woman calm, and herself for that matter, Talia swam around Nancy a few times, checking the perimeter and chattering about her fellow contestants. “Looks like Tommy and Marlie are going to win. I don’t mind if I’m not on that team. Too much talking, if you ask me.”

      The veracity of the statement made the older woman attempt a smile despite her evident unease. No one could deny that Marlie and Tommy loved to talk, mostly about themselves. They were perfect candidates for a show such as this as they believed they were worthy of having every word and every event in their lives filmed for the benefit of others’ entertainment.

      Glancing up again, Talia saw that Tommy had, in fact, reached the shore first. He’d had a pretty good head start. Then he walked backed into the water and tugged Marlie up to the beach with him, leaving Gus to fend for himself. But Gus was close enough, and so was Sam, that Talia didn’t have to worry about either of them. Iris, too, was now standing in the shallow water and, even though it was a well-known fact that shark attacks often occurred close to shore, Talia figured there was enough interest in the deeper water to keep the big fish occupied.

      Taking another dip, Talia studied the sea in front of her but saw nothing. When she popped her head up, she could see that Reuben hadn’t made it to the island yet, which was strange given his previous pace. He should have overtaken at least Gus and certainly Sam. Then she saw where his gaze was pinned. He started shouting for the boat, but it didn’t seem as if the crewman could hear what he was saying.

      “Oh! Oh, my goodness!”

      Instantly, Talia turned around only to see Nancy freeze with sudden horror as a straight dorsal fin rose out of the water and swam directly in front of her, cutting between them.

      “Don’t move,” Talia shouted. Judging by the shape and color of the fin, it was a gray reef shark, and not too big considering how long they could get. Maybe four feet. Maybe five. Its movements were still easy and unthreatening. At this point, he looked as though he was simply checking out the new breed of fish in town. If Talia remembered correctly from her mother, the gray reef would hunch its back before it attacked. As long as they avoided any unnecessary splashing or signs of distress that might incite the animal to think they were prey, it should just leave them alone.

      “Shhh…shhhhaaar…”

      “Keep it together. And no splashing.”

      Coming up along Nancy’s right side, Talia wrapped an arm around the other woman’s waist and tried to propel her forward, but when she tugged, she felt resistance. Immediately, Talia sank and discovered that Nancy had gotten her shorts caught on a piece of the reef that projected from the ocean floor.

      Popping up for a quick breath, she couldn’t miss Nancy’s frightened gaze. The woman was on the verge of wigging out and once that happened there would be no reasoning with her.

      “Nancy, I need you to listen to me. I need you to stay calm. No splashing. Just relax.”

      “But…I can’t…it’s— Did you see it?”

      “It’s just a fish, and you’re bigger. Trust me when I tell you it doesn’t want anything to do with you. But you’re caught on part of the reef and if you move and get cut you’re going to bleed.”

      Bleed had been the wrong word to use. If it was possible, Nancy’s eyes grew rounder. But at least now she was so frightened that she wasn’t capable of movement. Diving again, Talia went to work on the cotton material. It had been hooked over a piece of shell formation, much like a fish caught on a line. She hated to do it, but the easiest way out was simply to break off the coral. Considering it was a crime to tamper with the reef in Australia, she really hoped the camera didn’t catch this on tape.

      And that’s when she felt him. Barely a brush of something large against her leg. Sleek, scaly and smooth. She stilled and slowly turned her head back and saw the pug face of the gray coming directly at her. But its jaw was shut and its position in the water was still unthreatening. It slid past her head, but she watched it as it turned around, coming back for another pass.

      Like any skilled predator, it seemed to be waiting for her to make the wrong move before it pounced. She was doing everything she could to remain still, but her heart was pumping with adrenaline and the need for oxygen was becoming urgent.

      Come on, you bastard. There has to be something tastier in the water than me. How about a turtle?

      Suddenly, she saw a disturbance in the water to the far right. The motion caught the shark’s attention and it went to investigate. Moving quickly, Talia snapped off the coral, then kicked hard to the surface.

      Nancy, clearly having felt her release, was swimming with a purpose now, and Talia was right behind her. They were only a few yards away from the point where the water would be shallow enough for them to stand. With her fastest stroke, the freestyle, Talia gave it everything she had.

      Finally, СКАЧАТЬ