Virgo's Vice (4 page)

She was willing to help with anything but would be careful not to let anyone see how resourceful and strong she really was, and she wasn’t afraid to do things on her own out here. She had youth in her favor, and that would count for a lot when they started getting dehydrated. Only the kid without the shoes was as young as her. The two Mexicans—the injured one and the nurse—and the black guy were really old. That pasty-faced executive type woman had offered to help build the shelter, but she looked like she wouldn’t want to wrinkle her clothes, and what was with the fancy hairdo?

A million dollars. It was like a dream to think she could actually win a million dollars. She had to win. She didn’t know how much longer she could go on living out of her car. It was becoming harder and harder to find places to shower, and if she kept on going the way she had been, she would never be able to rent a place again.

Eve hid a chuckle when she glanced at the redhead in the black cocktail dress. Of all the dumb things to be wearing, and what about
her
shoes?

“I’ll help as soon as I get my shoes.” Kelli Gannon was still mentally kicking herself for being duped into wearing cocktail clothes for the party after the briefing. She wasn’t sure how she was going to survive and win the game with those shoes. She wished she could offer to help make a shelter now. It seemed like a very good idea. She glanced in the direction the others had gone, glad the camera operators weren’t following her and focusing on her face, since it was most likely a mess. They and the others with them had totally disappeared from sight and who knew how long they would be.

The lawyer was gorgeous but he was wearing a wedding ring, and anyhow, she didn’t want to mess around on Mark. She had promised him. Still, she and Mark hadn’t been together for more than two months now, ever since his mom started getting suspicious, and she was beginning to need a man again.

“So how are you suggesting we do it?” the tall, attractive blond woman with the accent said loudly. She was pretty and might be a model. She must work out a lot. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on her body and her arm muscles were like a man’s.

Lela Sukhova knew she had a huge advantage over the others. None of them had lived through the hell she had had to endure in the prison camp in Iraq. She smirked. She was already a seasoned survivor and this reality show would be like child’s play compared to that. Reality? They had no idea about reality. She had experienced harsh reality in the camp—going without water and food for days, making her own shelter out of virtually nothing with her bare hands. The others in this group might be able to do that, but she doubted if any of them would have handled the daily beatings or public rape. All she had to do here was deal with the elements. With this money she would be able to buy her mom a nice house in the suburbs. Her mom wasn’t strong. She needed to live in a warm place or her lungs weren’t going to last much longer. Maybe she would even stop coughing altogether in a new house.

“I’ll help as soon as my ankle is bound,” Rodriguez said. “I’m a contractor. So if it were up to me, I would head over there right now and check out those saplings.” He pointed. “When we get an axe, which I’m assuming is packed with the cargo; we’ll be able to start cutting them.”

“Here’s another suggestion,” the nurse, Maria Lopez, said. “We will need water before the night comes, and fire to boil it.”

Nobody spoke for a few moments.

“Right,” said Lela. “We need to find the water.” She turned around in a three-sixty circle. “Down there could be a creek or water hole.” She pointed at a low area among the gently rolling hills.

“That’s pretty smart,” the redhead with the cocktail dress and no shoes said. Was her name Kelli? “The rain water must drain that way.”

“So what are you gonna carry the water in?” the shoeless nerd, Jared said.

There was another short pause. “We could at least scout it,” said the executive-type woman, Faith. She didn’t appear to be tough enough to be in this game. She was thin and pale.

“Let’s do it,” the trucker woman responded. “Who’s coming?”

“Wait,” the exec said. “I mean, shouldn’t we wait for them?” She pointed toward the path the other guys had taken to search for the bags, and that hill.

“We’re just gonna do a reconnaissance,” the trucker woman sneered.

“I’ll go with you.”
But I hope there are no wild animals
. Lela kept the thought to herself.

Chapter 5

“There must be another one some place,” Mark says when he and I reach Billy Murphy, who is standing over one of the canvas bags, loosening the cords from its parachute.

“I’ll take this one back to the others,” Billy says.

“I’ll go back with him,” I say.

“I’ll keep hunting,” Andy, the attorney, says. He points to the rocky hill they’ve been using as a marker. “If I don’t locate it, I’ll climb that hill and see if I can spot it from up there.”

“That’s further away than you might think,” Billy says. “I wouldn’t be walking that far without water.” He hefts the cumbersome bag onto his shoulders and starts back toward where we left the others.

“Can I help carry that?” I ask him.

“Nah. I can do it,” he says. “You could bring the chute.”

“Sure.” I lift the chute and pull all the cords together so they don’t drag on the ground and hook on things. Jake stays close to me.

“That dog sure likes you. How’s your knee?” Billy asks.

“It’s okay. It’s not stinging anymore.”

“Maybe there’ll be something in here we can use to clean it up better.”

We keep trudging along. It’s hot and I’m starting to get tired. He’s probably tired too. I can see the bag’s heavy.

We finally make it back to the trees, and Billy hefts it off his shoulder and sets it on the ground. I drop the parachute with the others on the pile someone has made.

Everyone crowds around and Billy sits on his heels beside the bag and stares up at me. I find myself staring at him again and I notice how long and dark his lashes are over those bright green eyes.

“Should I open it?” he asks.

I shrug. I wish they wouldn’t ask me stuff. I’m not in charge here and I don’t like them all to stare at me. “Sure,” I say, crouching down beside him to get a closer view.

“What happened to the others?” Billy says.

“Gone to see if they can find water,” Rodriguez, the guy with the twisted ankle, replies from his seat on a small boulder.

Billy grins. “Okay, here goes. Pandora’s bag. There’s no going back once I’ve opened it.” Everyone is quiet while he unzips the bag.

Inside is a black Samsonite trunk with a padlock on it. Billy hauls it out and tosses the canvas bag aside.

“You know the code?” Billy squints at me.

“Not me,” I say. “I just take movies.” Like a dork, I hold my hands up in front of me to mimic me holding a camera.

A few people groan and I don’t know if they’re thinking how lame I am or if they’re pissed that the trunk is locked. The redhead with no shoes, I think she’s a teacher, says, “I suppose our shoes are in the other bag. Isn’t that how Murphy’s Law works?” She’s staring into the canvas bag.

“I guess it’s our first task. We have to figure out the combination,” Billy says.

“It’s kind of weird that we all have to work together,” the nerdy dude with glasses who’s also shoeless, responds. I remember his name is Jared.

“There are two of these bags, aren’t there?” the nerd says.

Mark said there were, and everyone around us seems to agree, although they don’t really know for sure.

“If we were in teams, I guess each team would get one and have to decipher the code.”

“Well, we aren’t in teams,” the giant black dude says. “So we have to figure it out together.” He touches his head, where the cut is.

“How about r-e-a-l-i-t-y,” Billy offers. He doesn’t wait for a response, just starts turning the dial. It doesn’t work.

“Try the producer’s name, d-o-c-k-e-r-y,” offers the black dude.

It doesn’t work either. Billy tries a few more suggestions with no luck.

“You sure you’re doing it right?” the nerd asks. “Let me try.”

Billy stands and we all watch while Jared re-tries the combination.

“Hey.”

The women who went to find water are back. They’re sweaty and hot. The pudgy, tough-looking one in khaki shorts and work boots is in front. She sinks down to the ground and wipes her sweating face on her sleeve. “You found it.”

“One of them,” Billy says.

“Did you find anything?” I say, licking my lips. They taste of salt. I’m really thirsty. I follow her example and sit down on the bare reddish colored earth.

“There’s kind of a mud puddle with animal droppings around it.” The tall blonde with an accent wrinkles her nose. “It will have to be boiled if we want to drink it.”

The nerd, Jared, fills them in about the lock and they start offering suggestions. None of them work. After a while, everyone gets quiet. This is insanely frustrating.

It’s probably over an hour later when Andy and Trip arrive back, carrying the other bag between them, with Mark following them and still filming, the chute in his arm and the cords dangling behind him.

We all cheer.

They set the bag down. “Why haven’t you opened it?” Trip asks, pointing at the trunk.

“We can’t figure out the combination for the padlock,” Billy responds.

Trip unzips the canvas bag he’s just brought, and takes out the shoes that are lying loose inside it. He holds them up and their owners retrieve them. There’s another trunk the same as the first one, and it’s also locked.

I step back and stand beside Mark. It’s not my place to figure out the combination. I can’t help thinking about it, though. I want to ask Mark if he has any thoughts, but he has to keep the camera rolling to record all the suggestions.

After several tries later and what seems like ages, Andy says, “Try the name on the label of one of the bags that covered the trunk. E-m-b-r-i-l-e-s.”

Nobody says anything and it’s so quiet I can hear the padlock clicking.

“Yes!” Billy shouts as it springs open. “Yeehaw!” He yanks it out and lifts the lid of the trunk.

“My camera,” I say and push through the crowd. “Let me get my camera and equipment.” It’s all packed into two labeled cardboard boxes and I drag them out and place them a little ways away and go back to try and see what else they find.

“Our rucksacks are packed in here,” Andy says, lifting a gray canvas bag out of one of the trunks.

“That’s mine,” Maria, the nurse, says. She takes it and moves away to open it.

“Wait up,” Mark says. “We want to get film of you each opening your bags. Do you think you can wait until everyone has theirs and then we can do an intro on camera, one at a time? It’ll give Lexie time to set up her equipment too. My battery is almost dead, and I didn’t think I would be the one having to do this, but what the heck. Welcome to ‘Endure and Win.’ I’m Mark and that’s Lexie”—he points—“and we don’t know any more than you guys about how this competition’s gonna work. We just operate the cameras. I’m glad you all survived the first test—jumping out of the aircraft. I can’t believe some of you jumped without shoes on, but you made it. And it has to be Murphy’s Law that the only person who got injured was the one wearing strong work boots and solid clothing.” Everyone glances at the Mexican then Mark continues. “Allen Dockery said he’d be back in three days, but anything could happen between now and then. Lexie thinks the Assistant Producer’ll show up before that, with some of the crew, and maybe even the host.”

“Who is the host?” Jared asks.

Mark shakes his head. “Like I just said, I don’t know anything about the game. Sorry. However, did anyone get any sort of info? Any special hint or anything? Maybe one of you guys has something that’ll help get the game going, and even clear up some of the mystery.”

Nobody says anything, and Mark continues, “If it’s something you can’t disclose to the others, I need you to tell either me or Lexie in private so we can be sure to film you following up or acting on it. We won’t tell anyone else. We had to sign something to say we’ll keep our mouths shut. Does anyone have any questions?”

“How do we know if we’re supposed to be working in teams or as individuals?” Lela asks.

Mark shakes his head. “Like I said, Old Man Dockery kept most of that kind of info to himself. He most likely told the administrative staff, but not us. Any more questions?”

Mark waits a few seconds. “I guess we just all work together until we know different, then. Lex and I will help around the camp as much as we can until we get our own space when the others arrive.”

Everyone starts talking at once.

“Hey, y’all,” Billy says, “The other trunk has the same combination as the first.”

I hear a lot of people exhaling when the second lock springs open.

Trip starts passing the rucksacks out to whomever claims them. “Whose is this?” he says.

I’m busy assembling my camera, but I glance up. “That’s mine,” I say and set the camera down and snatch my rucksack away from him. Once my camera’s working, I take over from Mark. I figure he’s gone to plug into the solar battery charger and is putting the spare battery in his camera, but I can’t look back to watch him.

Once everyone has their rucksacks, they form a circle. The other stuff that was in the bags has been placed in a pile in the center. Someone has dragged a couple of big logs across, and people are sitting on them.

“Listen up,” the lawyer, Andy, says. “We’re gonna introduce ourselves and open our bags one at a time. I’ll start.”

I catch a strange expression on Trip’s face—like a school kid who’s been smoking cigarettes. Is there something in his bag he doesn’t want us to see?