Season 20, Episode 10 The Book of Luke, Vol. 2
Barnes silently embraced Greta before absconding to the van, the rest of us following in our funeral line until I offered Greta the last obligatory farewell.
“Keep it moving. We’re hitting overtime with the crew,” Zara instructed, her icy tone confirming PB wasn’t the only one who felt betrayed tonight.
“Greta, I’ll take you to the hotel in five, and then we’ll do your exit interview in the morning,” Troy added, his rushed squeeze of her arm making her visibly shudder before he strode off.
Even though I’d lost count of all the petty, selfish acts I’d seen Greta perform over the years, I couldn’t help but pity the woman before me, shivering in her parka.
“You know, you should call Barnes once the show’s wrapped.
He owes you after tonight, so maybe he can push the network to ease Troy off you in the future? ”
“Wow, you actually believe that,” she replied flatly.
I shrugged, the spare strains of sympathy I had for her quickly wearing thin. “Look, do what you want, but you’re too smart to be bossed around by someone like Troy. You’ve landed on your feet as long as I’ve known you, so don’t let that sycophantic dick tell you different.”
I made to leave, but she stopped me, her lips pursed, something cracking behind her veneer. “Um, I stole two pairs of Shawn’s sunglasses and hid them under my mattress, just to… create more drama. Can you get them? Please?”
“Luke, now!” Zara shouted from the van.
Greta’s grip tightened, desperation flashing in her eyes, and I nodded begrudgingly. I figured she was trying to repair at least one thing she’d ruined.
The car ride back was miserably silent. Once we got to the house, a stone-faced Imogen pulled me aside in the yard, and I prayed my stunt with PB hadn’t alienated her too.
“Look, I swear I didn’t know Vanessa was that bad—”
“I believe you,” she said grimly.
“Any chance PB forgives me?”
“I don’t know.”
“How about you?”
“You don’t owe me an apology.” She gazed unhappily across the lawn. “That wasn’t good. What you said to Barnes.”
“You’re worried about Barnes?!”
“No, I’m worried you’re out of control. Did you even consider what happens when the kids see what you did tonight?”
“How can you say I’m not thinking about the kids?! They’re all I think about.”
“I know you believe that, but you’ve been reckless ever since he got here. I’d hoped I could shield you from him, but… maybe PB was right. We need to get you out of here,” she said, voice thick. “I’ll leave with you tonight. You don’t have to do this alone.”
My shoes shifted in the wet grass as her words began to land, what she was offering, what she wanted to prevent.
How many more land mines would I plant, the clips and sound bites my children would need to explain for the rest of their lives at classmates’ sleepovers and in-laws’ dinner tables?
I’d been so certain I needed Barnes gone to correct my past mistakes that I was carelessly adding new ones to my already substantial list.
Imogen took my hand, her voice intent. “Do you think maybe the show has given us everything it was supposed to? That we’ve both done all we were meant to do here?”
That wasn’t true, but I couldn’t tell her that yet, even as she fought to pull me from the cliff’s edge.
She didn’t realize I was already midair, and she wasn’t the person who could return me to the ground.
No, I had one last mission, or else this whole mess would end as nothing more than a paycheck.
And that wasn’t good enough anymore. It never had been.
I remained in the yard after she left, until Barnes eventually emerged from the shadows by the van. “They’re both here,” he said, almost daring me. “Both your girls.”
“Except I don’t understand how you benefit from it.”
“How do you always miss the point?” He looked up to the pale clouds creeping across the inky sky, their gentle rain hesitating. “My world just ended. My career, my reputation, every contact who could help rebuild my life? I gave all that up to be here protecting you—”
“Barnes, just admit you came here to sabotage me. It doesn’t matter. No one cares.”
He inhaled, seething. “Do you realize how easily I could? One word about how you led Arjun on in Alaska, and you’d be as ruined as me. But have I touched it? No.”
“I’m actually impressed you waited this long to threaten that.”
“Are you listening to yourself? I’m not threatening you! Why would I ever dredge up that crap? It helps nobody.”
“You don’t even know what you’re talking about,” I replied, my throat tight.
“Well, how could I? I was only the second choice after all.” His voice was empty now, his expression impossibly lost. I’d worn the same one a few months prior in a grocery store parking lot, when the man I thought I knew best became a stranger all over again.
It struck me then that I’d been wrong. Erika wasn’t the only one who needed to hear what I had to tell.
I’d thought Barnes had to be gone for me to confess it to her, but she deserved to see both of us held accountable, to face the truth even he didn’t know, no matter how certain he was that he did.
“You know, I never thought I’d say this, but I’m actually glad you’re here. ”
If he responded, I didn’t stay to hear it. I knew where I had to go.
2005
SEASON 3, EPISODE 10:
“The Book of Luke”
“I know where we have to go!” Arjun yelled over our bickering teammates.
This scavenger hunt in Juneau should have been ours to win.
It was the last Tribulation before the final, but too many voices remained on our team—exactly as Barnes had engineered.
“It’s the funicular up Mount Roberts,” Arjun insisted, waving the map to our dysfunctional colleagues.
“‘Lastly, rob a mountain of fun!’ That’s the clue! ”
I advised we split up and darted off with Imogen and Arjun, so adept at my performance by then I wasn’t even acting.
We were the trio we’d always been, bounding to the funicular station where the sight of a languishing cameraman proved Arjun correct, but we weren’t the only arrival.
“Is that LuMoJun, live and in person?!” Barnes called, jogging up a side street.
Arjun and Imogen exchanged a grudging look as we all approached the tram, the cameraman in tow. “Only four per car,” said the unamused attendant from his booth.
The cameraman stuttered, paralyzed to address his cast. “I have to go too.”
“If you take a seat, then somebody’s at a disadvantage,” Barnes replied curtly.
“Let me walkie Helena—”
“To say I’ll sue if you make me wait? Or Arjun’s family will, if you delay his team?”
“That’s a distinct possibility,” Arjun added, not missing a beat.
Barnes chuckled when the funicular lifted off moments later, the cameraman left wilting in our wake. “Helena will ream that poor bastard for this. It’s officially the Great Lost Scene of Endeavor, us four in a confined space.” He grinned, none of us answering.
Two flags, purple and red, waited at the summit.
Barnes snatched his, I grabbed ours, and then we were back in the cable car, Barnes sliding beside me.
“Leave your flag,” he whispered while Imogen and Arjun boarded, and as the tram departed, I tucked it between my thigh and the bench.
It would be a harmless accident—that guaranteed his safety.
“Luke,” Arjun spoke up, the car vibrating as we began our descent. I went white, worried I’d been caught. “Your seat belt,” he indicated with an awkward, tender smile.
Barnes pointedly buckled me in before I could myself, a dangerous light igniting in his eyes. “So, have you three discussed hotels for next year?”
“Hotels?” Imogen asked.
“The wedding.”
Like a bird flying into a sprinkler, Imogen’s head practically spun. “Wow, I’m so… touched to be included. What a surprise!” To me too.
“Did I steal his thunder?” Barnes winced innocently. “I thought Luke already told you.”
“I was waiting,” I replied tightly, knowing I couldn’t contradict him. Barnes leaned in, all stage whispers and confiding smiles. “Imogen, I’m assuming he hasn’t asked you to do the reading yet either? My fiancé, the great procrastinator. Which passage did you pick, babe?”
I reached down to tighten my shoelaces, unable to watch this. “Had we decided?”
Barnes tutted theatrically. “You’ll know when we do, I guess.”
“No reading for me?” Arjun asked, any pretense fading.
“It’s pretty unusual for the best man to do a reading,” Barnes replied coolly, and I yanked so hard at the knot I was tying I thought I’d slice through shoe, sock, and skin alike.
“What?” Arjun’s voice was so guttural I wouldn’t have recognized it.
“You two are so close again… Who else could it be?”
“Luke, watch the flag,” Imogen said suddenly, snapping me to attention.
My mouth dumbly parted as I nodded and retrieved it from under my leg, Barnes glancing away for maybe two seconds too long, as Imogen’s eyes shifted between us.
“Well… nice try,” she said lowly. “Was that the plan, Luke? Distract us with this wedding crap while you leave the flag and gift your dearly beloved a trip to the final?”
“No, this was all me. Luke insisted on inviting you after we’d wrapped, precisely so you’d know it wasn’t a game move,” Barnes lied. “That’s why he’s upset with me now, huh?”
“Yeah,” I mumbled, no choice but to play along.
“He was still going to leave the flag,” Imogen countered. “Weren’t you?”
“Can you blame him for helping his fiancé?” Barnes quickly cut in. “What will you do now, send us against each other in the Trial?”
“You voted me in last year for throwing a competition,” Imogen replied.
“Which was an overreaction… Come on, how do I make this right?”
“Leave your flag,” she said coldly. “Gesture of good faith. You’ll be safe.”
“Except the rest of your team outnumbers you,” he reminded. “However, if I win, my team chooses the players… and I don’t benefit from putting you two in a Trial you’ll only win anyway. Besides, I’d prefer not to alienate African American voters when this airs.”
She raised her eyebrows. “You’re already screwed there.”
“Then call it my investment in undecided moderates.” He offered his hand with a smile. “And don’t you still kind of owe Luke for the ‘saltine cracker’ comment?”
She looked at me as the tram docked, then accepted Barnes’ hand, none of us budging until he indicated the flag I still firmly gripped. “I think he needs to hear it from you.”
“Luke, leave it,” she said, unable to mask her fury.
The flag tumbled to the metal floor before the funicular doors opened, and Barnes nodded his approval. “I’ll give you a running start so it looks good on camera.”
Imogen bounded off, and the hapless waiting cameraman joined us in pursuing her, until a few blocks away when Arjun abruptly exclaimed, “Shit! I left the flag!”
I slid to a halt, stunned he’d take my bullet. Even worse, he tripped as he pivoted to sprint back, smashing into the asphalt. The sight of me lifting Arjun, hands and knees scraped raw, almost stalled Barnes as he too hurried past. But on he ran, and so did we.
“Hey,” I said tentatively from the doorframe of the production office.
Zara swiveled to attention in her chair, face hardening at the sight of me, and I knew I had to cut to the chase.
“Look, if I’d known how bad it was, I would have told PB…
and I hate I let you down too.” She inhaled sharply, silence hanging with only me to fill it.
“Zara, I realize this is the worst night to ask, but do you remember that favor you promised?”
“Really wouldn’t try cashing in now.”
“I get that, but it needs to happen while Troy is dropping Greta at the hotel.”
“So you’re playing me and Troy off each other now?”
“No, it’s because you’ll tell the truth. Not some story he’s trying to manufacture,” I answered firmly. “And this is how you’ll get rid of me and Barnes both. For good.”
She shook her head. “This isn’t personal—”
“Yes, it is… and that’s okay. But I promise this will make a lot of things right.”
“What if Barnes won’t film with you after everything you said?”
“Not Barnes,” I said. “Erika.”
She sat up wearily in her chair, intrigued despite herself. “And why her?”
“With all due respect, nobody can know that before she does.”
The crew was wrapped, but Zara instructed me to meet her at the firepit in fifteen minutes.
I retrieved my windbreaker and marched across the wet yard, the brown leather of my shoes bleeding from chestnut to mahogany, as if a coastline were twisting and eroding across my feet in the wake of the recent rain.
I was already sweating when they arrived, Zara dutifully behind Erika with a camera on her shoulder and a restless PA following with a boom mic.
“This is very cloak-and-dagger,” Erika said nervously. “What’s up?”
All that was left to do was leap.