Chapter 8 #2
Standing at the end of the pier, far out over the water, Sarah did the impossible. She let go of the plan that had been guiding her life for a decade and grabbed on to Beckett instead. “Okay.”
“The end of orientation is coming up in a couple of days, so today the goal is to focus on team building. This year, we’ve elected to do that through a massive game of capture the flag.” Heather’s breakfast announcement was greeted with a chorus of cheers around the room.
Team exercises weren’t at all what Beckett wanted to be doing on his last full day with Sarah, but he was out of viable excuses to keep them out of the mainstream activities. This was camp tradition, apparently.
“You will all stick to the teams you’ve been assigned from the beginning.
It will be up to each team to decide who defends and who is on flag retrieval duty.
Now, winners—by which I mean whichever team manages to capture and hoist the flag of any opposing team at their home base—will be first in the rotation for time off.
We thought that might make for a reasonable incentive.
” Heather grinned, her eyes sparkling with devious energy.
“Well, that just made this a cut-throat competition,” Charlie muttered.
“Teams have half an hour to convene and choose a base camp within this designated area.” She gestured to the large map projected on the wall. “Team leaders can come collect your flags up here on the stage.”
As designated red team leader, Beckett collected their flag before they all reconvened in the climbing hut to strategize. As it was more than merely his climbing staff, the little building was packed.
“We ought to have an advantage over everyone else,” Diego insisted. “We know all the territory around the ropes course, the climbing wall, and all the hiking trails in between.”
Sarah bounced on the balls of her feet, gaze tracking over a map spread out on the table. “I propose we establish base here.” She tapped a finger on the map. “There’s a ropes course platform right here that would give a perfect view of anyone coming. Easily defensible.”
“Is that within the rules?” Laura asked. “Feels like cheating.”
“They didn’t expressly say we had to make it easy to get to.” Sarah’s eyes sparkled with the glint of competition, and Beckett had to admit to himself that seeing her this charged up was sexy as hell.
He came to Sarah’s defense. “Well, considering that I’m pretty sure blue team is setting up on the swim raft out in the lake, I think we have every right to use one of the ropes course platforms as base.”
They spent a few more minutes discussing duties, deciding where their “jail” would be. Then they split off into defensive and offensive forces. By the time the air horn sounded, signaling the start of the game, everyone was in position.
“So which flag are we going after?” Laura asked. “Green seems the most accessible over by the archery range. And yellow isn’t too much harder, on the tennis courts.”
Sarah folded her arms, her eyes narrowed as she stared out at the lake where the blue flag fluttered in the breeze at the top of the lifeguard chair on the floating island. “We’re going for blue.”
“Blue!” Diego stared at her. “Are you nuts? That’s the hardest, by far!”
“Which is why no one else will be going for it,” she reasoned. “They’re cocky. See how few people they left guarding it?”
“Props for ambition, girl,” Charlie put in, “but it’s impossible to approach undetected. They’ll tag any of us out and stick us in jail before we have time to get anywhere.”
Beckett met her gaze and understood. “It’s nearly impossible, but not entirely for someone who can swim like her. How long can you hold your breath?”
Her smile spread slow and wicked. “Long enough. I just need a distraction.”
She approached the entire thing like a five-star general planning an offensive.
Beckett had to admit, she was a good tactician.
Everybody fell in line. Diego, Charlie, Laura, and the others all split up to sneak into the boathouse.
They’d be attempting approaches via kayak and canoe and would hopefully serve as adequate decoys while Sarah approached from the rear.
Keeping close to buildings for cover, Beckett and Sarah made their way around to the opposite side of the lake. It was a much farther swim from this angle than it was from the dock. As she stripped down to her swimsuit, he studied the distance.
“You sure you can make this?”
“Positive. And, in the event that I get tagged and put into jail, I’m relying on you to come rescue me.”
And wasn’t that progress from where they’d started?
Beckett caught her in a fast kiss. “Always.”
With one last grin, she slipped into the water, quickly sinking below the surface, so that only the top of her head was visible. When she started sucking in deep lungfuls of air, Beckett frowned.
“Seriously, how long can you hold your breath?”
“Three minutes, easy. Longer, if necessary.”
“Can you really make it that far, that fast?”
She settled her goggles in place. “My college swim coach was a former Navy SEAL. Trust me. I’ve got this.” With one last, gigantic breath, she disappeared.
Beckett automatically began counting as he lifted his binoculars and watched the raft.
She was right. They were cocky, and every single one of them was paying attention to the rest of the red team, who milled about in kayaks attempting to approach the raft.
Some of the blue team was also in the water, serving as the police force to keep would-be thieves away from their home base.
No one was paying attention to the back side.
Still counting, Beckett kept his eyes on the surface of the water for any disturbance that signified her progress or any unexpected distress.
At three minutes, he hadn’t seen a single sign of her.
At four, he toed off his shoes, prepared to call the whole damned thing off and go in after her.
Then he saw a slight disturbance of the water at the edge of the platform and a head bobbed up.
Beckett released the breath he’d been holding with a woosh.
Christ, that had been nearly four-and-a-half minutes.
Sarah stayed where she was, probably gripping the underside of the raft as she waited for the rest of the distraction to click into place.
Assured she was okay, Beckett gave the signal, and Charlie nobly threw himself on his metaphorical sword, making a direct run at one of the blue team members and getting tagged.
But he didn’t go to their jail at the edge of the dock without a fight.
Diego and Laura went to attempt to rescue him, and the whole thing turned into a laughing, splashing battle with the remaining blue team guards.
No one was paying any attention to the back of the raft, which was bobbing in all the chop created by the distraction.
Beckett watched as Sarah smoothly hoisted herself up out of the water and onto the edge of the platform.
She crouched there for a moment as the rest of their team made an even bigger brouhaha on the other side.
Utilizing their distraction, she climbed the two rungs to the top of the lifeguards chair and snagged their flag.
She stuffed it into her swimsuit. In a flash, she was down in the water again, starting the swim back.
“Come on. Come on.” Beckett chanted it, as if that could make her faster. She’d already proved her lung capacity was superior, so he didn’t worry as much about the long stretch of nothing as he had on the trip over.
They were at the two-and-a-half minute mark when someone on the blue team recognized that their flag had disappeared.
On the dock, blue scrambled, trying to figure out whether their flag had straight up flown off the raft in the wind.
Then Sarah’s head broke the surface of the water fifty feet from shore.
The enemy spotted her. Shouts rang out, several people on the raft pointing in her direction.
“Hurry, hurry, hurry!” Beckett began to wave, flailing his arms, urging her to put on some speed.
She paused for only a moment, looking over her shoulder, where three of their kayak jailers were closing the distance.
She broke into a smooth butterfly, as she had the day of the swim test, and proved she was still the best swimmer at Camp Firefly Falls.
Her hand slapped the muddy bank, and she stumbled out, falling to her knees, gasping.
But her eyes were feverish and triumphant as she tugged the sopping wet flag out of her swimsuit and handed it over. “Take it. Get back to base.”
Beckett reached out a hand. “Hurry up. Come on.”
She shook her head. “I can’t move fast enough. I just used all of my energy. Go.” The blue team was getting closer to shore. “Go!”
“I’ll come back for you!” With one last look at her, Beckett turned and bolted into the trees.
She’d been right about their advantage in this competition.
He’d spent more time in these woods than most anyone else, and he knew the quickest way from here to home base—for all the good it did him.
They were surrounded. There was no way he’d be able to get to the ladder to go straight up. He’d have to go through the trees.
Good thing we planned for this.
Beckett backtracked to one of the other stations further up the zipline chain.
The harness and helmet he’d hidden in the brush for just this situation were still there.
He donned them both, and scurried up to the platform, clicking himself onto the zip line and leaping.
The wind in his hair was exhilarating, and under other circumstances he’d have whooped with joy.
But he didn’t want anyone to know he was coming.
He made it from one platform to the next, clipping on, clipping off, clipping on, clipping off, until he was almost all the way back to home base. Someone from below spotted him. “Up there!”
Just one more stretch to go.
Clipping onto the last line, he bellowed, “Incoming!”
His team gave way as he came in hot, going a whole lot faster than he probably should have. Grinning ear to ear, he slammed into the padded center post and handed off the blue flag to a teammate to attach it next to their own where it flapped limply in the breeze.
Someone must have radioed back to home base to make the announcement because the airhorn sounded again and Heather came over the camp loudspeaker announcing, “The red team is the winner!”
And with Sarah’s help, they’d done it in less than an hour.