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“Don’t be.” He shook his head and sat up. “It was a horrible childhood.” His mom, a few close friends, and winning the latest fight or basketball game had been the only highlights he could remember.
“I know. That’s why I feel so awful.”
“Bry. It’s fine. I’m not offended.”
“Thank you.”
There was silence for a few beats.
“It’ll be a wet mess out there,” he said, hoping to move past her discomfort.
She glanced at him. “So are we finding my money in the rain, or …”
He tilted his head. “What other options do we have?”
“Well, we could just stay in here, swap stories, and kiss a lot.” She grinned at him. She was completely irresistible.
And … he had to be strong for once.
Cash ripped the tent zipper up, luckily not actually ripping it, but it squeaked like he had.
“I guess no on the kissing,” she whispered.
Cash couldn’t look at her. He wanted to spin around, pin her down, and kiss her until she begged him to stop. What if she never asked him to stop?
He scurried out into the rain, sliding into his wet flip-flops. It wasn’t awful. A light rain, really. The ground was muddy, but there were no puddles yet.
They said little as they found rain gear in their clothing bucket and donned it, ate protein bars for breakfast, packed up some lunch and water, and strapped on their backpacks and his machete.
“Where to, Captain?” she asked. She appeared chipper and happy, but there was something in her blue eyes. She felt like he’d rejected her with his rush out of the tent. Did she have any clue how much he wanted to kiss the day away?
Day five. If they didn’t find the treasure by tomorrow night, it was over. The show went Monday through Saturday. He appreciated it not being on the Sabbath, but seven days would’ve been better. More time to find the treasure. More time with Brylee. He could’ve justified kissing the day away in their tent if they had an extra day.
He scowled. No, he couldn’t.
Glancing at Brylee, he saw concern and hurt in her gaze.
“We should go up the east side of the waterfall like we did the first day.” He wanted to see if there was a flag in line with the others like he thought there would be.
“I don’t know about that.”
He smiled briefly. “I’ve been creating a mental map as we’ve found each flag. It’s tough to visualize with all the elevation changes and thick jungle, but I think there might be a pattern. Humans like patterns and symmetry, so it could be purposeful.”
She looked him up and down. “Impressive, Green Beret Captain. I have not been observant enough to see any pattern.”
“We’ll see if I’m right.”
“All right. Thank you.”
He nodded, and they started moving along the trail he’d cut their first day together.
By lunchtime, they had a trail almost level with the top of the waterfall. They were wet and miserable and had only found one flag. No treasure. The good news was, the flag was right where Cash had hoped it would be. She didn’t know what the pattern meant, but it gave her hope.
They ate under some banyan trees for shelter. It wasn’t cold, just wet. He checked the satellite phone and there was a message from Shawn. He read it aloud to Brylee.
Both men in prison. Apparently one of our helicopter pilots got drunk and spilled everything to a female bartender. I’m working with her to make sure the leak is plugged.
He raised an eyebrow at Brylee. “That’s terrifying. Bartenders chat far too much with far too many people.”
