"Marina Fitch - Sarah at the Tide Pool" - читать интересную книгу автора (Fitch Marina)

“If Hansen succeeds first,” he said coolly, “MediChem has no reason to fund
your research. MediChem would probably be forced to shut down your lab.”

Sarah winced as her stomach clenched.

“What we want from you is a skin, one that can secrete a toxin that will kill
anyone the wearer touches.”

Sarah’s mouth went dry. “My God.”

“Just like the nudibranch that dissolves its enemy.” Jason’s voice softened.
He tapped at the aquarium again. “Which one is it? The pinkish, ragged one? Or that
yellow one?”

Sarah held onto the counter for support. “I can’t do that.”

“Sure you can,” Jason said. “You’ve already made a prototype skin. Now
you just create one with microscopic glands that secrete a neurotoxin. One that can
be released at will.”

“I can’t.”

“You like your job, don’t you, Dr. Huron? But you must. You spend all of
your time here. You have no friends outside this building, no one you spend time
with . . . . “

Sarah’s hands tightened on the counter. “Did it ever occur to you what the
neurotoxin might do to the wearer?”

He shook his head. “The nudibranch doesn’t die. Why should the assassin?
You can insure that, Sarah.”
 Her stomach knotted. “I don’t want to see my research used— Who are you
planning to . . . ?”

“Someone who used to work here. Someone who took classified documents
to Hansen.”

Sarah closed her eyes. She pinched her temples, trying to ease the sudden
pounding in her head. “Who?”

“Dr. Richard Madera.”

Sarah released her temples. A surge of blood slammed her heart to a stop; her
pulse raced when her heart began beating again. She opened her eyes. Jason’s face
floated across from her on a tide of actinic flashes.

He smiled. “So you see,” he said, “not only would it be an act of loyalty, but
one of revenge.”

The hermit crab scrabbles across the floor of the tide pool, pausing to shove