Natural Selection Read online

  “Wrap your legs around mine. Now!”

  He struggled for a moment, then she finally felt his legs curl around hers. So far, so good. Paige eased up on the brake and lowered them toward the ground, forcing herself to go slowly. When her feet touched the ground, she pried Alex’s hands apart and stepped away from him.

  “You do much rock climbing?” she asked, pulling the rope free of her carabiners.

  “Some. Mostly at the gym. They have a rock wall.” He was breathing hard, and Paige knew it was from fear more than exertion.

  “You need to take better care of your equipment. Your rope was already frayed when you started the descent.”

  “It looked okay to me. I’ve used worse ropes,” he protested.

  “In the gym?” she asked. “On the rock wall there?”

  Alex nodded.

  “With a safety harness?”

  He looked a little sheepish at that comment. “Maybe you should stick to climbing the rock wall at the gym.”

  He looked like he was going to burst into tears. God save her from sensitive men.

  “Look, I’m sorry,” Paige apologized. “I didn’t mean to yell at you. But rappelling and rock climbing are dangerous sports if you don’t know what you’re doing.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. I just thought it would be like it is at the gym.”

  “Sign up for some basic safety lessons before you do this again.”

  Paige left him sitting there and trotted off toward the hill. Saving his sorry ass had cost her a lot of precious time.

  After a mile of incline, she was back in the jungle again. The humidity made running hard, but living in Portland, she was used to humidity. At least here it was just humid without the exhaust fumes from cars.

  About halfway up the hill, she saw Aleisha sitting on a fallen tree. She was bent over, elbows on knees, breathing hard.

  “Might as well stop. Ty’s already up there by now.”

  Paige shook her head as she ran past. “Never say die.” She pushed herself harder, lengthening her stride, plowing through the heavy foliage. Maybe Ty had slipped and fallen. Maybe he had taken a wrong turn. Maybe he just gave up like Aleisha. She could always hope. She reached the top of the hill and paused to look around for the tree with the map.

  Ty jogged around a bend holding a plastic bag in his hand. So much for hoping.

  “Too little, too late, Paige. Looks like I win this one.” She watched Ty head back toward the river and tried to not think any truly evil thoughts. Her stomach rumbled and she was reminded that they would need dinner tonight. Might as well go back through the jungle and see what she could find. She had barely reached Aleisha again when the earth moved. Just a little. Enough to scare the crap out of Aleisha.

  “What was that?” Aleisha grabbed at the log she was sitting on.

  “A tremor.”

  “You mean like an earthquake?” Aleisha’s eyes were wide. “I didn’t think they had earthquakes here.”

  “There are earthquakes everywhere, but they’re more prevalent in some areas than others.”

  “I hate earthquakes. Lived in California for a while. They scare the hell out of me.”

  “I wouldn’t worry. It’s a little tremor. Could be underground volcanic activity.”

  “Oh, yeah, that makes me feel better.” Aleisha grinned and rolled her eyes at Paige. “Doesn’t anything scare you?”

  “Everyone gets scared.” Paige shrugged. “My mom always told me if you let yourself react to fear, you won’t be using your head, and then the very thing you’re afraid of will happen anyway.”

  “My mom never told me anything like that. She told me to always wear nice underwear, and that chipped nail polish made you look like a tramp.” Aleisha looked at her hands. “I’m going to end up on national television looking like a tramp.”

  Paige laughed. “She’ll forgive you.”

  “How did you learn all this stuff, anyway?” Aleisha stood, brushing the dirt from her butt.

  “You mean camping, rock climbing? That stuff?” Paige led the way down the narrow trail.

  “Yeah. You brought back so much food yesterday. If it hadn’t been for you, we’d all be hungry today.”

  “My mom used to take me camping a lot. Not regular camping in a tent at a campground, but wilderness camping. Just whatever you could get into a backpack.”

  “Like this.”

  “Pretty much. We’d go for a few days to a few weeks.” Paige said over her shoulder.

  “What about your dad?”

  “Dad’s idea of camping was a motel without room service. But he never minded Mom and me taking off.”

  “Mom and I spent a lot of time at the mall,” Aleisha said. “She thought shopping was an aerobic activity.”

  “My mom’s idea of shopping was going to a camping supply warehouse. She took me white-water rafting, mountain climbing, skydiving. I guess she was an adrenaline junkie.”

  Aleisha caught up to Paige when the path widened and they walked along together. “I really don’t know what possessed me to do this. They didn’t say it was going to be this hard.”

  If she thought this was hard, Paige was certain she was in for more disappointment real soon. “Come on, we’ll get some stuff for dinner on the way back.”

  “Maybe you can show me what not to pick this time. You know it’s kind of discouraging to think that if I were stranded here, I’d probably kill myself by eating poisonous plants.”

  In spite of the heat, Paige felt a chill crawl up her spine. There were a lot of dangers here and, Wade hadn’t warned them about any of them. She knew what he said to them was probably scripted, but wouldn’t the producers of a big network television show be a little more careful about keeping their contestants safe? Or at least alive?

  CHAPTER

  SIX

  CONNOR MCKINNON SET THE DEHAVILLAND BEAVER floater plane down in the lagoon, admiring how well it handled on landings. This one was rented and quite a few years older than the one he owned in Alaska. But she flew like an angel.

  “Check out that yacht,” Josh Simpson said, pointing to the sleek vessel docked at the small pier. “That’s got to be worth a few hundred thousand.”

  Connor taxied across the calm water toward the pier. “Yeah, whoever these guys are, they certainly have a lot of money.”

  “I just wish I’d known about this show earlier. I could sure use the prize money.”

  “The prize money would be nice,” Connor agreed. “But a few weeks in Florida with all expenses paid isn’t bad either.”

  “I guess,” Josh agreed. “We still going fishing next week?”

  Connor laughed. “Oh, absolutely. You ever been deep sea fishing?”

  “Nope, and I’m looking forward to it. Maybe I’ll get a nice trophy to hang on my wall. And I still want to spend a weekend on one of the islands. Maybe Aruba or Martinique.”

  Connor shook his head and grinned. Josh was enjoying this trip more than he was. Florida was nice and flying the four-hour trip over the Caribbean Sea to the western islands was easy and pleasant. But he was already missing the Alaskan bush after a few days.

  He opened the door and jumped to the pier, tying up the plane as Wade’s jeep turned off the dirt road and headed toward the lagoon

  They could unload the food and be back in Florida in time for dinner. Connor and Josh had dropped Wade off on the small private island Friday, then flown in the six contestants and the cameraman on Saturday. According to the contract, they only had to fly provisions in once a week on Saturdays. But there hadn’t been enough room for all the provisions with the people they had flown in, so they had to make an extra trip. Of course they were getting paid extra for it.

  In fact, they were paying extremely well for all of it. Enough to save his small airline from bankruptcy. He’d been able to get out of the leases he had on three planes, but the penalties had been stiff. Just a few months ago, everything had been great. He had a contract to provide air services to a new do
tcom business, flying their executives and potential clients from Seattle to different areas of the Alaskan bush. Then the company had folded, leaving him with fuel bills, and leases, and pilots to take care of. Until this job had come up, he’d thought he might have to file bankruptcy. Maybe even take a job with another small airline. At least he’d been able to offer Josh work for a few more weeks. With a pregnant wife and two little ones at home, Josh could use the money.

  “All the perishables are in coolers,” Connor said when Wade joined them.

  “Great, let’s load it into the jeep.” Wade grabbed a cooler and Connor and Josh followed him, each carrying an armload of supplies. In a few minutes they had the jeep filled with coolers, bags and boxes.

  “You guys mind helping me unload this stuff?” Wade asked.

  “No problem.” Connor climbed into the jeep.

  He might not like Wade, but this job meant he wouldn’t have to worry about keeping his business afloat. If this hadn’t fallen into his lap, McKinnon Air would have gone under for sure.

  “I want to thank you again for this job.” Connor smiled at Wade and tried to make it look genuine.

  “Hey, you’re doing us a favor.”

  “Maybe, but you’re paying us very well to do it. And Josh and I are getting a vacation in the bargain.” In addition to the usual charges, they were reimbursing Connor and Josh for their hotel rooms and meals. There were worse things than a paid vacation in Florida.

  Wade pulled up to the back door of the house and stopped the jeep. “You mind starting to unload? I’m going to see if I can find the guys and ask if they want anything special next week.”

  “No problem.” Connor pulled one of the coolers out of the back and walked to the kitchen door. Josh followed with a box of dry goods. Connor went back for another cooler and ran into Wade.

  “They don’t seem to be here. I’ll go look for them.”

  “Sure.” Connor carried the cooler to the kitchen, then went back for another. Josh followed him and soon they had all four coolers in the kitchen with the bags and boxes.

  “We might as well start unpacking this stuff,” Connor said. “We’ll need to take the coolers back with us anyway.”

  Josh dragged two of the coolers into the walk-in freezer and began unloading them while Connor unpacked the bags and boxes of dry goods. Connor heard voices from the other end of the house.

  “Best idea you ever had! And it isn’t costing much more than flying all those animals in for hunts.”

  “Well, boys, it’s gonna be a lot more fun than hunting lions and tigers and bears.”

  “Hell, it’s gonna be more fun than sex!”

  “I don’t know that I’d go that far.”

  The men all laughed. Connor heard two distinct voices. One with a southern accent, the other with a slight New York accent. Must be the producers or directors or whatever they called themselves.

  “I’m still a little concerned, though.” A third, slightly whiny voice.

  “For God’s sake, Nathan! We’ve covered all our bases. At least Wade has. There’s no way we’ve left a trail. Just relax for once.”

  “I know. It’s just that all these people have relatives, friends. What if someone starts looking for them?”

  “Where would they look? For one thing, no one knows they’re here. Wade made sure to tell them that if anyone knew where they were going or why, they’d be dropped from the show and have to return the money.” The New York accent this time.

  “Yeah, they all want the money too much to blow it. Besides, we agreed. They all have to go and this is the best way.”

  “What about the cameraman?”

  “Collateral damage. Can’t be avoided.”

  Why would they worry about leaving a trail? Connor shook his head. Hollywood types must be really paranoid. Wade had told him about the show and how secret it was. He and Josh had even signed a non-disclosure agreement. Connor put away a few more items and opened the next box. Beer and wine. He put the beer and white wine in one of the refrigerators, then stocked the red wine in the pantry. He didn’t even recognize the wine labels. Certainly they were out of his range. The beer was a selection from various microbreweries that he was familiar with.

  “Where the hell is Wade anyway?” The southern accent again.

  “He went to pick up the provisions the pilot brought with him.”

  “There’s another problem.” The whiny voice again. “What if the pilots find out what we’re doing?”

  “Relax, Nate. They aren’t going to find anything out.”

  Connor stopped stocking the pantry and stepped back into the kitchen. What did they think he and Josh would find out?

  “Wade gave them the same story he gave the others. Besides, they’re just coming here once a week to drop off the food. How are they going to find anything out?”

  “Yeah, we gotta eat. Keep our strength up for the hunt.” The southern voice laughed.

  “And if they get suspicious about anything, then we just off them. No big deal.”

  “Sure. Wade checked them out, too. The head pilot runs a one-man operation out of the Alaskan bush and the other one works for him. Everyone will assume their plane went down over the ocean somewhere.”

  “Just more collateral damage.” The southern accent chuckled and was joined by the others.

  The bottle of wine slipped from Connor’s fingers and crashed to the floor, splattering his khaki pants with red droplets. One part of his mind tried to make sense of the conversation he’d overheard, the other part screamed at him to get Josh and run. Get in the plane, fly the hell away from there. Before he could get his thoughts in any particular order, two men walked into the kitchen.

  “Well, I do believe we’ve encountered our first problem.” The southern accent he’d heard. “You’d be the pilot?”

  “Right,” Connor answered. “Sorry about the wine bottle. I’ll replace it on my next trip.” Maybe they didn’t realize he’d overheard them.

  “I think we might have more of a problem than a broken wine bottle.” The southern accent belonged to a short, barrel-chested man.

  “Hey, no big deal. Like I said, I’ll replace it.” Just stay cool. Make them understand that he hadn’t heard anything and they’d let him and Josh go. But, what about the others? The contestants? He’d come back and get them. With the police. Lots of police. Maybe a swat team.

  “I’m not really worried about the wine.”

  “I knew something like this was going to happen. I just knew it.” Connor recognized Nathan from his whiny voice.

  “Something like what?” A third man pushed open the swinging door to the kitchen and stepped in. Connor couldn’t miss the gun tucked into his belt.

  “Seems our pilot overheard an unfortunate conversation.”

  “Not really,” Connor protested. “I was just putting away the provisions and dropped a bottle of wine.”

  “How unfortunate?” the man asked.

  “Pretty much all of it. At least enough to let him know that this isn’t exactly a game show.” The southern accent laughed. “Game. Get it?”

  “No problem.” The man pulled a knife from his belt and slashed at Connor.

  Connor felt a stinging burn in his upper arm and looked down to see the fabric cut open, blood welling from his skin, seeping through the fabric. A dull burning pain started to throb through his arm, but his attention was riveted on the three men.

  “Hey, take care of that somewhere else, Dennis.”

  “Relax. I just wanted to get his attention.” Dennis laughed, tossing the knife on the counter.

  Connor was not going down without a fight. When Dennis was close enough, he drew back and threw a punch.

  With his injured limb. Pain shot through his arm and the punch fell short, glancing off the man’s shoulder. Dennis returned the punch, connecting solidly with Connor’s chin. His vision turned gray around the edges and tunneled in. He felt himself crumpling, unable to stand.

  “Hey,
Connor.” Josh opened the freezer door. “Hey, what’s going on here?

  CHAPTER

  SEVEN

  THE COPPERY TASTE OF BLOOD FILLED Connor’s mouth when he woke up. He sat up carefully in the darkness, and reached out until he encountered something about two feet in front of him. Leaning forward, he ran his hands over the lump and identified it as Josh. He found Josh’s head and ran his hand down his neck, resting his fingers there for a moment. No pulse. His hands moved again until they found Josh’s face. He stilled, trying to feel breath coming from his friend’s nose. Nothing. They had killed Josh. Anger and grief surged through him as he thought of Josh’s wife and children. He’d kill the men who had done this. Somehow, he’d get out and kill them.

  Connor swore under his breath and pain shot through his jaw and across his lip. He worked his jaw back and forth, then pushed his tongue against his teeth. Everything seemed to be intact except for a busted lip.

  He felt around the enclosure. He could reach all the walls from where he sat. There were shelves on two of the walls. Connor moved his hands along a shelf until he came across one of the wine bottles he’d put on the shelves earlier. He was locked in the pantry. At least they hadn’t tied his hands. He could hear muffled voices through the door. He sat as quietly as he could, slowing his breathing, straining to catch the words. The men were arguing and soon their voices became louder.

  “Not right now,” one of them said. “I don’t want to take a chance on anyone hearing another gunshot.”

  “What about using a knife?” the whiny one asked.

  “You want to clean up that kind of mess?”

  “Then when?” the whiny voice demanded.

  “Tomorrow. Wade’s doing the final challenge with them this morning. He’ll tell them they need to be on the far side of the island by tomorrow morning. Then we can take care of him without anyone hearing anything.”

  “What difference does it make if they hear another gunshot?” The southern accent.

  “Do you really want all of them coming down here at once?” the man asked. “That’d ruin our fun, wouldn’t it?”

  “Dennis, you’re a man after my own heart.” “Absolutely. Now in the meantime, one of you needs to get a board and nail it across that pantry door.”