Something Wilder(52)

“After all of this we’re just gonna quit?” he asked, voice rising.

“Brad,” Nicole warned.

“Bradley,” Walter corrected under his breath.

“No way, man.” Bradley started to pace. “Something’s out there.” He pointed to the Maze, looking at each of them. “How many times in our lives will we be able to say we did something like this? Something daring and risky with a mega potential payoff?” He turned to Lily. “You’re just going to live out your life not knowing whether your old man ever found the most famous treasure in American history? This is it, you guys, our big adventure. We can’t turn back now.”

“You could do this, Dub,” Nicole said to Lily, quietly.

Lily turned her face up. “What?”

“You’ve been there. You know the journal, you know the games—you know Duke. It has to be you.”

“Right,” Bradley said. “Like I said. Nicole and Leo, take Walter back, and Lily and I can keep going.”

Lily stared down at the wrap on Walter’s foot, thinking. No matter how much she wanted this—the money, her ranch, and a definitive answer about whether her father kept the biggest win of his life from her—could she do that? Just… send Walter to a hospital and keep going? Wasn’t it already terrible enough that they’d left Terry at the bottom of the canyon?

But… having them go back and contact the authorities would at least show they’d tried to do the right thing. It wasn’t a terrible idea…

“Leo,” she said abruptly.

Bradley blinked, confused. “Leo?”

“I’ll go with Leo.” She straightened, jaw tight in false confidence with this decision.

Bradley balked at this. “Why not both of us?”

“Fewer inexperienced hikers mean fewer risks. Leo was an Eagle Scout and has more outdoor experience than any of you.” She paused. “And frankly, I don’t think I can do it without him. Duke wouldn’t have made this easy, and I’ll need Leo to figure out whatever codes he’s left for us.”

Leo met her eyes and she blinked away. She’d asked him once how he figured things out so quickly. He’d explained that he saw codes and puzzles as pictures in his head. He would shift things around, mentally sliding pieces or numbers together and apart until he had a solid visual of the solution. Then, he said, he would poke at it, check and recheck his conclusion. If it was a code, he’d confirm the translation of every number, letter, or symbol. If it was a puzzle, it was easier: he’d figure out where to move each piece, and he’d know he was right when he did it manually.

To Lily, it seemed like magic. She didn’t understand how his brain worked without the help of his hands, but she didn’t need to understand. She’d seen it, and right now she needed that brain.

“You can’t leave me behind,” Bradley said.

“You don’t make the decisions here. And to be honest, I don’t trust you under pressure. You’ve already pointed a gun at our heads and gotten us into a high-speed car chase.”

“Technically, Leo got us into the high-speed car chase,” Bradley grumbled.

Leo watched her, his hands gripping the straps of his backpack. Lily knew it was the only way forward, but her heart stuttered with adrenaline at the thought of being alone with him and trying to keep her head on straight. “You guys take Walter back. Leo and I need two days,” she told Nicole meaningfully. “Tell the rangers that Terry wanted to try different routes and wandered off on his own, and Leo and I went to look for him.”

Nic nodded, eyes intense.

“Wait for our call,” Lily said. “Let us worry about getting within service range.”

“What if you don’t call?” Walter asked.

“We will.” None of them voiced it, but they were all thinking the same thing: they’d call… unless they ended up like Terry.





Chapter Eighteen


BY THE TIME they got Walter back to the Jeep, his ankle was about twice its normal size and turning a sickly blue. Bradley was definitely not happy about the change in plans, but despite his guilt and need for adventure, Walter seemed somewhat relieved to be heading back.

Honestly, Leo wasn’t sure how he felt. The distance between the safety of his cubicle and the spot where he stood could be measured in galaxies, not miles. The danger they faced was real. Terry was dead. Walter more than likely had a broken foot. Leo and Lily could easily drown or be crushed to death out there and never be heard from again. His mind drifted briefly to Cora, wondering what she was doing, how she’d handle it if anything happened to him.

And yet, the hum in his blood was anticipation, not fear. The adrenaline of adventure and the prospect of being with Lily again coursed through him. He could sense the war inside her—the attraction, the fear—and knew that this had to be her choice. Nearly everything in her life had been forced on her. He wanted her to choose him.

They unpacked the bags, reevaluating what they truly needed in order to consolidate supplies down into two packs. Terry’s pack was some kind of high-tech, expensive mountain-man thing, so Lily took it from Bradley, loading it up. Leo saw her hesitate when she pulled out the Ziploc bag with the journal, phones, and gun.

“I’d still take it,” he said. “They won’t need it.”