Page 78 of Close Your Eyes and Count to 10

“If he is not here, he will not be coming,” said one of the officers. “Most likely his flight has been diverted to the mainland.”

He seemed to be the more senior of the two, the other hanging back. On second glance, he was older than Adele first thought, hair graying at the temples. “And the last flight out is leaving our island in two hours. Air travel, including for private jets,will not resume until after the storm has passed. Our very strong suggestion is that your contestants evacuate.”

Maverick blew out a breath and shook his head. “We’re not leaving until the challenge is complete.”

Adele felt her shoulders stiffen, her stomach bottom out. Please, she thought. As much as she wanted to go home, she couldn’t face this challenge canceling, leaving here with nothing but more debt.

Maverick looked over to Adele, Malinka, and Cody. “We can still do this,” he said. “With three hiders. That’s still a good game.”

Petra seemed not to hear him, spoke to everyone else. “We are here to offer you all safe passage to the airport. If we leave now, you can leave safely before the storm arrives.”

No. No way. Adele had come too far, had too much at stake. She wasn’t leaving here with nothing to show for everything she’d spent. She stayed rooted; the other two did, as well. She wasn’t afraid of weather.

“There’s more,” said one of the officers. “Is there an Alex Tang present?”

Angeline stepped up. “He’s not here. He might still be at the hotel.”

“He’s not at the hotel,” said the other officer. “His wife has called to report him missing. She expected him to come home, and she has lost contact with him.”

Angeline shook her head, looked confused.

“Who saw him last?” asked the senior officer. Adele was not close enough to see his name tag.

“I did,” said Mav. “We had a meeting this morning. I left him at the hotel.”

The older officer offered a slow nod, looked at the group. “His wife seems to think that there was some kind of fight or altercation.”

Mav shook his head vigorously, lifted a palm. “No, nothing like that. Just a normal meeting between CEO and CFO.”

“Was anyone else present?”

“No,” said Mav. “It was just us. I should tell you—his wife? She’s a little unstable, gets very, very antsy when she can’t reach him. I would not overreact based on a call from her.”

“So then, where is he?” asked Petra, her voice edged with suspicion.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Mav turning to face her. “Are youthe policenow, too? Town elder,spiritualleader or whatever, and—cop?”

Petra’s smile was an ice-water plunge.

“Look,” said Angeline stepping in. “Maybe he left the island. Went home?”

The younger of the two officers stepped forward, seemed to find his voice.

“He did not leave on a commercial flight. And your jet is still in its hangar. The pilot said that no one from Extreme had yet contacted him about a departure time.”

Adele found herself watching Tavo’s face. Mav and Angeline were still as statues, poker-faced, but Tavo’s eyes were wide, his hand rubbed at his chin. There’s always one in the group of misbehaving kids, one good egg who can’t lie like the rest, who wears his emotions on the surface.

“I mean, I don’t know what to tell you. Alex is a grown man,” said Maverick. “We’re not in the business of keeping tabs on each other.”

“Oh, hey,” said Hector, taking out his phone. “We can check his Pop Map.”

“Good idea,” said Angeline, moving over toward Hector.

He took out his phone and tapped it a couple of times.

“Weird,” he said after a moment, looking up at the group. “He turned his location off.”

“His wife said that he texted her this afternoon, said he’d text again from the plane.But never did,” said the older officer. “Then turned off his location, which is apparently out of character.”

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