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  “Shit, we gotta go up there?” Carlos asked.

  Fernando checked the directions again and nodded. “That’s what it says.”

  Brittany and Steve caught up with the brothers.

  “There must be another way,” she said. “They can’t make us go up that. It looks too hard.”

  Fernando looked at her. Lazy bitch.

  “We’ve got to follow directions,” he said quietly. “Carlos, you go first. Steve, maybe you go next, then Brit. I’ll bat cleanup.”

  Carlos started to walk up the path and carefully watched his footing. He was about twenty feet up the path when Steve took his place and started up the path. He had solid Adidas shoes with spikes to grab onto any terrain, and he didn’t seem to have any trouble. It didn’t hurt, either that he was twenty years younger than the brothers.

  When Steve was far enough along, Brittany stepped onto the path. Her shoes weren’t nearly as suitable. They were flat-soled leather. She’d never wear sneakers.

  “Give me your pack,” Fernando said. The packs were mostly water but also contained their sat phones and some food. They’d left the rest of their belongings in a locker back at Chihuahua City.

  He strapped her pack over his and smiled at her to go ahead. She started up the path, taking slow tentative steps.

  “It’s okay. I’m right behind you.”

  She didn’t reply.

  He knew she’d be scared the whole time, so he stayed near her, only about five feet behind her. He made sure his footing was secure and kept his eye on her.

  They moved slowly and lost sight of Carlos and Steve, who were far ahead. The path curved around to the right. To their left, the ground fell off and they were suddenly in the open with a one hundred foot drop just beside them.

  “I’m scared, Ferny.”

  He hated when she called him that.

  “It’s okay. We’re almost there, Brit. We can do this. Look, the others must already be finished. We’ll be there soon.”

  For a second, Brittany looked fragile, looked like the girl he fell in love with. Her long blonde hair wasn’t tied back perfectly any more. She looked at him with a look of helplessness and he felt the urge to hug her. He couldn’t actually do that, but the feeling was there all the same. He wondered if this trip might actually help their marriage survive.

  Maybe it’s a good thing I didn’t jump.

  He smiled at her, reassuring her that everything would work out.

  “My feet hurt,” she said softly.

  That brought back the Brittany he knew. The bitter complaining one. The one who refused to wear sneakers or hiking shoes because that just wasn’t her.

  She pursed her lips and turned back to face the climb up the path.

  The sun was bright and Fernando realized they should have brought hats. Of course that would have been yet another fight with Brit, who just didn’t do hats.

  They climbed up the path for another ten minutes. It snaked around, back and forth. Sometimes there was solid ground beside them and sometimes just a cliff. It was un-nerving, having the structure change so often.

  “Ferny!”

  Fernando had been lost thinking about the scenery, but he came back to reality to see Brittany slipping down the path.

  Shit!

  She was sliding toward the edge of the path, toward the cliff.

  He lunged at her just as her feet slipped over the edge. He grabbed her hands and held them with his own. He was lying on his stomach, but it was so awkward with the two packs on him. He couldn’t move easily to get her.

  She slipped farther.

  “Help me…” she pleaded. “Please.”

  Her legs were over the edge. He had hold of her, but she was still sliding slowly, pulling him along with her. He could feel her holding his hands tightly.

  “I’ve got you, baby.”

  But he didn’t.

  Fernando saw that she was kicking, using her legs to try to get back up to the path.

  “Stop kicking, Brit! It’s pulling us down.”

  “I’ve got to get up!”

  “STOP IT! STOP KICKING! LOOK AT ME!”

  She stopped kicking and lifted her face from the path to look at her husband. Her eyes were pleading with him, and just for a second he thought about letting her go. Who could say he didn’t try everything he could to save her?

  But he just gripped her harder.

  “You’re gonna be okay. But you can’t panic. See, we’ve stopped moving now that you’re not kicking.”

  “Don’t let me go.”

  “I won’t. I promise.”

  He turned his face toward the path where the others would have gone. “Carlos! Help! Steve!”

  He didn’t expect them to hear, but he yelled again. There was no reply.

  Fernando looked to the other side and saw nothing that would help, but his right leg was hitting a rock that was half-buried in the ground. He curled his foot around the rock and it helped to anchor him.

  Once he was locked to the rock, he looked back at Brittany.

  “I need to take one of your arms. I’m going to let go of your right hand so I can get both my hands on your left arm.”

  “No. Don’t — ”

  “I can’t do it this way.”

  “No… please.”

  She started to cry. Fernando took a deep breath and let go of her right arm. She started to fall but he immediately grabbed her left wrist with his hand and pulled. Both his hands on her arm gave him the leverage he needed. She was sliding a bit but then he pulled harder and she inched toward him.

  “Move your legs back, so there’s less of an angle.”

  “Please, please…”

  He pulled harder, fueled by an adrenaline rush that made him feel superhuman. He knew he was letting his own life depend on that one rock not uprooting, but he didn’t care. He needed to save her.

  She slid closer, her hips finally back on top of the cliff. Then she flipped one leg back onto the surface and she slid the rest of the way back to solid ground easily.

  Fernando crawled to his wife and fell down beside her.

  She was still crying, but she was safe. He sat and then lifted her head onto his lap, rubbing her hair the way she liked it.

  Five minutes later, Carlos and Steve came back around the bend in the path, wondering what had happened.

  Chapter 4: Team Genius

  Jonathan - New York City

  Jonathan Lewis had just passed his 27th birthday and life was good. He owned his life like nobody else ever owned theirs. Scavenger Hunt was the perfect challenge for him. Lots of money and he was guaranteed to win. Who could beat him? He was the smartest person he knew, Pietre was strong as an ox, and Samantha was cute and could speak six languages, four of them fluently.

  Who could beat them?

  Who could beat him?

  Nobody.

  Team Genius. It was his name, and it fit perfectly. He had an I.Q. of 158 and pulled in $300,000 in salary as an architect. Three of the splashiest skyscrapers being built right now in Manhattan and another in Chicago were his babies. He could pick and choose his work, pick and choose his friends, pick and choose the girls he slept with. Fifty-seven different ones and counting.

  He had his hair touched up every two weeks, and he only wore casual (but very expensive) suits. He had a perpetual tan.

  Twenty-seven with my share of ten million bucks, he thought. I’ll be able to do anything I want.

  He sat on a stool, beside Samantha. She seemed nervous to be on TV for the first time. On her other side sat Pietre. He perched there quietly, not seeming to have a care in the world.

  There were temporary barriers separating the three of them from the other teams, so they couldn’t see each other. In front was Karen, and she was talking to the camera, explaining the few rules of the game.

  Finally, after about five minutes of her bubbling away and trying to entrance the audience, Karen said, “Now, let’s meet our four Scavenger Hunt teams!”
r />   The gray barriers slid back and Jonathan looked over to his right to see the first two teams.

  The team farthest from him was very young. A monitor above them listed their name as Team Harvard. Kids.

  The second team was a pair of old farts, Latino of some kind and some bimbo blonde. Team Hollywood.

  Jonathan smiled. This was going to be easier than he thought. Those two teams had no chance.

  He turned to his left to the last team: Team Superior. Three girls, and —

  What the fuck?

  Emma?

  Jonathan - Two Months Earlier

  Jonathan drained his second Mojito, tasting the lime and sugar on top of the rum. He’d come to like the drink after some girl introduced it to him a year or so ago.

  Club Santos was in midtown, not far from Times Square. Far enough away, though, to keep the tourists out. He liked that. No starry-eyed saggy old people wandering in and taking photos of the place. No groups of girls who wanted free drinks but had no intention of putting out.

  Tonight he just wanted to celebrate with his pals. They’d put together the winning design for the new City Hall in Boston, and the three of them were out to enjoy the day.

  Adam and Brian worked for Jonathan, basically doing all the grunt work after he’d figured out the big picture. Tonight was a night to party. At least until Jonathan could find girl number fifty-eight.

  He felt restless. He always did after a big win.

  The bar was dark but not so dark that he couldn’t see the girls in the room. There were several who seemed to be alone. He’d been keeping a lookout.

  There was the one he decided he wanted tonight. She was sitting at the bar watching a golf match on TV. Her hair was bright blonde, spilling down past her shoulders. She had pale skin and a slim build. Just Jonathan’s type.

  “Good-night, gents,” he said as he straightened his tie. “See you in the morning.”

  Adam and Brian held their glasses up to toast him as he left.

  He pulled together his best smile and moved to the stool beside the blonde. He held his empty glass up to the bartender, who took it and went to make another.

  “Love the dress,” he said. “It really suits you.”

  She smiled self-consciously. “Thank you.”

  “My mother had a dress that same yellow color. Yellow’s always made me happy ever since.”

  “That’s really nice. Is your mom…”

  He waited a beat. “She died a couple of years ago.”

  “Oh. I’m sorry.”

  The bartender brought his Mojito.

  Her voice. There was something about her. It was actually lyrical, like he was listening to music. He smiled at her. Jeez, he actually liked her.

  “Can I buy you a drink?”

  “Umm… no, thank you. I’d really rather be alone just now.”

  Jonathan almost didn’t know what to say. It’d been years since a girl had turned him down so quickly.

  “Sure. Have a nice time.”

  He quietly went back to his friends and sat down. They chuckled, but he stared at them and they knew enough to shut the fuck up. Jonathan’s prime asset was not his humility and ability to laugh at himself.

  They talked a bit about the next bid, an RFP that just came in for a new ten-story office building in Queens. Jonathan wasn’t sure he wanted to do it. Not a big enough project, not enough prestige, not worthy of his time.

  He stared at his drink and every once in a while he glanced at the blonde at the bar. A few other guys had tried to hit on her, but she sent them away even faster than she’d passed on him.

  At one point Adam said, “Jeez, you can have any other woman here. Just go get one.”

  Jonathan wondered why he didn’t do that himself. But instead he waved at the bartender to bring him another drink.

  His two friends left about 9:00, when Jonathan was on his fifth drink. He was still cold sober. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually gotten drunk. Good genes or something.

  When the bartender dropped the drink off and turned away, Jonathan was amazed that the blonde girl was standing right there.

  “Hi,” she said. “Can I join you?”

  He smiled and stood, pulling a chair out for her. “Hi.”

  “I was waiting for your friends to leave. I’m not interested in being talked about while I meet somebody.”

  “I’m glad you came over,” he said. “I’m Jonathan.”

  “I’m Emma.”

  And she smiled that amazing smile. He didn’t think he’d ever seen a smile that brilliant, that carefree and real.

  She wore that really delicate yellow dress. She had beautiful cheeks and lips that just asked to be kissed.

  She scared the crap out of him almost immediately.

  Emma was dainty. Delicate. Fragile.

  Within a minute of meeting her, he felt an overpowering urge to protect her. He wanted to take care of her and find out what made her tick, how she ended up in this bar on this day.

  “I’m twenty-two,” she said when he asked her age. “How about you?”

  “Twenty-seven,” and for the first time, he felt old. “I’m an architect. What do you do?”

  “I run a used bookstore. It belonged to my mother.”

  She paused and looked into his eyes. “My mother really did die not that long ago.”

  Jonathan felt blood rush to his face and he looked down at the table, no longer able to meet her eyes.

  “I’m sorry.”

  He didn’t know if he was sympathizing for her loss or apologizing for his earlier lie. Probably both.

  Both Jonathan and Emma switched to soft drinks and they closed down the bar at 2:00 a.m. Jonathan called a taxi and prepaid her trip home. He promised to call her, and for once, he knew he meant it. It was only later, when he was staring at the ceiling of his bedroom at four a.m., that he realized he hadn’t once thought of bedding Emma. He just wanted to know her, to understand her, to talk to her, to be with her.

  “What the hell happened tonight?” he asked himself.

  Jonathan - New York City

  And there she was. Emma.

  On a competing team. Jonathan stared at her and saw her staring back in surprise. She hadn’t known, either.

  He’d told her they were entering, but she never said anything about having a team. He didn’t know who the other two girls with her were.

  She raised her eyebrows at him as if to ask if they should say anything. He shook his head very slightly. If everyone knew they were lovers, it would affect the dynamics of the game too much.

  But there was nothing in the rules to say two teams couldn’t become alliances…

  Karen was looking at him. It was time for Team Genius to pick a location to travel to.

  Pietre was talking to him and Samantha, saying something about one of the clues, but Jonathan missed it. All he could think about was Emma.

  He tried not to stare, but he needed to talk to her.

  Fuck it.

  He walked right over to her and the other girls on her team. Everyone on stage was amazed and dead quiet. Karen didn’t seem to know what to do, so she waited for a cue from the producers.

  One of the other girls asked, “What are you doing?”

  It wasn’t obvious he was there for Emma. He stared at the other girl. Her nametag said, “Maria.” She was a cute black girl with shoulder-length hair and nice green eyes. The third girl was short with long brown hair and pale skin. Tanya. They were pretty in their own way, but they couldn’t hold a candle to Emma.

  He glanced back at Karen, and then back to his own teammates. Pietre and Samantha were totally confused.

  “Look, girls,” he said. “We can do better if we help each other, at least initially. You know how alliances always help in these shows. Let’s agree to work together, at least for the first couple of legs of the race.”

  Maria asked, “How do we do that?”

  “We just go to the same places. We can work out
strategies and figure out how to beat the other two teams. Once we get far enough ahead of them, we can go our separate ways and let the best team win.”

  Tanya didn’t look convinced, but Emma said, “I like that. We can work together for now and then see what happens.”

  “Your own team doesn’t know you’re suggesting this,” Maria said.

  “I’ll take care of them. You just have to pick the same destination we do. We’ll worry about the details later.”

  He smiled at them all, but mostly at Emma. She and Tanya smiled back. Maria still wasn’t convinced.

  Jonathan walked back to Pietre and Samantha.

  “What the fuck was that about?” asked Pietre. He stared at Jonathan. He gritted his teeth and looked like he was betrayed.

  Samantha had her arms crossed and waited for an answer too.

  Before he could explain, Karen called to them. “Team Genius. You must choose a destination now.”

  “What do you think, guys?” asked Jonathan. “We’ll talk later, but where do you think we should go?”

  Pietre pointed to a clue on the top row: Evolving Issues. “I think I know where that’d send us. It’s good.”

  Jonathan shrugged and looked at Samantha.

  She nodded. “It’s not as far as some of the other choices likely are.”

  Pietre announced the choice for the team. Karen picked the envelope and handed it to him. Pietre opened the envelope and read it:

  Go to the Galapagos Islands. You must visit each of the fifteen main islands of the chain and have a photo taken with your team next to a place that has the name of the island written down.

  Jonathan thought for a minute, to think what he knew about the Galapagos Islands. Charles Darwin had spent time there studying birds or tortoises or something. He didn’t know anything else about the islands. Not even where they were.

  As Karen moved to talk to the final team, Jonathan whispered to his teammates. “Where’s this?”

  “Off South America,” said Samantha. “Ecuador.”

  “Sounds good. We can get a flight tonight to… what’s the capital of Ecuador?”