The Black Bullet

Начало книги

Billy Lawson smelled it before he saw it. Something was out there. Beyond the breakers and hidden in the veil of night. When the silhouette appeared, he wasn’t sure it was really there. Clouds smothered a three-quarter moon over the ocean, and the image, a hundred yards off shore, faded to black. The breeze let Billy know it was near. The odor of diesel fumes, salt and baitfish blew across the surface of the ocean-a ghost wind delivering something felt but obscured in the dark.

There was the drone of engines, throaty growls similar to a pride of lions after a fresh kill, mixing with the crash of the breakers. Could be a boat in distress stuck on a sandbar, he thought. But there were no running lights. Maybe just hearing and seeing things again. Couldn’t tell sometimes, not since the injuries in the war. Smells and tastes all messed up-a ringing in the left ear that only stopped when sleep came.

Читать дальше →