Page 7 of Close Your Eyes and Count to 10

The biggest prize offered in the history of Extreme!

The winner walks away with ONE MILLION dollars!

Influencers,

APPLY HERE NOW!

She was surprised by a little jangle of excitement.

She wasn’t really thinking about this, was she? She’d have to get time off work. Figure out who was going to take care of the kids.

No. It was really not even an option.

But—a million dollars? That would be a game changer.

And she wasn’t sure how it all worked, but she knew the more followers she had, the better. Lately, she’d been hearing from WeWatch,with tips and advice on how to grow her audience, monetize her page with advertising, sponsor content (known asspon con). She’d even been approached via DM by a couple of companies for small sponsorships, but nothing she believed in. An energy drink filled with sugar and chemicals. A vegan protein bar which she’d sampled and hated. She’d passed on both.

It was like a new world she was trying to navigate. She knew people were making money as WeWatch influencers. Lots of it.

But. There wasno wayshe could fly to some abandoned hotel in the middle of nowhere to play a game of extreme hide and seek, right?

“Mom,” said Blake, watching her intently, “you really slayed at that last Tough Be-atch competition.”

She’d come in third in her age group, beating her time on the obstacle course by a full minute. She’d crossed the finish line, bleeding from a scraped knee, drenched in sweat, and totally pumped.

Blake went on, “All you have to do for this challenge is hide and not get found. It’s like a no-brainer. Zero risk, huge reward.”

Impossible. Moms didn’t do things like that.

Or did they?

Maybe it was the trip to the principal’s office, the sight now of Blake’s black eyes, the visit from Agent Coben, that grainy image of a man who might or might not be Miller. She felt so lost sometimes, so powerless to right the wrongs in her life, in the lives of her kids.

“You can do this,” Blake said, clamping a bear-claw hand on her shoulder. “I believe in you.”

There was something so excited and electric in his gaze, and it connected to something buried within her.

Before she could think twice, she tapped on the bright red link.

2

MAVERICK

“Oh,hellno,” Hector said from the back seat of the Ranger Rover.

Maverick, at the wheel, could see Hector’s worried expression in the rearview mirror. His old friend ran a hand over his thick mop of dark hair, a thing he did when he was stressed, his doughy forehead moist and crinkled. Hector wasoftenstressed. “That’s a hard pass, Mav.”

Maverick brought the SUV to a stop in front of a towering graffiti-covered sign very clearly warning them away.PELIGRO! DANGER! GO BACK!

“Aw, come on,” said Mav, looking back at Hector with a smile. “Don’t be such a baby.”

“Why is it that when something saysdangerorgo away, you view that as invitation?” asked Hector.

Riding shotgun beside Maverick, Gustavo was loose and easy, tattered hiking shoes up on the dash. Gustavo laughed and held out a fist which Mav bumped with his. “Because he’s Maverick.”

“One of these days you’re going to get us all killed,” complained Hector.

It was their shtick, their routine. “But not today,” Maverick answered. Hector grinned at him in the mirror.

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