Page 112 of Close Your Eyes and Count to 10

What could go wrong?

44

ADELE

Now, adrenaline abandoning her, she had to face the stinging bite of failure. They’d saved Malinka’s life. But the game was obviously over before it ever began. Adele pushed away the disappointment. The foliage all around seemed to whisper, mocking. Malinka, limping, bleeding from a cut on her head, her hands raw from the rope, leaned heavily on Adele as they moved slowly together back to the casita on high ground. The storm had lessened some, but the ground was a swamp.

“It’s the eye,” said Cody, looking up into the sky. The clouds had parted, and a field of stars was visible in the velvet-black sky. “It won’t last.”

The girl was shivering in Adele’s arms. “You shouldn’t have come for me,” she said, maybe picking up on Adele’s despair. “I don’t deserve it.”

“Don’tsaythat,” said Adele. “You’re okay. We’re all okay for the moment. That’s all that matters.”

“You came here for your kids,” Malinka said, her voice throaty. “To make a better life for them. And instead, you had to save me.”

“The only thing that matters right now is that we all make it home.” She meant it. She saw the whole enterprise clearly now for what it always had been. A social-media sham; a false idol. A game that was rigged from the outset. How could she have been so foolish?

Cody took Malinka’s other arm and shifted her weight from Adele. Over the girl’s head, they exchanged a look. Adele felt the energy of a smile.

Inside it was blessedly dry. Cody got right to work clearing away some debris. He took a blanket from his pack and handed it to Adele, who wrapped it around Malinka. They sat together in the corner of the casita, farthest from the window. The occasional lightning flashes were distant now, thunder muted. Outside, the view was clear, lit by the moon.

“It’s so beautiful,” whispered Malinka, looking up. Adele felt it, too, the gratitude just to be alive.

Cody took out a canteen of water, handed it to Adele who drank from it, then offered it to Malinka. She waved it away.

“Drink,” said Cody. “Hydration is everything.”

Malinka reluctantly took a sip. Then she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes.

“Now what?” said Adele.

Cody’s face was half-cast in shadows. He stared outside at the view.

“Well, I think it’s clear that the game is off, right?” he said after a moment. “I don’t think anyone is coming for us.”

As much as she didn’t want to admit it, she knew he was right. Cody’s clothes were soaked through like Adele’s and Malinka’s—their sponsored supposedly impermeable rain gear had been no match for real weather. But Cody didn’t seem cold or especially rattled. His gaze was clear and focused.

“So the way I see it, we have a couple of choices.” He sat cross-legged on the ground next to Adele.

“Okay. What are you thinking?”

“We take advantage of the break in the weather, head back to camp, hop in one of those Range Rovers and get off this site, head back to town or to the airport, and wait out the rest of the storm there. Those men aren’t going to keep us here. They only care about detaining the Extreme team.”

This appealed to Adele. She felt beaten. She remembered something that Cody said.The only true prize in this world is living another day.Thinking that she was going to watch Malinka die, that she might go over the edge with her, had her shaken to the core. She realized that the only prize she cared about now was seeing her kids again.

“Do we have the keys?” asked Adele.

“The last I checked they were in the vehicle,” he said. So hehadthought about leaving. “Right before the game began.”

She’d thought about leaving then, too.

“What’s the other option?” asked Malinka. Some of the color had returned to her cheeks. She took another drink from the canteen.

“We go along with whatever stunt Extreme is pulling.”

“What are you saying?” asked Malinka, leaning toward him with a frown.

“Maverick is down in the basement of Enchantments looking for Angeline. If WeWatch is to be believed, she’s been kidnapped.”

---