"Steven Gould - Jumper 02 - Reflex" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gould Stephen Jay)

Come on, Davy! This isn't like you.

Seven-thirty came and went.

She rehearsed speeches of anger and pounded the bed with a stick. She read more. She paced.
By midafternoon the anger had turned, like the worm, and she began to feel afraid.

She was afraid for Davy. Only death or severe injury could keep him from her. No jail could
hold him, no prison bars, though, she remembered, chaining him to something solid might do
it—something he couldn't jump. They'd tried that experiment once, long ago, handcuffing him to a
railing. He'd nearly dislocated his shoulder. Old-fashioned manacles set in a wall would hold him
nicely.

She shuddered.

A while later, she began to fear for herself.

She went outside and walked to the end of the ledge, to the door set in a separate stone
generator enclosure. The emergency pack was in there, but it had been years since she'd even looked
at it.

She turned and looked out at the canyon. Looking south, she could see the rocky hills. It was
twenty-eight miles of rough trail with no water to the trailhead at Sauceda Ranch headquarters. There
was some cactus and sagebrush and surprising amounts of grama grasses, but certainly no trees this
side of the Rio Grande. Rocks cast the only shade.

Well, at least it's not August.

The backpack held the emergency PLB, several sealed bottles of water, survival rations, a light
sleeping bag, a signal mirror and flares, and a plastic bag containing five thousand dollars in hundreds
and twenties. The bag next to it held eighty meters of eleven-millimeter climbing rope, a seat harness,
and carabiners with brake bars.

She took them back into the house.

Tomorrow morning, if he hasn't returned...



He hadn't.
Dammit, Davy, you are a great deal of trouble!

She drank most of the remaining water in the ceramic cistern, then dressed in Davy's jeans and
shirt, and a pair of his underwear. When she stepped outside it was cold, the ledge still deep in
shadow, and her breath fogged around her, but she knew that would change rapidly as the sun rose
higher. She pursed her lips, then ducked back inside and took the photo from the bedside table,
putting it in her back pocket.

Outside again, she shut the door carefully, making sure the latch engaged, then dragged the rope