Page 63 of No Escape

“Excellent,” I said as Stefan arrived, pulling himself along the wall toward Tito and dragging the end of the pool hose with him.

“Tito, can you get that hose out of the water and into the box without letting any air into it?” I asked. “You’ll have to press your hand tight against the hose end while moving it into the box water.”

“Jah, I believe so. I have big hands and I don’t have to lift it very far.” He stood up and walked along the walkway to retrieve the hose.

“Stefan, hand the hose end off to Tito now. Everyone else needs to get that water out of the hot tub as fast as you can. Juliette, Oscar, and Stefan, please climb into the hot tub. We need to form a bucket brigade to get that water evacuated as quickly as possible. Juliette, you fill the cans with water and pass them off to Oscar and Stefan. You two take the cans to the edge of the hot tub where Vittoria and Tito, once he finishes here, will tip the cans over the side and allow the water to run toward the drain. I’ll stay here and keep the hose in the water on this end.”

“Good idea. We definitely don’t wantyouwalking on water again.” He chuckled, and I rolled my eyes at him.

“But I don’t understand, Lexi,” Oscar said. “Why can’t we just siphon the water into the drain directly?”

“Because the end of the siphonhasto be lower than the level of water in this box in the pool,” I explained. “If they’re at the same level, nothing will happen since the pressure is equalized. Since the bottom of the hot tub is lower than the current level of water in the box, it will siphon until the water levels equalize. Every inch of water we remove from the hot tub is another inch we can siphon out of the box.”

“But that means that we won’t be able to drain all of the water out of the box, right?” Juliette asked. “Because the box in the pool is much lower than the bottom of the hot tub.”

“Unfortunately, that’s true,” I admitted.

“So, how are we going to get the rest of the water out of the box?” Stefan asked, pulling himself out of the pool on the side and heading toward the hot tub.

“Well… I’m still working on that part.”

Tito knelt on the walkway, pushing his hand against the hose opening and lifting it out of the water. He walked carefully toward the square and pushed it underwater in the box. I took over from there, making sure it stayed put under the water.

“Good job,” I said.

“I have the easy job.” He flexed a bicep, causing me to smile. “You’re the brains and I’m the brawn.”

“Oh, you have plenty brains, too. Not every muscular Swiss guy can make it to the Vatican’s Swiss guard.”

“Hey, Lexi!” Oscar yelled from the hot tub. “It’s working! I can feel the water swirling around my feet. It’s siphoning the water from the box.”

“Excellent,” I said. “Now get that water out of the hot tub and fast.”

“We’re already on it,” Vittoria said, tipping the first can and spilling the water onto the floor.

“Tito, go help them,” I instructed.

“Jawohl, General,” he said, saluting.

I watched as he carefully navigated the walkway back to the pool deck and headed toward the hot tub. He might have thought I was a general and knew what I was doing, but I didn’t feel nearly as confident as I should. Everyone was counting on me to solve the puzzle, but I was running out of ideas and time.

Speaking of time, when was the last time I’d checked? Worried, I looked over at the clock and saw it read two thirty. That meant we had fifty-five minutes, or less than an hour, left. By my calculations, the siphon would remove less than half of the water. We needed to remove the rest once the siphoning stopped, and quickly.

What could we do to get rid of the rest? I considered and discarded the idea of lowering the cans into the box, filling them, hauling them up, and then dumping them over the side. My instincts told me that there wouldn’t be enough time and the work would be very difficult perched on the walkway. Still, without getting rid of the water, there was no way to reach the float without getting my head wet.

What am I missing?

“Lexi, how are you doing?” Juliette called out. It warmed my heart that even in the middle of the pressure of the puzzle, she was worried about me. Or maybe she was worried Iwouldn’tfigure things out.

I decided honesty was the best policy at this point. “I’m okay, Juliette, but I’m running out of ideas here.”

“Don’t try to overthink things. I find that our brains, like our muscles, work better when they are calm and relaxed.”

Of course she’d say that. Juliette was a nurse, used to being a calming presence in the midst of a storm. She faced life-and-death pressure on a daily basis. Remembering that gave me perspective, and I began to relax a little.

Still, Juliette and the rest of the team had no idea how much Slash and I had riding on these challenges. There was much more at stake than a nice honeymoon for Gio and Vittoria. There were a lot of people, many of them young and vulnerable, counting on us to solve these challenges. Then, of course, there was the pope, who believed Slash and I could do anything. Which wasn’t true, but when the pope is counting on you, what’s a girl to do?

I had to up my game.

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