communications device or miss our checkpoint tomorrow night. It’s too bad our personal locator beacons don’t have two-way radios. At this point I don’t really see much choice other than activating one.”
“But that would cause the organizers undue panic,” Eva said. Also, activating a beacon would take any power they had out of their hands. They’d be stuck waiting here until the emergency response team was able to reach them, and in this weather, who knew how long that might be? Waiting around when they were already behind might lead to disqualification. “There has to be another way.”
Angela’s foot tapped against the soft earth as she hugged her knees to her chest.
“Let me think for a minute,” Marc said.
How could her teammates be so calm about all of this? Especially Angela, who’d uprooted her kids to be here. Quit her job. Invested everything in this training.
Finally, Angela spoke. “What if we could go up and around it? Do you think there’s a safe way to do that?”
Marc pressed on his chin. “Possibly.” He stood up and studied the cliffside above the ledge. “It looks like maybe the mudslide wasn’t a big one, and that terrain up there appears safe. I could go check it out.” He returned to Eva’s side.
The idea of Marc putting himself in danger so they could finish this race made her stomach roll. “I don’t know . . .”
“It’s either that or turn on our beacon. We could try hiking back to the last checkpoint to find out if there’s another option, but since we were the last group through, that checkpoint has probably been packed up and cleared already. In which case we’d have wasted time and energy.”
Eva snatched his hand and leaned against him. He smelled of dirt and his deodorant, which gave off hints of coconut and fig. “What’s the likelihood that you get hurt doing this?” She’d never forgive herself if that happened.
Pressing a kiss to Eva’s forehead, he squeezed her fingers. “I wouldn’t say super likely, especially since the rain is clearing up for now.”
She’d been too distracted to notice, but he was right. A mist hung in the air, but the rain had mostly stopped. “What do you think, Angela?”
Her sister-in-law pursed her lips and stared outside. “I say if Marc doesn’t want to chance it, I will. We didn’t come all this way to quit now, right?”
When had Angela’s commitment to finishing this race risen above Eva’s?
Marc eased Eva upright, then stood. “That settles it. I’m going. It shouldn’t take me long.”
“Be careful.” Eva grabbed his hand and tugged him back down, kissing him quickly on the lips. She wouldn’t feel okay about this decision until they were all on the other side of that mudslide.
“I will.”
Eva felt the promise in Marc’s gaze down to the tips of her toes.
He slid from view, and Eva could hear the scrape of his boots against the earth above them as he climbed. Five minutes passed, then ten, fifteen, and all the while her palms sweated inside her gloves.
“This was a mistake. He could be hurt.”
“He’s probably fine, Eva. Sit and calm down.”
But even Angela’s best mom voice couldn’t get Eva’s inner child under control. “What if he’s not? And what if he is, but there’s truly no way out except to wait on a rescue team? Angela, we’ve flown around the world. We’ve secured pledges from some really well-to-do people, and that money can be used to help a lot of people with heart disease. Simon is writing a story about us. What if nothing comes of it all?”
“Eva, we’ve both fought hard to be here. You’ve got the ankle to prove it. My feet are shot. And we both know we pretty much lost our minds fifty miles ago. Probably before that.” Angela chuckled despite her clear exhaustion. “But we are not giving up. Even if Marc comes back and tells us there’s no way up and around, we will not quit. We will see this through. We will have our happy ending. Our dream will come true. Accepting less is just . . . well, unacceptable.”
Whoa. Angela wasn’t just surviving anymore. She was fighting back.
“Okay.”
The word was meager, but Eva’s agreement wasn’t. She just didn’t have the energy to say more.
They huddled together against the cold for another ten minutes. Waiting, waiting. Come on, Marc. Where are you?
“Hey.”
At Marc’s greeting, Eva and Angela scrambled out from under the ledge and looked up. He stood above them, outlined against the