Out of the corner of his eye Riley caught sight of someone. He turned to ask the person if they had seen the puzzle box or were having difficulties.
But no one was there.
Okay, so now this was getting a little weird. He’d been talking to various people all afternoon. All of the competitors were crossing paths during this event. Talking to each other and egging each other on had been part of the of navigation camaraderie.
It was pretty damned suspicious that someone would take to hiding at the same time and near the same location where Riley’s puzzle box was missing.
Riley wanted to know who it was.
He walked casually in the opposite direction until he reached a large fallen tree, then ducked behind it and doubled back to where he’d first seen the unknown person near some low shrubs.
There was no one there.
Goddammit. Riley looked around, crouching down to the ground. Someone had been here. He’d spent enough time with the Linear Tactical guys, Dorian—Ghost—in particular, to have picked up some tracking tips.
He could see where someone’s knee had made an indentation in the muddy dirt closest to the bushes. A little bit further over, some branches were bent and broken, most likely from the person trying to move in a hurry once Riley headed that way.
But regardless, it didn’t matter. Whoever had been here was gone. If they’d had something to do with why he couldn’t find his fourth navigation puzzle box, he wasn’t going to be able to prove it anyway.
With a curse Riley headed back one last time to where he’d finished the previous puzzle. He worked his route out again, hoping this time it would be different, but it wasn’t, of course.
Damn it, he was going to have to take the penalty. An event that should have been helping him catch up in the race was now going to put him further behind.
He went back to where he knew the puzzle should be and began the last segment from there. He wouldn’t get the points from his missing flag at stage four, but he could still get the flag for stage five.
He used his map and compass to figure out the location of the fifth puzzle. That basically proved that he’d been in the correct location for the fourth stage. There was no way he could’ve gotten to the fifth stage correctly if he’d been wrong for the fourth stage.
This wooden puzzle box was the most difficult, but Riley forced himself to say calm and focused, ignoring the frustration eating at him over the missing flag.
The puzzles used the same part of his brain that designed and organized his stunts. He took his safety seriously. Before he ever jumped off a cliff or tried a new motorcycle flip or launched a skydive trick, he made sure the science worked. That same thorough thinking and logical approach worked in his favor now. It wasn’t long before he had the puzzle box open and was accessing the flag inside. From there he sprinted back to camp.
He was in second place coming in for the day, behind only Amber. Good for her. Riley didn’t have any recollection of Felix being particularly good at navigation or puzzles, but that didn’t mean his sister wasn’t a whiz.
And Amber should at least be safe from Damon’s advances for a few hours. He would take a huge hit in time today—probably knocking him out of the top five. Mental challenges weren’t his strong suit. He was much better at the physical ones.
Iceland, Baby, Bo… Riley wasn’t sure how they would do.
Especially Bo.
Riley walked over to the check-in table where Zac was sitting.
Zac grinned up at him. “Phoenix, now this sort of result I was expecting out of you. I’m not surprised you’re coming in second.”
Riley slapped the four flags down on the table.
“Four?” Zach’s brow furrowed. “You couldn’t figure out number five?”
Riley flipped them over so Zac could see the numbers on the back of each flag. “Nope, the puzzle for four wasn’t where it was supposed to be.”
“You sure you weren’t just in the wrong spot?”
“If I navigated to the wrong spot for puzzle four, then I would’ve been off for puzzle five also. I was at the right place. The puzzle wasn’t there.”
Zac’s eyes narrowed. “What exactly are you trying to say?”
“Somebody moved it.”
Zac signaled for one of the volunteers to come over, one of the teenage kids that lived in town. “Adam, can you check in everyone as they get here? Mark their time on the paper.”
The kid nodded.
“Everything okay? We need some sort of amputation?”
Just the sweet sound of Wildfire’s voice was enough to calm some of the angst inside him.
“Can you help Adam man the table if he needs it?” Zac asked. “Phoenix and I need to go check something out in the woods.”
“Everything okay?” she asked.
Riley nodded. “Zac and I just need to double-check a couple things.”
She smiled. “No problem. We’ll hold down the fort.”
“Stay off your ankle as much as possible.” Zac grabbed a folding chair and set it up for Wildfire behind the table. “Have runners come to you.”
Riley turned to ask her what had happened but was taken aback when he saw the look in Wildfire’s eye.
Fear.
Fear directed at him.
What the hell?
He’d dragged her all over the world, taken her rock climbing, scuba diving, hang gliding, all sorts of scary things.
And she might’ve been nervous about some of them, but he’d never seen that look of unadulterated fear in her eyes.
He wasn’t even sure how to process it.
“What? What happened?” He dropped down next to her, eyes searching over the rest of her body, the same way hers had searched him so many times, trying to ascertain if there was some bigger injury he couldn’t see.
“I’m okay,” she said, reaching out to him. “I just tripped. Barely twisted my ankle. Zac shouldn’t have made a big deal out of it. I’m okay.”
He studied her again, scrutinizing her for signs of pain but found none. She really did look fine. “Really?”
She looked away for a second, but when she turned back to him her eyes were bright. The fear was gone. “Just got clumsy and tripped. It won’t even hurt in a couple hours.”
He still had the overwhelming urge to pull her into his arms and just hold her. To shelter her from some foe he couldn’t see and that probably didn’t even exist.
He’d never been overprotective of Riley. There was not one thing about her that gave off a damsel-in-distress vibe. She could take care of herself—it was one of the things he most loved about her. So this urge to grab her now and fight her demons was a little unsettling, especially given the fact that she’d wanted more distance between them, not less.
He held a hand out toward her. He wasn’t even sure what he was reaching for, what he was trying to do. “I don’t understand what’s happening.”
His heart broke a little as she took a step back and sat in the chair Zac had set up for her. “I know.”
What did that mean? He wanted to push, but this wasn’t the time.
She turned to Zac. “I’m fine. We’ve got everything under control here. You guys go on.”
Whatever emotional vulnerability he’d sensed was gone. His Wildfire, independent and capable, was 100 percent back.