took another few breaths and then watched as the shark suddenly turned and shot away from the reef, its dark striped form vanishing as it gained distance from the reef.
Was it gone?
Annja frowned. She’d heard about this particular tactic before. The tiger shark would sometimes leave, hoping to entice its target into the open only to return and attack more violently than before.
I’ve got time, Annja thought. And I won’t fall for that move.
She kept her back to the coral and the knife up in front of her. After two minutes of bobbing in the water, she was forced to confront the idea that maybe the shark had grown bored and left.
Annja looked around the reef. Some of the smaller fish had returned. But the jacks and grouper were nowhere to be seen. And there were no turtles anywhere close by, either.
A dark shape shot past her and she knew the tiger shark was back. It had gone overhead, close, and Annja had ducked down to avoid it.
It turned itself around and she marveled at how perfectly streamlined its body was. It looked like a banking fighter jet as it came in closer again. Its eyes never left her, but Annja had found a reasonable spot from which she could defend herself, if necessary.
If you’re going to attack me, she thought, you’ll have to commit and come in.
That would give her the opening she’d need to take it on.
But fourteen feet worth of apex predator wasn’t an even match, she decided. The tiger shark could cut her in half without much effort.
Suddenly the knife looked pitifully small in her hand.
Annja sensed the attack instead of seeing it. The shark shot straight at her, coming in hard and fast, seemingly unconcerned about the coral.
Or the knife.
Annja shot up and brought the knife down, embedding it on the top of the shark’s snout. It jerked once, wrenched the knife free from Annja’s hand and then swam away, a thin tendril of blood trailing behind.
Annja sucked in air and tried to still her hammering heart.
She glanced down and more worry seeped into her as her oxygen gauge showed that she’d have to surface soon.
That would mean leaving the relative protection of the reef.
Overhead, her boat looked far away.
And small.
Annja looked around, but the shark had vanished again. I hope that knife hurts like hell, she thought.
The level on her gauge continued to drop.
Annja was going to have to make a run for it.
I’m not doing this alone, she thought.
She summoned the mystical sword she’d somehow inherited from Joan of Arc, and the gleaming blade was snug in her hands, right where she wanted it to be.
She looked around but couldn’t see the tiger shark anywhere.
It was time to go but the problem was that on the ascent she’d have to rise no faster than her air bubbles. To rush it, she’d be risking the bends—when her body couldn’t get rid of the nitrogen in her blood. That could be as fatal as being attacked by the shark. She was only in about fifty feet of water, but she still had to maintain proper protocol.
That meant she’d be exposed for what would feel like an awfully long time.
But the level of oxygen she had was dwindling and she’d have to go for it, regardless of the risk from the shark.
Another quick glance and Annja kicked off, her fins churning behind her as she rose from the coral reef.
Instantly, she felt the presence of the shark, as if it’d been waiting behind the coral for her to show herself.
It came fast as Annja drifted higher.
She could see the rows of teeth in its mouth as it came toward her like a missile. Annja brought the sword up in front of her and swiped it through the water. It felt like she was moving in slow motion, though, cutting through the liquid of the ocean.
Still, it sliced into the tiger’s snout before the shark suddenly backed away and shot back down toward the reef.
Annja turned her eyes up and judged she was perhaps halfway to the surface. Her bubbles rose faster than she did, but only just. Annja didn’t want to remain underwater any longer than necessary.
The grim expression of the dive master lurked in her memory. She could hear his scolding now, telling her how foolish she’d been to go diving alone. Annja frowned. Maybe it had been foolish, but maybe she’d needed to do it.
She looked back just in time to see the tiger shark lurking near the seafloor. Annja’s diving knife still poked out of the top of its snout. Annja wondered if the shark would spend the rest of its days with that blade permanently planted there.
She kicked some more and cut the distance to the surface. Her heart was thundering and Annja tasted stale air.
Her tank was almost empty.
She glanced back and scarcely had time to bring the sword up as the shark rammed into her again.
Her regulator was knocked free and Annja had only a second to grab the last gulp of air before the hose was ripped away by the rush of movement.
Annja tried to put it back in her mouth but the hose was torn open. A slow stream of bubbles was being released from the tank on her back.
So much for that, she thought.
Annja shrugged one side of her straps free and then the other.
The tank fell down toward the reef, trailing the last bits of air behind it.
Annja jerked around and saw that the tiger shark was level with her at a distance of maybe fifty feet.
She brought the sword up in front of her.
The tiger shark’s eyes seemed to register the threat but cared little about it. Annja was on the menu and it meant to finish this.
It glided at her so smoothly that Annja barely registered the movement, so streamlined was the shark’s body that it caused no disturbance in the water. All that did register was the fact that the shark suddenly seemed to grow in size.
Time slowed.
Annja marveled at the magnificence of the creature coming to try to kill her. The teeth so perfectly suited for cracking sea-turtle shells were also perfect for shredding human skin and bone.
And then it seemed to gather more speed.
Annja readied herself and felt her body take over. She cut up, stabbing right at the tiger shark, and plunged the sword straight into the shark’s nose. She knew that all sharks had sophisticated electrical sensory systems in their snouts, and she hoped by attacking it
