"Steven Gould - Wildside" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gould Stephen Jay)

There were timbers bracing the ceiling. About a hundred feet down the tunnel, a thin vertical line of
light could be seen.

There didn't seem to be anything in the tunnel. "May I have the shotgun, please?"

Clara hesitated, frowning. I said, "Doesn't matter. If you're more comfortable with it, by all
means."

"I'd rather keep it," she said.
 I wondered if she was more worried about what was in the tunnel or about me with a shotgun? I
smiled at her. It occurred to me that I gained everything by involving her, by involving them all. "You
and Marie check out the tunnel all the way to the far door, please. Especially the floor."

"The floor?" asked Marie?

"Snakes," I said.

Marie stepped backward involuntarily and Joey started to laugh. "Get stuffed," she said to him,
and walked forward again. "Come on, Clara." They walked six feet in front of us, searching the floor
with occasional sweeps of the ceiling and walls. We stopped two yards from the door.

"No snakes," said Marie.

This door was just like the last one, a double steel-banded door, set in a timber frame that was
mortared into fieldstone. There was a hinged drop bar on this side, with a wire loop that threaded
through a hole in the door so the bar could be lifted from outside as well. Rick pointed at that and
said, "How come this door doesn't lock?"

I looked at him for a moment, then said, "You don't want to be locked out on the other side of
this door."

He blinked and licked his lips. "Well, if I'm picturing this right, this door should open onto the
other side of that small hill your barn backs up against. If that's the case, we'll be facing nothing more
dangerous than your airstrip."

I put my hand on the catch. "Safeties off?"

"Yes," said Clara. Joey nodded.

I pulled against the door. It hadn't been opened in a while and it took effort to pull the two sides
open. We blinked in the bright sunlight.

When we'd gone into the barn, it had been overcast. The sky outside this door was so blue it
hurt the eyes.

I held my hand out for the shotgun. This time Clara didn't protest, clicking the safety on before
handing it to me. I eased out the door, checking both sides, and then looked up, to check above the
door. It seemed clear.

"Come on out," I said.