Shattered (Anderson Special Ops #4) - Melody Anne Page 0,94
laugh. “Win or lose, though, I’m giving one hundred thousand to a charity of the winners choice,” Chad finished before lying down and dialing his rifle into the distance of his target.
Before Bree could say something more, Chad looked up and gave his signature cocky smile. “Don’t worry, love, you’re getting that girls weekend, wine tasting, and all.” He then proceeded to hit all six of his targets in six shots, scoring fifty points. That ended up being the second-best score on that stage for the day.
Brackish came up to the top of the mountain just as Chad took off down the trail, and he didn’t look as if he’d been running at all. Erin greeted him, confused as to why he didn’t look as exhausted as the other competitors. As he walked, he told her he’d completed all of the mathematical calculations while riding the bike, and with everyone’s weight, energy displacement per stage, including the will factor, he was currently in second place. He admitted that Chad was approximately four percent better than where he was supposed to be, which could easily be erased throughout the rest of the day.
Erin knew Brackish was highly intelligent but when he pulled stuff like that out of his head, and then acted as if it were as simple as breathing air, it made being in his world both inspiring and scary. She counted her blessings that he loved her and did things for good instead of evil.
He hit his six targets in six shots, finishing with a score that placed him in fourth, exactly as he’d calculated it would.
The standings appeared on the tracking website as the men hit the bottom of the mountain.
Green felt great as he got to the checkpoint stationed by a teenager he swore he’d seen before but couldn’t recall where. The young lady held out six envelopes to open. Green picked his and found he now had to do ten miles on the running route listed on the back of his page. It was a simple loop around the mountain. He grabbed a couple of drinks — two pouches filled with energy — and then he was gone. He was glad for the run as it would be one of the most difficult for everyone on the team, but it was a distance he ran at least twice a week. Sometimes, especially when he was restless, he’d run that far daily. It would be another win for him for sure.
The rest of the men trickled down the mountain and received their next stages. Each of the stages were strategically set up to keep them away from each other. Each man had a folder containing an envelope for each stage. Once a man went out on a certain event that event was then taken out of the options for the men coming in after him. All of the running and biking would be completed in, or on, the mountain, as well as the individual items like burpees and all of the stages that involved weapons.
The former military men randomly saw one another during their activities, and they definitely yelled words of discouragement, shouting out their standings on the board, and how glory and money would be theirs soon enough. The replies were just as gregarious and bold in proclamation. Each of them was confident they’d be the winner.
After nine events it was time for the swim to start, but before they got into the water the leaderboard was shown. As soon as the men had donned their swimming attire the last of the judges on this side of the river made their way to the state-of-the-art track and football field where the swim would end, and the next phase of events would begin.
Green got into the water feeling great. He knew a few of the events after the swim would be challenging, but with the lead he had, he was sure the day was his for the taking. He was surprised at how poorly Brackish was fairing, but he was a big ox of a man, those long hard miles had taken a toll on him. Besides that, he was the least trained in weapons, so at second glance, the standings made sense. Chad was keeping up with them much better than expected and every chance one of those young bucks had to jaw at him they would. Chad kept his confident smile in place and