Going for Gold

by Ivy Smoak

  "Here goes nothing," I said to Kristen and we both ran up the stairs.

  Chapter 8

  Sunday

  Alina

  Kristen followed Ocelot over to a couch in the lounge to the right of the lobby while Bryce pulled me into the staircase.

  "Why not take the elevator?" I asked.

  "The elevators all have cameras. The stairs don't."

  "Why can't we be caught on camera?" What kind of crazy shit are we going to do?

  "What kind of secret agent are you? That's like spy training 101. Never be caught on camera, even in disguise."

  "Okay, you're right. Being caught on camera would be bad. Because we're going to...steal something?" I asked, hoping I'd be able to get some information out of him.

  "Nope. Try again."

  "Kill someone?"

  "What? Wow, that got dark in a hurry. Come on, isn't it obvious? We're going to pull a classic ITA prank!"

  "Is that a thing? I don't think it is."

  "Of course it is!" said Bryce. "Don't you remember all the pictures of toilets without dividers at the games two years ago?"

  "Yeah. I thought that was just a weird cultural thing."

  "No way. That was an epic prank orchestrated by Lars Berg."

  "The Swedish skier? I remember him from when I was a kid."

  "Yup, that's him. Apparently he only came back to the sport to pull that prank. He did horrible in his event that year, but he won an unofficial gold for the best prank of the year. Or maybe you remember in the 90s when Sally Jones threw a banana peel onto the track and caused Uma Longhorn to slip. After that the CPG declared..."

  "CPG?" I asked.

  "Committee for Pranks at the Games. They host a private party at the end of the games where they award a prize for the best prank. Anyway, after the banana incident, the CPG made a new rule that pranks are only permissible that don't interfere with an actual sporting event."

  "How have I not heard about this before? Is it mainly a Canadian thing?"

  "Canadian?" Bryce looked confused. "What makes you think I'm Canadian? It's not like I say 'eh' a lot and love hockey and maple syrup."

  "Oh my God! That's what I first thought when I saw you in that track suit. I was so surprised that you were Canadian."

  Bryce burst out laughing. "Wow, I guess this disguise is even better than I thought."

  I tried to fake a laugh to hide my embarrassment. How did I not realize that was a disguise? "Just kidding. I knew you were American this whole time."

  "Really?" asked Bryce. He didn't sound convinced. "Because I'm pretty sure you actually thought I was Canadian."

  "Okay, fine. I admit it..."

  "Shit, someone's coming," said Bryce. He put one hand on my hips and the other on my face and pushed me against the wall.

  I gulped. I looked into his eyes for a second before he pressed his lips against mine.

  Holy shit! Stop!

  But I couldn't stop or the person would see us. I decided the best course of action was to just stand there with my lips closed while Bryce pretended to kiss me. Actually, he wasn't really pretending. He was passionately kissing me, occasionally flicking his tongue against my lips in hopes that I would let him in. It was so hard to resist kissing him back. I never realized how hard it would be to not kiss someone back, especially someone who looks like Bryce. It was like trying to not hit someone back after they just punched you in the face, only instead of getting a busted jaw, I was getting incredible horny. Stupid sex ban.

  "Get a room," muttered the guy as he passed us. If a little kissing in a stairwell bothered him, I wondered what he thought about all the public sex that was happening in the athletes' village every day.

  When we couldn't hear his footsteps any longer, Bryce gave me one more kiss and then pulled back.

  "Sorry about that," he said with a huge smile that made it seem like he wasn't actually sorry at all. "Standard spy procedure. Although I feel like you could have sold the kiss a little better."

  I laughed awkwardly. "Sorry. I kind of have a boyfriend."

  "Kind of?" he asked.

  "Uh, yeah. I mean no." I sighed. "It's complicated."

  "Well it's not a big deal. It was an undercover spy kiss, so it doesn't count for anything. It's like an actor making out with a co-star on film. Just part of the job." He feigned a very serious face.

  "Right," I said, trying to convince myself that I wasn't a horrible person for not pushing him off me. God, I'm just as bad as Chris! I looked away from Bryce.

  After a few awkward seconds, Bryce cleared his throat. "Let's keep moving. We have some boxers to freeze!" He turned and started sprinting up the stairs two at a time.

  He didn't stop until we got to the fifth floor. God was he fast. I was in great shape, but I couldn't even come close to keeping up with him. I was glad that it wasn't any higher. I ran enough stairs at practice every day. I didn't need to be doing more in my free time.

  Bryce pushed through the door and stopped in front of room 524. "Game time." He pulled a walkie talkie out of his track suit and pressed the button. "Pink Ocelot, what's our status? Green Tiger, over."

  "Green Tiger, the nest is empty. Mission is a go. Pink Ocelot, over."

  "Copy that, Ocelot. Over." Bryce put his radio back in his pocket and jiggled the door handle. It was locked.

  "How are we gonna get in?" I asked.

  "You really think I wouldn't come prepared?" Bryce asked as he pulled an access card out of his wallet. "Ready?"

  "Are you sure we should do this?" I asked. It had all seemed fun at first, but now we were breaking into someone's room. I never did stuff like this. The closest I had come was when I snuck under the fence to get into the neighborhood pool when I was a kid, and I had worried about the cops showing up at my door for months afterwards. "Aren't we going to get kicked out of the games if they catch us?"

  "Relax, Blonde Tigress. No one's going to catch us. And anyway, we're just playing a little harmless prank." Bryce gave me a reassuring smile.

  I took a deep breath. I had always been so uptight. Maybe it was time to live a little. "Okay, let's do this. What's the plan?"

  "Okay, your job is to find his underwear drawer, soak all of it in the tub, and then put it in his freezer. Got it?"

  "Yeah. What are you doing?"

  "You'll see." He winked at me and slid the access card into the lock. The light turned green and I heard the click of the door unlocking. We looked both ways down the hall to make sure no one had seen us before creeping into the room.

  I immediately started rummaging through his drawers. My heart was pounding out of my chest. I wanted to get in and out as quickly as possible. Come on! Where is your underwear? I tried a few more drawers before I came to one filled with tighty whities. I grabbed them all and transported them to the bath tub. It only took a few seconds for them to get soaked, and then I stuffed them into his freezer next to some hot pockets.

  "Done," I said.

  Bryce poked his head out of the closet. "Me too. Let's get out of..."

  Click.

  Shit! Someone's here! I looked around frantically for a hiding spot. The closet was really the only option. I jumped in and Bryce shut the closet door. For the third time tonight, I found myself with my face a few inches away from Bryce's.

  Oh my God. I'm going to get caught and end up in a Brazilian prison as someone's lady-bitch.

  "Stop breathing so heavily," whispered Bryce.

  Stop talking! He'll hear us! I peered through the slits in the closet to see whose underwear I had just frozen. He was a ridiculously muscular Asian man, and he had just stripped off all his clothes. Fantastic. Now I'm a peeping Tom too.

  The guy approached the closet. I pressed myself more firmly against Bryce's chest. God, he smells amazing. I thought I was going to shit my pants when he reached towards the door, but it was just to grab the towel that was hanging next to the closet. Then he disappeared into the bathroom and the shower started.

  Tha
nk God.

  We waited a few seconds before emerging from our hiding spot. On the way out, Bryce grabbed the guy's dirty underwear and threw it in the freezer.

  I let out a sigh of relief when we were safely out in the hallway. "That was insane," I said. I couldn't believe I had just broken into someone's room and frozen their underwear. My heart was still pounding.

  "We're not off the hook yet." Bryce pointed to the maid who had just rounded the corner. "Act natural."

  She was blocking the only path to the stairs, so we had no choice but to walk right by her.

  "Lovely evening, eh?" said Bryce as we passed her.

  I held in my laughter until we were safely in the stairwell. "Nice accent," I said.

  "Thanks," replied Bryce. "We better split up though. We can't risk anyone else seeing us together since you're not in disguise. Wait here for five minutes before you come down. Kristen will be waiting for you outside. Thanks for a great night, Blonde Tigress." He smiled at me and then took off down the stairs.

  Chapter 9

  Monday

  Alina

  I went back to my locker after our second practice of the day. I was exhausted. Coach had nearly killed us as punishment for our loss the previous day against Brazil. And to make matters worse, I had barely gotten any sleep last night. My mind kept going back and forth between Bryce and Chris. I felt guilty for what had happened with Bryce. But I hadn't kissed him back. That's exactly what Chris had claimed Gabriela had done to him. It had seemed like he was lying though. Maybe Chris had kissed Gabriela back. Or maybe he had initiated it to begin with. It may have even gone further than that. Now I just felt angry and guilty and confused.

  Plus I was on edge the whole day thinking that the police would show up any minute and haul me away to prison. I yawned. I really needed to take a nap.

  I grabbed my stuff out of my locker and noticed that my phone was blinking to signal I had a new message. I turned it on and a message popped up from "My Favorite Athlete."

  Who the hell is that? I didn't remember ever putting anyone in my phone with that name.

  I clicked on the message to bring it up. "Make sure you don't miss the highlights tonight. Operation Red Rip - Success."

  Bryce! That sneaky little bastard had put his number in my phone, and I guess also stolen my number.

  "Why do you look so happy?" asked Kristen.

  I turned my phone so she could read the text.

  "Ah, I should have known it was your new boyfriend."

  "He's not my boyfriend!"

  "Suuure. You even have him in your phone as your favorite athlete. And here I was thinking that I was your favorite athlete." Kristen made a dramatic sad face. "By the way, did you ever figure out why it was called Operation Red Rip? I mean, I know you froze some guy's underwear, but what does that have to do with the color red or the word rip?"

  "Right, since all of their codenames make so much sense," I said. "Pink Ocelot probably named the mission."

  "Pink Ocelot," said Kristen with a laugh. "What a weirdo." She looked strangely happy about him.

  "Oh my God, do you like Ocelot?"

  "What? Psssh. No." Kristen turned away from me so I couldn't see her expression. "What time do the highlights usually come on?"

  I checked the time on my phone. "I think around now. Let's see..." I clicked on the ITA broadcast app on my phone and Owen Harris popped up.

  "We have some new developments in the Yao Kai incident, but first let's take a look at the updated medal count."

  Yao Kai incident? Is that the guy whose underwear I froze?

  A chart popped up on the screen. The US had 19 gold, 13 silver, and 19 bronze, for a total of 51. Brazil had 20 gold, 16 silver, and 16 bronze, for a total of 52. It didn't matter if they ranked it by gold medals or total medal counts. Either way, Brazil was ahead.

  "The US had a strong showing today in wrestling to pick up a pair of golds and a bronze, but Brazil had an even better day, racking up a total of 10 medals and bringing their total ahead of the US for the first time in these games. To analyze the significance of this, let's bring in our medal analyst, Chip Nickels."

  The shot panned out to show Chip sitting next to Owen at his desk.

  "Well Owen," said Chip, "I don't think anyone saw this coming. I know I didn't. And the sports books in Vegas certainly didn't either. A few weeks ago you could have bet on Brazil winning the medal count with 30 to 1 odds. If Brazil can keep up this performance, Vegas is going to be paying out a lot of money to a few very lucky people."

  "Do you think Brazil will be able to sustain this success for the next few days?" asked Owen.

  "You know, I actually think they can. I just looked at a list of events that they could still medal in, and they could potentially get 50 or 60 more medals."

  "Right, but most of those athletes are only in because Brazil is the host nation and got automatic qualification for all the events."

  "Well, regardless of how they got in, the Brazilian athletes are really performing at these games. As a sports geek, I'm kind of hoping that they continue to do well and end up tying the US in overall medal count so that we can see our very first tiebreaker."

  "Can you walk us through the rules for the tiebreaker?" asked Owen.

  A new graphic popped up on the screen and slowly started scrolling up.

  Article IV, Section 8 - Medal Count Tiebreaker

  1. At noon GMT of the final Tuesday of the games, the committee will calculate if it is mathematically possible for two or more nations to end up with the exact same number of gold, silver, and bronze medals based on the current count and the number of athlete's still yet to compete.

  2. If a tie is possible, the host nation will have 24 hours to choose a tiebreaking event. The event can be any event that is not currently featured in the 2016 games. The host nation must specify if it is a men's, women's, or coed competition.

  3. The top five nations in overall medal count at noon GMT on Wednesday may select one (or a team, if required) of their current athletes to compete. Only athletes that have competed in the games are eligible.

  4. If the medal count ends in a tie, the tiebreaker event will take place before the closing ceremony.

  5. If there is no tie at the end of the games, the tiebreaker event will not be held.

  "It's pretty simple, really," said Chip. "It will happen in three phases. First, tomorrow the ITA committee will calculate if it's mathematically possible for the Brazil and the US to tie based on how many athletes they have left to compete. I'll tell you right now, it's going to be possible since they both have so many athletes."

  "Okay. Step two?"

  "Once they determine it's possible, the host nation, in this case, Brazil, has 24 hours to announce what the tiebreaker will be."

  "And they can choose anything?" asked Owen.

  "Yes," said Chip. "The only restriction is that it can't be a sport that's already a part of the games."

  "Has there been any indication of what they might choose?"

  "Not really. Although one interesting point is that the athletes who compete in it must be chosen from the athletes already at the games, so I suspect they would ask all of their current athletes if they are talented at any obscure sports. Anyway, the final phase is to look at the medal count at the end of the games. If the US and Brazil have the exact same number of each medal, they'll go ahead with the tiebreaker. If not, the event will be cancelled."

  "What are the odds that a tiebreaker will actually be needed?" asked Owen.

  "Probably less than one percent. But I can hope, can't I? Looking at the schedule, it looks like the last opportunity for either country to win a medal will be the women's volleyball final. Can you imagine if the US and Brazil both make it there and are playing to see which nation wins the medal count?"

  Great. The fate of the US might rest on my ability to not lose my shit when I have to play against that slut Gabriela.

  "That really would be something. Well, thanks for joi
ning us, Chip. It's always a pleasure to have you on here. Now let's turn our attention to the developing story about Chinese gymnast Yao Kai."

  Finally! "Kristen, they're showing it!" I said.

  She leaned in closer to get a better look at the screen.

  The graphic next to Owen Harris changed to a picture of the man whose underwear I had frozen. Owen stifled a laugh. "First, let me apologize for the obscene footage we aired earlier. We're sincerely sorry to those of you who were watching live. For those of you who didn't see it, here's a censored version."

  Oh God. What happened?

  Footage started rolling of Yao Kai powdering his hands and then hopping up onto the rings. He did a few moves before turning upside down and spreading his legs as far as possible. As he did, his pants tore clean in half.

  Kristen and I started laughing hysterically. While I had frozen Yao Kai's underwear, Bryce must have cut a slit in his pants that would rip as soon as he did anything acrobatic. Turning upside down and doing the splits on the rings was more than sufficient to get his pants to rip, and due to the frozen underwear, Yao Kai had been going commando.

  "After changing into a new pair of pants, Yao Kai performed well and led his team to a silver medal. When interviewed afterwards, he took a surprisingly lighthearted view of the incident."

  The screen switched again to show Yao Kai talking to a reporter. They started talking in Chinese and then a voiceover cut in.

  "Can you tell us what happened during the warm-up?" asked the reporter.

  Yao Kai smiled. "I ripped my pants. It happens sometimes in gymnastics."

  "Is there a reason why you weren't wearing any underwear? Do you usually perform like that?"

  "I performed well today, so maybe this will be the start of a new tradition. But seriously, the real person you should be interviewing is the person that snuck into my room and froze my underwear last night."

  At least he took it well.

  The broadcast switched back to Owen Harris at his desk. He looked extremely serious, but I could tell that laughter was bubbling just below the surface. How could it not be? "Yao Kai's claim that his underwear was frozen prompted an investigation by the ITA committee, which has revealed that his pants were likely tampered with before the incident. Security footage from his dorm didn't reveal any suspicious activity, but one maid reported seeing a mustachioed Canadian man near Yao Kai's room at around 9 p.m. last night. They've released the following sketch."