Part 10 (2/2)
”Just water, iced,” Sam said, and the waiter retreated, returning a moment later with a gla.s.s br.i.m.m.i.n.g with ice and topped with a lime slice.
Dodge raised his own gla.s.s. ”To Sam's first day,” he said with a big smile that crinkled the tattoo on his forehead.
”To another day of keeping the barbarians at bay,” Kiwi said.
Sam sipped at his water. ”Do they ever get in?” he asked.
”Sometimes,” Dodge said. ”Little stuff here and there. We stamp on it right quick.”
”Usually without too much damage and without Joe the Public ever getting wind of it,” Kiwi added.
”Usually?” Sam asked.
”Usually,” Dodge agreed. ”There's been only one serious breach in the last four or five years.”
”Really? What was that?” Sam asked.
There was a silence, and the leaves of the palm tree above them waved gently in a strengthening afternoon breeze. It was Vienna who finally answered the question.
”You, Sam.”
”Anyone for a swim?” Sam asked a little later, feeling that he had gone from medium-rare to well-done in a short s.p.a.ce of time.
”You go,” Dodge said. ”I'll join you soon.”
That same smirk was back on Vienna's face, and Sam wondered why.
Sam walked to the edge of the pool and tested the water with his toe. It was pleasantly cool, not stomach-tightening cold, and he bent his legs, ready to dive in.
In an instant, the playful dolphins disappeared, replaced by a swarm of writhing, circling sharks.
”Whoa!” Sam yelled, jumping back from the edge. The others howled with laughter. In his hand, Dodge held some kind of remote control.
Sam grinned and shook his head.
He tested the water again with his toe, and immediately the sharks converged, thras.h.i.+ng and writhing in a feeding frenzy, right where his toe was, their white underbellies flas.h.i.+ng. A redness spread from the center of the pack, rippling through the pool.
He s.n.a.t.c.hed his toe out again.
”What's wrong with ya?” Kiwi yelled with a grin. ”They're not real.”
Sam looked again at the pool and decided to postpone his swim anyway. Real or not, it no longer seemed like a pleasant experience.
Vienna made a clucking sound like a chicken as he walked back to the lounge chair. Dodge held up the remote device.
”Reprogrammed the hotel pool system,” he said, laughing.
”Then you go swim in it,” Sam said.
”Right you are,” Dodge said, and jumped up, heading toward the pool.
”I thought you were going skinny-dipping,” Sam called after him.
”Right you are!” Dodge said again, stripping off his board shorts and letting them lie where they fell.
He jogged naked toward the pool, then veered off to the left, bounded onto a lounge chair that was pushed up against the gla.s.s wall, and sprang onto the top of the wall.
”Dodge!” Sam cried out, suddenly terrified. On the other side of that wall was a twenty-story drop. He glanced around at the others, but they seemed calm and relaxed.
”Done this lots of times,” Dodge said, balancing, stark naked, on the wall. The gla.s.s was topped with a stainless-steel rail, Sam saw now, at least six inches wide. Even so, Dodge's perch seemed precarious, considering the drop that was on the other side.
”It's a bit gusty up here,” Dodge said, waving his arms about for balance.
”Dodge?” Sam said. ”Dodge!”
”Whoooaaa,” Dodge yelled, his arms now flailing as he fought for balance on the narrow top edge of the wall. His foot slipped. One moment he was vertical; the next he was on one leg, leaning backward out over the drop, far too far. Sam jumped up, rus.h.i.+ng toward him but knowing with utter horror that he could never make it in time.
Then, with a twist of his body, Dodge executed a perfect somersault into the pool, landing right in the middle of the shark feeding frenzy.
He came up for air and took a bow in the water.
Sam looked around at the others in shock.
”He does that to all the eggs,” Kiwi said, and then explained, ”Probationers. One day he's going to kill himself.”
”Why don't you stop him?” Sam asked, his heart pounding.
”If he dies, I get promoted to point,” Kiwi said. ”In fact, one day I might just push him off the edge myself.”
Sam opened his mouth to say something, then saw Kiwi's grin and laughed. ”You're all mad.”
”Goes with the job,” Vienna said.
Two girls in bikinis emerged from the elevators and made their way to a couple of lounge chairs on the far side of the pool. One was about his age and the other slightly older. They appeared to be sisters with matching blond hair.
Sam looked back at Dodge, who was still in the pool.
”Now what are you going to do?” he said.
”Get out,” Dodge said, and did so.
He walked straight past the two girls as if it was perfectly natural, picked up his board shorts, and pulled them on before flopping back down on his lounge chair.
The two girls stretched out on their lounge chairs, and the younger one looked at them and smiled.
<script>