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“Are you sure this is safe?” Samuel asked, turning the Taser over in his hand, careful not to touch the trigger.
“Perfectly safe,” Fern said. “The shock is minimal and will just slow you down. There’s nothing to worry about.” She lifted the gun from the table next to her. A starter’s pistol, Camille thought. To start the race.
Camille looked over at Samuel and they exchanged glances. He looked as reticent as she felt.
“Okay, then,” Fern said. “Are you ready to get started?”
Camille wasn’t ready but the others had already taken a runner’s stance, feet staggered, knees bent.
“On your marks,” Fern called out, raising the starter’s pistol. “Get set, go!” A crack filled the air and Camille ran into the black mouth of the maze.
TEN
THE BEST FRIEND
Maire skirted past one of the marble maidens and into the maze. Once inside, complete darkness descended, the ten-foot walls blocking any moonlight.
With hesitant steps, Maire moved forward, Taser in hand, fearful of crashing into a prickly wall of evergreen. All she could hear was the rasp of her own breath and the buzz of mosquitoes overhead. The sweet, woodsy smell of yew was overpowering. Thirty feet in, Maire hit a fork. She could turn left, right, or continue straight. She veered left and immediately hit a dead end. Backtracking, Maire stumbled and snagged her cheek on a craggy branch, drawing blood.
This was all so unbelievable. Yesterday morning she was kissing her children goodbye and dropping them off at her ex-mother-in-law’s house, and now she was running blindly through a hedge maze holding a Taser in her hand.
She needed to move faster but it was impossible, it was too dark. Maire knew she had an advantage in what she was wearing. When the fire alarm sounded, Maire leaped from the bed, tried to turn on a light with no luck. She slipped into her shoes, grabbing her cardigan to put on over her T-shirt. As an afterthought, she fumbled for her purse in search of her key chain that did double duty as a flashlight. It ended up being their only glimmer of light as they clambered for safety.
Maire kicked herself for giving her sweater to Camille, but she felt sorry for the poor woman dressed only in a slinky camisole and matching shorts. If she had to do it again, she would have kept the cardigan. She had shown weakness, a very bad idea. She needed every advantage to ensure winning the ten million dollars. It wouldn’t happen again.
Maire made turn after turn, ticking off the number of right turns on her right hand and the number of left turns on her left, but still she felt hopelessly lost. “Dammit,” she muttered when she encountered another dead end. This wasn’t working. How could she find her way when she couldn’t see anything? Then she remembered what she had stashed in her back pocket. What had Fern said? There were no rules, just get through the maze first, and to do this Maire needed to be able to see.
Maire fumbled in her pocket for the key chain light.
She swapped the Taser for the key chain, pressed the on button, and a weak light glowed around her. Not much, but enough to be able to move more quickly through the maze. And if she could outrun the other players, she wouldn’t have to tase anyone.
Now that she had a better sense of her surroundings, Maire was even more impressed by the maze. The yew walls were dense and impossible to see through. The pathways were narrow with hairpin turns. A wave of claustrophobia crashed into her. What if she couldn’t find her way out? She’d lose, there’d be no money. She would be crushed beneath her debt. She wouldn’t be able to keep the house. Dani wouldn’t get the medicine she needed. The thought was enough to spur her into action.
Maire held the light in front of her like a talisman and pushed forward. Left, then right, then another dead end. She backtracked and took a left and the narrow path opened into a wide octagon with a stone bench resting in the center. The middle of the maze, Maire thought. Now she needed to decide which way to go. She heard the rumble of steps. The others were coming. She would go right, but before she stepped out of the opening, something caught her eye below the bench. A small slim rectangular box topped with a red bow. One of the Game Changers. Did she dare slow down to grab it? Yes, she told herself, every little bit helps.
“Hey, she’s using that fucking light,” Ned Bennett called out, gaining on her.
Hurriedly, Maire bent down, sliding her hand beneath the bench. Suddenly, she was knocked off her feet from behind, her chin cracking on the top of the bench. What the hell? Maire thought, tasting blood. It was Ned Bennett, his hand closing around the clue. Her clue.
“Son of a bitch,” she cried out, massaging her chin. She thought about tasing him, but by the time she got to her feet, he was long gone. She could feel the others behind her. They knew she had a light and if they followed her, she was their best bet out of there. She swept past Ned, who was fumbling to hold on to the Taser and the box. It felt like she had been running forever, though it couldn’t have been more than fifteen minutes. Above her, the buzz of insects grew louder and something swept by her ear. It felt too big for a mosquito or a moth. She shuddered and picked up her pace.
She had already lost the Game Changer; she wasn’t going to let anyone get past her.
As Maire was approaching a sharp turn, the foliage in front of her began to shake and rustle.
What the hell? She envisioned some nocturnal, toothy creature with claws and red eyes. Beyond the wall there was a grunt, more shaking of leaves. Maire held the light up to get a better look. Three rows over, the head and torso of a man appeared above her at the top of the hedge. It was Samuel, struggling to pull himself up. With one great heave, he launched himself atop the hedge and lay there for a moment, breathing heavily. Samuel, the bastard, had climbed the hedge to get a better vantage point, to see where the exit was.
No rules, Maire thought.
She watched as he slowly pushed himself up onto his knees and surveyed the area around him, grimacing at the bite of branches against his bare knees.
“What’s he doing?” came Ned’s voice from behind her. “Hey, that’s not fair!”
What was he doing? Was Samuel planning on walking atop the hedges to find the exit? No, there was no way the boxwoods would hold him. But Maire couldn’t waste time worrying about Samuel, she just had to keep moving.
In front and above her, Maire watched as Samuel lowered himself over the side of the hedge and dropped to the path below. He was now two rows ahead.
Had he seen the way through the maze from his perch atop the hedge? “Dammit,” Maire said. Of all people, Samuel figured it out. He found the exit. She might lose this game, but she sure as hell wasn’t going to lose to Samuel Rafferty. She had already lost too much because of him. In all fairness, he probably thought the same thing about her.
