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ChapterTwenty-Nine
Upon waking the next day, Rick was determined to cast off the misery and self-loathing that had tormented him the night before. But he encountered his first setback during breakfast prep when his team discovered ants had invaded the kitchen. Naturally, Grant charged them with cleaning out the pantry. As a result, they left long after the others. Halfway to Paphos, Marisol begged him to pull over. She bolted out of the car and threw up on the side of the road.
Once she was done, she apologized. “I’m better now. If I sit in the shade and do lab work, I can make it through the day.”
Rick ushered her into the car. “Nope. You need to rest and stay hydrated. I’m taking you back to camp.”
“But—”
“No arguments.” He turned the car around and headed toward Kouklia. “Brynn’s at camp, too. She’s got the same bug as you. Just take it easy for the rest of the day.”
Marisol sniffed back tears. “But Grant said if we missed any of the excavation unit, he’d dock points off our grade.”
What an asshole. “I’ll talk to him. You shouldn’t be punished for taking a sick day.” He turned to TJ. “Can you text Grant and tell him we’re running late? If he doesn’t respond, try Stuart.”
“Sure,” TJ said. “I hope the rest of us don’t get this bug. Usually, I’m immune because I’ve got an iron stomach. I’ve eaten more weird shit than Anthony Bourdain, and I’ve never gotten sick.”
Once Rick returned to camp, he got Marisol settled with a bottle of water and some Imodium tablets. He also set two buckets inside the women’s sleeping quarters for her and Brynn in case they needed to vomit. He’d rather empty out a bucket than scrub the floor again.
By the time he parked at the House of Heracles, his team was forty minutes late. He braced himself for a blistering lecture on responsibility. Even if he was putting the students’ needs first, he’d made the cardinal sin of messing with Grant’s schedule.
As they got out of the car, Logan stopped short. “Whoa. What are the police doing here?”
Two Cypriot police cruisers were parked next to the open gate. Rick’s heart stuttered in fear. Had someone been injured?
Olivia.
He and his team ran to find the others. The rest of the field school stood at the edge of the excavation area, watching as Dr. Roth and Grant conferred with two police officers. When Rick approached the students, the look they gave him plunged a knife into his heart. Even without asking, he knew he was in trouble.
“What the hell’s going on?” Alisha said.
As Rick got closer, his stomach churned. Inside the nearest trench—his team’s trench—were two empty beer bottles, some cigarette butts, a soda can, and a pile of broken glass. Red swirls of graffiti had been sprayed along the section of wall they’d been excavating.
“Looks like someone vandalized the site,” TJ said.
When Rick got the courage to look up, he locked eyes with Grant and Dr. Roth, who stood on the other side of the trench. Before he could move, Grant thundered over to him. “Langston! This is your doing.”
Logan spoke first. “We didn’t do this, man. We weren’t even here last night.”
Ignoring him. Grant kept his gaze laser-focused on Rick. “You were the last to leave, right? The last to lock up?”
“Yes, but—”
Time stood still as he replayed the events in his head. He had locked up. He’d done it just like Juno had shown him. But when he’d been about to leave, Marisol…
Fuck. She’d screwed up.
“Well?” Grant demanded.
He couldn’t say it. Not when Marisol was back at camp, sick with a stomach bug. Not when she was more passionate about field school than any of the other undergrads. Not when she was terrified of getting anything less than an A. He had a sudden callback to Clear Lake and the way Olivia had suffered after she’d messed up. But unlike Olivia, Marisol hadn’t broken any laws. She’d just made a simple mistake.
He could take the heat, but she might not be able to handle it.
Well aware everyone was watching him, he choked out the words. “I’m sorry. In my hurry to get to Dr. Bouras’ presentation, I must not have locked the gate properly.”
Grant gestured to the trench. “Look at this mess. You put the entire excavation in jeopardy. Now we can’t do anything until the police finish investigating the area. We’ve lost hours of work, all because of you.”
Alisha nudged Rick. “It wasn’t your fault,” she hissed. “Marisol went to get her pack. Remember?”
