Page 66 of Part & Parcel

Owen made a clucking sound without looking up. “And what rule were you two breaking?”

Kelly and Nick both muttered an answer, neither of them really audible. But Zane knew exactly what they were saying. He glanced at Ty, who met his eyes, biting his lip against a smile. They’d been preparing to break the same rule last night when Ty’s phone had gone haywire. Ty shook his head, and Zane tossed him a wink before he looked away. They’d keep that to themselves.

“Must have been a rogue signal passing by,” Owen decided. “A big rig with a satellite or CB or something sending off a burst. It’s pretty common. And your Bluetooth is connecting to Helen right now, that’s why it’s doing weird things.”

“Who is Helen?” Zane asked, turning to look back at them.

“The car,” Owen said, as if that had already been discussed and decided and Zane should probably know that. “She’s a Suburban.”

Zane rolled his eyes and gave Ty a dirty look. He knew exactly whose twisted mindthathad come from.

“The gentlemen in the back still need to pee!” Digger called.

Ty grunted. “The gentlemen in the back need to be fucking patient!”

“The gentlemen in the back are going to piss in your Wheaties if you don’t find a fucking gas station,” Kelly warned.

“We’re in the middle of a national park,” Ty growled. “There aren’t any gas stations!”

“I think we need to redefine the word gentlemen,” Owen said nonchalantly.

Nick thumped his bare feet onto the console and crossed his arms as he relaxed against the door panel. “Are we there yet?”

Once you reach Yellowstone, find a campground as far from the little villages as possible. You’ve probably already figured out what you’re supposed to do for the next couple days, so here we go.

Two camps, no more than two miles apart. Two flags, made of whatever you can find. Two teams, Alpha and Bravo. These will be your teams for the rest of the trip. Split up by drawing straws. If you have an uneven number, or someone is too old and decrepit to play, make the uneven straw a rogue who can be bought, bribed, or blackmailed by either team. We’re playing Jacksonville rules.

You start the game at midnight, and it doesn’t end for the next 24 hours. Winning team will find out what their prize is in the next letter, which you will open only when one of the flags has been captured or the 24 hours are up.

We were once counted among the finest spec ops teams in any military. It’s time you remembered what made us so special.

“What are Jacksonville rules?” Zane asked hesitantly after Owen had finished the letter.

They were sitting on several wet benches in front of Old Faithful, amid the crowds of people milling about with cameras and children and ponchos, waiting for the geyser to blow. The crowd was making Kelly anxious, and he wasn’t sure quite why. He edged closer to Digger, and Digger put a hand around his shoulders, patting him like he knew Kelly wasn’t comfortable.

“Jacksonville rules mean no weapons,” Ty explained. “Use your environment and any resources you can, but no weaponry. Basically.”

“There are more nuances to Jacksonville rules,” Owen added. “But basically it boils down to, if you’re bleeding or on fire, yell time-out.”

Zane nodded, looking a little sick. “Okay then.”

“I’ll get something to use as straws,” Owen said, and he handed the letter to Nick before strolling off to the manicured tree line toward the parking lot.

Kelly turned to the geyser. The last time they’d been here, they’d never caught the damn thing going off. One early morning they’d actually seen it from the road as they’d driven up, and that had been their last attempt; they’d left Yellowstone that morning, all grumbling variations of, “Old Faithful my ass.”

“Hey,” Nick said from behind him.

Kelly turned to find Nick just out of arm’s reach, his head cocked, his brow deeply furrowed, and both hands stuffed in his pockets.

“You okay?” he asked Kelly.

“No, but I’m not sure why,” Kelly admitted. “I think I’ll be fine when we’re out of this crowd.”

Nick didn’t respond, he merely continued to frown at Kelly. Kelly offered him a smile, wishing he could step closer and lean into him to ease the anxiety. He’d made the no-touching rule himself, though, and it was best to not even tempt either of them with that sort of contact. He found himself hoping that when they did split up into teams, he and Nick would be on opposite sides.

Owen returned with a handful of twigs. He’d cut them so that three of them were the same length. The others he’d left longer. He held them all in his fist, making sure the tips were even. “Alpha are the short ones,” he decided, and he pulled the first stick and held it up.

One by one they chose, splitting themselves into Alpha and Bravo. Ty, Zane, and Kelly wound up with the Alpha sticks, and Nick, Owen, and Digger had the uneven Bravo sticks.

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