One last day to push. One last day to win.
It had to make something better.
Because it couldn’t get any worse.
Chapter 23
The excitement at the start of the last day of the race was damn near tangible.
Riley and Anne had already done their parts, checking everyone out, making sure they were fit for this final grueling day.
Or mostly Anne had done it yesterday evening while Riley had recuperated in the RV.
“I’m really sorry I didn’t do more—”
“Seriously, if you apologize one more time for needing to take a break yesterday, you’re not going to have to worry about MS affecting your life because I’m going to kill you.” Anne flashed her an angelic smile.
“I know, but…”
“There is no but, isn’t that what you say?”
Riley laughed. “There is no try. Close enough.”
“Plus, you rallied after a couple hours of rest and helped. And honestly, I’m just glad it wasn’t a full-on MS exacerbation.”
“Me too.”
“Not everything bad that happens to you health-wise is going to be part of your MS. You’re still occasionally going to get the flu, or a cold, or just have a shitty day that gives you a headache.”
Riley took a sip of her coffee.
Boy Riley had gone without coffee this morning. Another competitor had given him an extra MRE that they’d carried, one of the competitors who’d been doing this race more as a bucket list event than as an actual timed competition. Phoenix had taken it, gratefully, since sharing was allowed between athletes.
Riley herself had avoided him. There was nothing more to say, not now in the middle of the race.
Maybe not ever.
He’d kept his distance this morning too. Hadn’t smiled or winked at her. Hadn’t cracked a joke in her direction or shown up with any new booboos.
Hadn’t shared the sunrise with her.
He was focused on the race and what he needed to do to win. She’d heard the other competitors buzzing about it before they’d left at a sprint about thirty minutes ago.
Good. Let him focus on the race. It was much better than that look of concern he’d given her as she started to cross the bridge yesterday. Like she was an invalid. That look had been what she was most afraid of, had been the very reason she hadn’t wanted to tell anyone at all about her MS, especially Boy Riley.
She was glad he was focusing on the race and not her. Glad he had barely even looked in her direction. Glad he was doing exactly what she’d told him to do: move on.
And if it hurt her heart a little bit that he was doing it all so quickly, then she needed to shut the hell up. Because she’d told him to do it. Specifically, she’d told him to set this behind him and go win the race.
Winning was what Phoenix did.
“I never did find any sign of a bite or sting on Phoenix. He should’ve felt something, or I should’ve found some sort of inflammation. Honestly, based on what you told me, the whole thing presented itself more like an allergic reaction than a toxin.”
“Well, the only thing he’s allergic to is penicillin. I don’t think that was happening here.”
“Whatever it was that bit him, he needs to be aware of it for future hikes and races in this area. Something that life-threatening when he didn’t feel a bite or sting? That’s scary.”
He’d looked ready this morning. Strong. Last night he might’ve been at a disadvantage from not having a backpack with supplies, but today it would work in his favor. Everyone else would be encumbered by their packs, but not him. He still had forty-five minutes he had to make up in order to take over the lead from Bo, but in a day with this many miles and both a sharpshooting and surprise horseback riding event, he had every chance of doing it.
Riley let out a sigh.
“You doing okay?” Anne asked.
“Yeah. Amazing what some sleep and a full meal can do. I’m going to finish packing up everything in the RV.” She took her last sip of coffee. “Everything has been so crazy, I haven’t even gotten the files put away from day three. I was in there talking to Amber and everything’s been crazy since then.”
Anne raised an eyebrow. “That can wait till the race is done. Don’t you want to be there to see who wins?”
“No.” She turned toward the RV. “I don’t need to be there to see Riley win.”
Although she had no doubt it was going to happen.
She walked silently back to the RV. Besides updating the files, there really wasn’t much to do. She and Anne both preferred a neat and orderly workspace, so they had kept things straightened while they went.
She did an inventory first.
Remarkably, almost everything was accounted for in the log. They weren’t too fastidious about every little thing—in a race like this, the number of bandages the medical crew went through was in the hundreds—but things like splints or prescription painkillers were monitored.
Ironically, the only thing missing was a vial of penicillin. Maybe Riley had decided to poison himself with it.
More likely, Anne had used it for a possible infection and had forgotten to log it in. Riley jotted down a sticky note to ask the doc about it.
She got out the files to write down the details of the injuries they’d seen this morning and placed those in the done box. Then she straightened the bandages before going to get a second cup of coffee.
None of it was taking her mind off Riley.
Finally, she moved back to the desk where Riley’s and Baby’s files still sat. She picked up Baby’s and finished writing in the details about the minimal injuries he’d received during the rappelling accident. She picked up Riley’s file to do the same.
The papers contained his multiple-injury list. One did not become an extreme sport athlete without breaking some bones and needing a few hundred stitches.
But it had never stopped him. She finished writing about both the bruising to his chest and shoulders from the rappelling accident and the anaphylaxis. She turned the next page to find his allergy reports so she could list Anne’s concerns about whatever had bit or stung him.
The paper wasn’t there.
She went through the entire file again but didn’t see it.
“What the hell?”
She knew for a fact it had been there at the start of the race and it had been there when she’d pulled the file to first write up the rappelling accident.
Anne wouldn’t have taken it out. She was notorious for hating paperwork, and the two of them had agreed Riley would handle it.
She unclipped the fasteners at the top of the file, pulling all the papers out.
A tiny section of ripped paper fell onto her lap. The piece that had remained when someone had ripped out Riley’s allergy section.
Why would someone do that? How would someone do that? Only she and Anne had had access to the file.
Riley’s fingers traced across the top of Boy Riley’s file, stopping where a tiny water stain still showed. A tearstain.
She frowned, her eyes narrowing, as she grabbed the reports Baby and Riley had given about the rappelling accident.
Riley had been so angry at Bo. Bo had been the last one up at the rigs, alone after Damon had gone down first. He’d definitely had time to sabotage the rappelling gear. And Bo had been the one to say the left rig was the fastest.