Virgo's Vice (10 page)

Chapter 14

Allan Dockery sat in his high-backed leather chair and stared at the computer screen. He could hardly contain his excitement, and wished he could be a fly on the wall as he watched Google Earth soar across the screen to Zimbabwe.

Those contestants had probably built a shelter by now. They would have had to find water. He had done his research and he knew they wouldn’t die of dehydration. A couple of them had fire-making equipment and they had two pots to boil water with.
He wondered if they had found anything to eat yet. They might not like rice as their only meal but they wouldn’t starve.

He chuckled as he scrolled through the names. They probably thought it was going to be an individual game, but when he got there in two days’ time he was going to cause as much disruption as he could by putting them into teams of two. As he checked out the names and examined their pictures, he made notes on a tablet that sat on the desk beside the computer.

“You”—he indicated Henry—“will be teamed up with Eve Li.” He chuckled to himself. “The oldest with the youngest. Yes. I can see some conflict there.”

“Next, Rodriguez. I’ll put him with the pretty girl, the teacher, Kelli. That should annoy the young studs. I wonder how she’s getting along with her high heels and cocktail dress.”

He typed on the tablet, and returned his concentration to the screen. “Maria, our little nurse. I’ll team her up with the lawyer. He won’t like that. He’s a jock and he would want to be with the pretty redhead.” Allan chuckled again.

He wondered how the camera operators were doing. He hoped Lexie hadn’t hurt herself when she landed. He shouldn’t have pushed her, he knew, and it could land him with a law suit but she was young and healthy. She would be okay. He was glad Anthony had recommended her to him. It was a good choice and she had worked with Mark before. They had the sat phone, and he knew they would call if anyone was injured, or anything.

He missed Jake, but he imagined the dog must be having the time of his life. He didn’t often get to run and play in wide-open spaces like that. He was confident that cowboy would have landed okay with him in that harness. Cowboys liked animals. He was absolutely certain Lexie would take care of him. She loved animals and couldn’t stay away from Jake whenever they were on set.

Once he was done figuring out the teams, he opened the sketches of the obstacle courses. It wouldn’t take them too long to build once the crew was on the ground. Ten miles in that heat would make a good elimination task. The last couple in would immediately be eliminated.

He sat back in his chair and checked his watch. He wished the financier, Josh Grant would call him and let him know he had wired the funds.

His Assistant Producer, Anthony, had been emailing every hour and it was starting to wear him down. He hadn’t told Anthony how much was riding on this show being a success, but as soon as the money showed up in the bank, he would tell him to get his ass onto the next flight and get the show started. The bank had extended him a lot of credit, but the cost of the flights for the crew members, and the freight from here to Africa would be greater than he could afford, even with the overdraft. The air charter company in Zimbabwe hadn’t been paid for the last trip yet, either, and he knew they wouldn’t take off again without that payment.

He checked his email. Again. Maybe Josh had wired the funds and emailed him to let him know. No there wasn’t anything. He logged onto his bank and checked the balance. It was still in the red. Badly in the red.

His stomach churned.

He would have to give Josh another twenty-four hours before he could call and remind him.

Chapter 15

I’m real happy that I snuck another mug of water before we left. It’s getting warm again and I wish we could have brought bottled water with us. I think we’re getting close to the creek now. We’ve been walking downhill for at least ten minutes.

“Yeehaw,” Billy lets out his happy cry, and I hurry to catch up.

The creek is about twenty feet wide and is running quite fast. The water’s clear. I manage to keep the camera rolling while I skid down the grassy bank. Billy is kneeling and scooping up a handful of water. I watch him sniff it. Then he cups both hands, dips them in and fills them with water, and raises them to his lips.

“I wouldn’t be doing that, bro,” Andy says. “You don’t want be getting the runs out here.” He chuckles.

“It’s clean water,” Billy says. “Anyhow, I’m used to drinking from creeks. Your stomachs might be more sensitive.”

Jared stares, wide-eyed. “The pilot said there are some parasites that live in most of the creeks and dams in Africa. People who know about them don’t swim in the water, and they sure as hell don’t drink it without boiling it.”

Billy shrugs. “I heard him say that, but he also said the water here gets too cold in winter for that kind of parasite to survive.”

“I would love to drink some,” I say. “But I don’t want to take the chance.” They can all probably see me licking my lips.

Jake pushes past me, drops his head and laps the water.

Eve is watching Billy, who is staring into the water.

“Need to find a pool where the water’s still,” he says. “But first we need some worms.” He breaks a stick off a bush, cleans it of leaves, squats down and starts to dig in the mud at the edge of the water.

“Yes,” he says and pulls out a handful of mud with worms crawling around in it. Jared holds out the pot and Billy drops them into it.

“Eeuw.” I can’t help saying it.

Billy peers up at me and grins. “Aaw, you don’t like worms. Come on, come and touch them.” He picks up another handful of mud and holds up his hand. I can see them wriggling around in the dirt.

I shudder. Before I realize what he’s doing he runs at me, holding the handful of mud and worms out in front of him.

I scream and run back up the bank and back along the path we’ve just followed. Jake starts barking and I can hear him running behind me.

“Hey, Jake, it’s okay, buddy,” Billy says. “Chicken!” Billy yells from a few feet away from me.

I stop, breathing hard, and turn around. Jake is standing between Billy and me, still barking. Billy thrusts the worm hand forward in a feint and I scream again. Jake barks and rushes Billy, who bursts out laughing.

The others all start laughing too. I try not to grin but I can’t stop myself. “Just don’t put those things near me,” I say. “I’m serious, Billy. I don’t like bugs and things that crawl and wriggle.”

Jake pushes his head under my hand and I stroke him and pull his soft ears. He’s panting, with his mouth open and his tongue hanging out.

“Come on, bro,” Andy says. “Let’s catch us some fish.”

Billy still has that teasing grin on his face when he says, “Okay, let’s head up that way.” He faces me. “You coming?”

“Should we get the water?” I say to Eve.

“I need the pot,” Eve says.

Jared pours the worms out of the pot into his hand and gives her the pot. I stay way back so the worms are nowhere near me.

Eve, Jake, and I walk a few hundred yards back along the path until we get to a spot where the bank is not so steep. Eve dips the pot into the water and rinses it out. We use it to collect water. It takes some experimenting to figure out how to hold the condoms to get the water into them without spilling too much, but after a while we get the hang of it.

“It could work better if we blow it up a little first,” Eve says.

She’s right. It fills easier. Then we have to tie them tight at the top. I am so proud to have managed it. I drop the filled condom down on the grass. It pops and the water starts to squirt out.

“Oh shit!” I pick it up and try to block the hole with my finger.

Eve bursts out laughing. “Just as well we weren’t using it for . . . you-know-what,” she says with a grin.

I chuckle. “Yeah. I guess we have to treat it with more respect. Funny how they can take a pounding when you use them as, well, as condoms.”

We handle the next filled condom more carefully. I slide it into the cargo bag, making sure there is nothing sharp in there.

“Yes. One down. How many more do we have?”

Eve slides them out of her pocket and counts them. “Seven.”

“How many does Lela have? I thought she said she had a couple of hundred, and all she can spare is seven.”

“She said she might need the others.”

This time it’s me who laughs. “She’s gonna be busy, then.”

“This is much nicer water than that other stuff,” Eve says. “I’m almost tempted to drink it.”

“Yeah. It’s so cool and clear. But no. We should wait and see if affects Billy first.” Could he be right, that his stomach is more able to handle bacteria here in Africa than ours because he drinks from creeks in Texas? I think he’s just making that up. I sure hope the pilot was right about the water being too cold for parasites.

“Are you really so scared of worms?” Eve asks in a more-serious tone.

“Sure I am. Aren’t you?”

She shakes her head. “I’ve been fishing a few times and I put the worms on the hook myself. You have to kind of thread them onto it.”

“Ugh. You’re making me feel creepy.” It sounds pretty cruel to me, but who knows if worms have feelings.

“So have you ever been fishing?” Eve says.

“No. I’ve lived in L.A. most of my life. All of my life. But I always love to get outdoors when I can.”

“You don’t dress like a city person.” She stares at my jeans and then at my hair, which is probably flying around everywhere.

“No. I much prefer the country to the city, even though I’ve never really had much chance to spend outside. Actually when we get back I’m moving out of the city onto a horse ranch. I’ll be living in the manager’s cottage.” Every time I think about it a little flutter of anxiety runs through me, even though I really, really want to make the change. I’m so lucky to have met that woman Sheila, in the line at the bank. I would never have known about the cottage if I hadn’t. She knows I’m on assignment in Africa and that I’ll contact her as soon as I get back.

“So will you be working there?”

“No. They want someone to be around on weekends when they go to shows. You know, so if a horse gets injured or anything while they’re away I can call them and they can call a veterinarian. Things like that. I’m also gonna get a dog.” I pat Jake. “I love dogs and I’ve never ever been able to have one of my own. I’ve always liked horses, too. I’m not a bad rider, and Sheila said she’ll let me ride sometimes.”

“How do you like being a camera operator?”

Eve is full of questions. “It’s cool.”

We fill all six remaining condoms and drop them into the canvas bag, then leave it in the shade of a tree.

“Let’s go check on the guys.”

“I’ll wait here,” Eve says, sinking down onto the grass. ‘I’m hot and tired.”

“You okay here on your own? I don’t think we should be separated.”

“Sure. I’ll be fine. I like being alone sometimes. Go and catch some fish. Or at least film them catching fish.” She chuckles.

Billy, Jared, and Andy walked in silence for a while.

“Here.” Billy stopped, extracted the machete from his belt, and started hacking at a long reed.

“Fishing pole,” he said. “I’ll make one for you.” He stared at Jared. “And another for you, Andy. Do you think the girls will want to fish?”

“No,” Jared said. “Lexie’s filming and I could see Eve wasn’t too excited about it.”

“Lexie won’t come anywhere near the worms, anyhow,” Billy said with a smile. “Do you think she’s really that scared of them?”

“You’d better believe it, bro,” Jared said. “She was shit-scared. I bet she peed in her pants she was so fucking scared.”

“Just like you with that spider? You screamed like a girl.”

“That dog almost bit you, dude,” Andy said. “You’re lucky he didn’t. He’s real protective of her.”

“Dogs won’t bite me. They like me. It’s not even her dog, anyhow.”

“He looked pretty serious to me,” Andy said.

After a little while, Billy said, “This is a good place. The water’s still here, see?” He gazed out over the wide pool. “That line of rocks is making a natural dam. There’s a little waterfall below it. That’s what we can hear.”

“Yeah, neat. It even has that rocky island in the middle,” Jared said.

Billy squatted and tied some line onto the end of one of the poles, then a hook, and handed it Jared, who moved a few steps away. He set the soil with the worms in it down in a pile. “I wish we had some place to keep the worms,” he said as he pulled out a worm, threaded it onto the hook, and dropped it into the water.

The water was so clear, Billy could see the grass waving on the bottom, and the fish swimming around. He watched his hook sink. After a while he jerked the rod up. “Yeah,” he yelled. “It’s at least a pound. We’ll eat tonight.” The sun glinted off the fish’s scales.

“I could cook that and eat it now, right here,” Andy said. “I don’t know about you dudes but my stomach is growling I’m so hungry. And thirsty.” He dragged the flint from his pocket and held it up. “There’s plenty of wood around and I have flint for a fire.”

“You don’t have to be thirsty,” Billy said. “But seriously, we have to take whatever we catch back. I mean, if we were playing and we were in our own team that would be one thing.”

“I know. It was just a thought,” Andy said.

“So Kelli and you . . .” Billy couldn’t help throwing a glance at Jared to see if he was listening. He was.

“Kelli. Yeah, she’s a nice girl.”

“I thought you two had done it last night. I saw you moving around like you were doing it, and I heard her moaning. She was trying to be quiet but you must have been good.”

Surprise showed on Andy’s face. “Dude. Don’t you ever sleep?”

“So you scored with her last night?” Jared asked. “On the first night? How did you do it?”

Andy grinned. “It’s my handsome features and charm. She couldn’t resist me.”

“Fuck, man. That’s not fair,” Jared said. “And what about that ring on your finger?”

Andy looked away. “Don’t go there, man. There’s a lot of stuff you don’t know about me.”

“Yeah?” Jared said.

“Lexie’s also hot,” Andy pointed out, obviously changing the subject.

“Hey. Leave her out of it,” Billy said.

“Oh, it’s like that. Okay, Jared, how about Lela? Easy the way she sleeps with just those skimpy little lace scraps. She brought condoms, too. I reckon she’d like it enough to take it further. Oh! Check it out.” He also had a fish on the end of his line.

What had Andy said? It’s like that. Was it like that? Billy thought about it for a few moments. He hardly knew Lexie, and yet he probably wouldn’t like it if Jared tried to hit on her. Had he been wrong?

“We need something to put these in,” Andy said as he yanked the hook from the fish’s mouth.

“Where’s the trash when you need it?” Jared said. “In most places you can always find an old can or a plastic bag laying around if you search hard enough.” He stared at the ground all around them as if to make his point.

“No humans, no trash,” Billy said.

“Seriously, though, where are we gonna put these fish?” Andy asked.

“I have a spare couple of hooks and we’ll cut a little line off and thread them onto it. We’ll tie it onto something and keep them in the water.” As he spoke, Billy hooked another fish.

Lexie arrived with the camera up on her shoulder. Jake ran up to Billy and licked his face.

“Hey, Lex,” Billy said with a smile, “you’re just in time to record me catching this,” He stood and lifted his rod. “With a worm.” She sure got his hormones going. Just having her nearby. It was hard to believe he actually had slept beside her and they had only cuddled together. He didn’t know if he would be able to keep his hands off her again. Sleeping with her was gonna be even tougher tonight.

“Where’s Eve?” Jared asked.

“She was too tired to walk. She’s sitting on the grass guarding the water, back the way we came.”

“That’s not good,” Andy said. “We shouldn’t let anyone be totally alone here. Anything could happen to them. I’ll go check on her.”

Andy trudged back toward the copse of trees he had seen on the way here.

“Hey,” he said to Eve. She was sitting in the ground beside the bulging cargo bag, chewing on a piece of grass. “Just going to get some firewood. Don’t you want to join the others?”

“No.” She lay back. “I like being alone sometimes.”

He had tried. If she didn’t want to join the others it wasn’t his problem. She didn’t seem to be afraid of wild animals or a monster or anything like that. He would never admit it to anyone but he couldn’t help being a little nervous about the possibility of coming face to face with a lion or something. He glanced back as he headed deeper into the trees until he was sure she couldn’t see him.

His hand was shaking when he stuck it into his pants pocket and came out with the pills. He almost dropped the cap into the grass but managed to hold onto it at the last minute. He tapped two out onto his hand, breathing fast, and threw them back into his mouth and swallowed them. He stood there for a few minutes waiting for the feeling to wash over him. God, it was good when it came. He wished he didn’t have to go back. He wanted to savor the moment.