Hiking for Danger

by Capri Montgomery

  “Oh yeah, there you are.” He tapped his pen on the clipboard. “On you go,” he gestured and she quickly boarded the bus. She was happy to see there was a seat still up front that was free because she didn’t want to sit next to Riley at all. She took the window seat up front behind the driver.

  Cody had gone back inside to drop off the list and then he boarded the bus too. “You’re in my seat,” he said to her.

  “Sorry.”

  “You can sit back here, Sahara!” Riley called to her.

  God she did not want to have to sit next to that guy.

  “Take my seat,” Parker said. “I’ll share with Cody.” He got up from the front seat near the door and took the window seat where she had been sitting while she took the seat directly across from them. “Thanks, she smiled at him and he nodded.

  Cody tapped the driver on the shoulder. “We’re ready to go, Sam.”

  After they got on their way Cody stood up, positioned himself at a position just before the start of the first row of seats, but behind the driver. His legs were spread for stability. “We’re going to be spending some time together so let’s finish introducing ourselves. You already know I’m Cody, your guide. And you know Parker.” Parker stood up and waved before sitting back down. “Let’s get acquainted. We’ll start with you,” he looked at her. This wasn’t something she wanted to do, but it didn’t look as if she had a choice.

  “She’s a doctor!” Riley yelled. “I’m going to bag a doctor.”

  She rolled her eyes.

  “Let’s get something straight;” Cody said in a stern voice. “We’re going to be spending a lot of time together and you will show each other respect.”

  It was only four hours. She could deal with a four hour hike with that jerk just so long as he kept his hands to himself.

  “If you can’t do that Mr. Smith I can send you back to depot with Sam here.”

  “Got it, man.” Riley said. “You don’t have to be so serious.”

  Sahara rolled her eyes again. She was thankful for Cody saying something to the jerk, but she didn’t want to be the cause of a scene either.

  “Go ahead,” he looked at her again. “You’re a doctor.”

  “That could come in handy!” Somebody yelled from the back.

  “I’m not that kind of doctor,” she said. “I’m Sahara Daniels. I have a PhD in Entomology.”

  “What is that?”

  She turned to see who was asking her the question and found it to be Shell. She smiled at the kid. “I study bugs.”

  “Cool! I don’t know any girls who like bugs,” he said. She could tell he was now an instant fan since she was the only female he knew who liked bugs. She wouldn’t say she liked them really. Bugs just fascinated her. She always wanted to know what kind of bugs were out there and what they did. When she found out that roughly eighty percent of the animals in this world were insects she just kind of knew she wanted to know more. Although nobody could understand how she could touch bugs and play with them—at least not any of her friends. They were the type to run screaming from bugs. She wouldn’t just pick them up at will, some of them were poisonous and she wasn’t that fascinated with bugs that she would put her life in danger, but she liked to learn things and that often involved studying the specimen up close.

  “Okay, next up is Jack Duvall.”

  Sahara found it amazing that Cody could remember Jack’s name yet felt the need to refer to her as, “you.” She resisted the urge to roll her eyes and shake her head.

  “I’m a psychologist,” he said proudly with a big smile on his face. “Industrial organizational which pretty much just means I tell businesses how to keep their employees from killing each other.”

  “Georgia Tate, you’re up.”

  “Marathon runner—professional. I train all year and I have the finances to support myself between promotions and training that’s all I do really. This hike was a dream come true for me because when I get back to New York I have to train like there is no tomorrow.”

  Sahara was confused as to how a four hour hike could be considered a dream come true, but considering the schedule Georgia had she would imagine any break would be welcomed. Georgia didn’t have a New Yorker accent so Sahara figured either Georgia was a transplant to the location, or she lived elsewhere and trained in New York. It wasn’t any of her business really so she made a mental note not to pry.

  Everybody laughed, including Cody, who seemed to be more serious inclined than jokester. Although she didn’t know the man, maybe he had a sense of humor hidden in there somewhere. By the time they reached their drop off location for the hike she had learned that Misty Hall played the drums for a new age rock band. They weren’t with a label yet, but they played festivals, bars, clubs and any other event they could while they worked hard at getting their dream record deal. Misty was twenty-five and looking forward to her big break. When Riley tried to talk her down she pointed out that Sully from Godsmack had worked for over twenty years before getting his break. Now that took dedication, Sahara thought.

  Don and Shell were father and son. Don loved to relive his high school football glory days and had Cody not cut him off they all would have had to relive each year with him. His son, Shell, was getting ready to go into his senior year. This was their big father and son bonding trip. Shell was all star with his wrestling team, he had a little sister who was a chess champion and his mother was a lawyer. He seemed proud of both of them.

  Julian and Debbie were retired, married for twenty-two years. They were forty-four and forty-three, respectively. Debbie had been a writer for a fashion magazine and Julian had been a fashion photographer. They met on the set of a shoot that Debbie had been required to attend, fell in love, got married and hit the road for bigger travels. They loved the outdoors so they took nature inspired trips yearly with the occasional adventure to Italy or France, Debbie had said.

  Riley had his MBA and worked for a top firm as a sports management agent. He had apparently interned there during his senior year of his MBA and at twenty-two he was thrilled to see his career looking up. He had money, cars, and a spanking office—whatever that was, Sahara had thought. Apparently his employers loved his larger than life attitude and his ability to wine and dine clients into their bed. He was very proud of his accomplishments, as he said, he was smart enough to finish his BA and the MBA in record time thanks to doing his general college requirements as part of a high school program and then working his butt off once he got in college taking course overloads in between pledging Gama and drinking it up with his buddies. She wondered how he managed to survive college, but clearly he had.

  Stacey Nash was the daughter of a big Texas oil tycoon. She, according to her ramblings, didn’t have to work because her “daddy” gave her whatever she wanted. She went to junior college for something frivolous to make him happy and to get off the ranch for two years and there is where she met Nikki. Nikki was just as wealthy—or more like her parents were. Her father was a cattle rancher and apparently the girls like to hang out on his ranch with the lowly ranch hands and try to score one of them. They learned how to rope ‘em, ride ‘em, and take ‘em home, as Nikki had said. “The cows and horses of course,” she had added when the passengers on the bus had been silent. Given the way the young woman looked at Cody she was sure she had something else in mind to that rope ‘em and ride ‘em detail.

  “Everybody off, grab your packs and take a seat, or stand,” Cody added after receiving a few moans about the seat part, “over by those rocks. Parker will get you all situated until I can come over and explain a few things about this hike.”

  Sahara was the last to get on the bus and the last to get off, both times thanks to Cody. Although this time it wasn’t an issue of waiting on her name to be called, it was the fact that he had stepped into the section where her seating was. Since she had scooted over to sit next to the window he had room to maneuver. She would have complained except she had a fabulous view of his behind from where
she was sitting and she wasn’t going to shoot herself in the foot by asking him to move when she could just enjoy the view. That was probably so wrong, but the man was hot. She would have to be dead not to notice how sexy he was.

  By the time she made it off the bus her pack was the last one in the storage compartment left to grab. The driver had gotten off to help everybody get their packs. He felt the need to tell her that Cody and Parker’s packs were on the other side in the “other” storage compartment. Maybe he told her because she was silently wondering where their stuff was.

  By the time she made it over to where everybody else was she noticed one major difference—they had a lot of stuff. She had gone shopping to prepare so she thought she was doing just fine by way of being prepared for a four hour hike, but obviously she must have been missing something.

  She thought she had done all the essential shopping. She had her newly purchased backpack, her Timberland waterproof hiking boots, a compass, a map – though she didn’t know how to read it, trail mix for the day, snack crackers, a couple Slim Fast drinks, an extra sweater and a pair of knitted socks. She had even packed two large bottles of water and plenty of sunscreen, an extra top and two extra pairs of underwear – as her mother had always told her to carry extra no matter how long the trip. She figured she was ready for everything. Perhaps they were going on two separate trips. Why else would some of them have sleeping bags attached to their back packs?

  She took another look and she realized a few people had separate packs and she wondered what was in those, but she didn’t ask. Clearly Parker was going one way with the overnight campers and Cody was going the other way—at least she hoped he was coming with her group—whoever was actually in her group because right now she was the only person sitting there with one bag.

  Cody came to stand in front of them. He seemed to be doing a check to make sure they still had everybody with the group as Parker joined them. Sahara sat there looking around at the beautiful surroundings, the mountains were high and the valley they were sitting in had gorgeous wild flowers growing. She could build a cabin here and love it—peaceful, beautiful, devoid of her crazy family. She shrugged; perhaps she shouldn’t want a break from them. They were still her family after all.

  She took a slow survey of the area around them once again before returning her attention to the two hiking guides in front of them. Eventually they were going to all get on the way to wherever they were going and she might really want to pay attention to whatever last minute details Cody was planning to give before they set out. This was her first hiking adventure ever, so paying attention would definitely be a good thing.

  “Can anybody tell me why we need to buddy up?” Cody looked around at the faces. None of them seemed to be willing to answer, and then he caught site of a little hand barely inching above her waist. “You,” he said as he looked at Sahara. She frowned and he could only guess it was because he was still calling her “you” instead of by her name.

  “Well if we keep an eye out for each other then we’ll always know if somebody needs attention, or if they’re hurt or falling behind. There are only two guides and eleven of us, so it kind of helps you all out.”

  “Exactly. Now, we’re going to partner up, so if you came with somebody –” He hadn’t finished his sentence before people started calling off their partners as if they were calling shotgun on a long car ride.

  Stacey and Nikki wanted to partner up. Shell and his father were obviously going to partner. The husband and wife team, Julian and Debbie, were bound to be together. Misty partnered with Georgia and Jack called dibs on Riley before Riley could partner up with anybody on his own. For that, Cody was grateful because finding a reason for not allowing Riley to partner with Sahara would be rather difficult without giving away his possessive streak. The woman was gorgeous. When she had backed into him while trying to get away from Riley, and he had caught her before she could fall, he had held her against his chest longer than he needed to because her body felt so good pressed against his own. He didn’t get involved with any of the hikers he took out here, but this was one woman he could see himself getting involved with for more than just the hike.

  “You’ll partner with me, Sahara.” Cody noticed the slight singe of disappointment on Stacey’s face. He was thankful he wouldn’t have to partner with that girl, but he would admit that if she hadn’t been the first to say, “I have my partner,” with more pride than was really necessary then he might have been stuck with her. It wasn’t a popularity contest and already that’s what she had turned it into.

  Cody looked to Parker, “You’ll be okay keeping an eye on this side,” he pointed, “and I’ll keep track of everybody over here,” that made the work easier. “Now everybody check with your partners, see what they’re packing and what they’re missing.” Parker handed out a small card with a checklist to everybody while Cody went over to check on Sahara. He already knew his pack was in order; it was time to check on hers. He was on his way when he got distracted yet again. He had to go answer a couple questions from Stacey and Nikki. He shook his head, wishing Parker could have been the one to field the questions, but he was busy with Don and Shell so Cody had to suffer the two divas. Boy, he had a load this time around. Some were going to be fine, but others…well, some of them were going to be a hard bunch to keep moving. He knew what he was doing and he knew he could get them through their journey safely, but that didn’t mean he was going to like everybody in the group. He didn’t have to like them; he just had to get them from point A to point B alive and preferably without injury.

  Sahara had been so engrossed in watching everything going on around her that she hadn’t realized Cody had finished dealing with Stacey and Nikki and had already started his approach to where she was.

  “You,” he said, and she finally realized he was talking to her.

  “My name is Sahara,” he looked at her funny, “as opposed to “you”.” She smiled, but being called “you” was right up there with being called babe, doll, sweetie, and all those other annoying terms that people used when they didn’t care enough to remember the other person’s name.

  “Let’s see what you have.” He hadn’t even mentioned his own bag. She figured it was because he had everything, and already, he was looking at her as if she were lacking. She started calling off her supplies and he frowned.

  “Two bottles of water, no sleeping bag, no real food and no real change of clothes.”

  “Well it’s only a four hour hike…”

  “It’s a four day hike. And on that fourth day of hiking we’ll be going down trail to get to the lake where we’ll camp for the night before finishing off the trip.”

  “No, it’s a four hour hike,” she said as if that would change his mind.

  He took in a deep breath as if he were trying to calm his voice. “We leave today,” he said as if he were explaining to a child. “Thursday, half day hike to stopping point one—where we camp for the night. Then we leave Friday morning for a full hike to stopping point two—where we also camp for the evening. Then we leave Saturday morning for a full day hike before reaching the next stopping ground and camping for the night. We get up Sunday morning and hike another full day. And then, on Monday morning we get up pack up our gear and take to the lake where we take the raft for four hours downstream to our final port, you get on the bus and go back to your hotel, where you camp for the night.”

  “Oh, no. The lady said it was four hours,” she was sure of that.

  “How much did you pay?”

  Normally that would annoy her. “Three seventy-five,” she said.

  “Right, and that didn’t strike you as high for a four hour hiking trip?”

  Okay, now he was being condescending again. “No, it didn’t.”

  “Well, it’s not a four hour hike, so you’re missing some essentials.”

  “So get the bus back here, I can’t hike for four days. And I certainly can’t do white water rafting. I can’t even swim!”


  “Can’t, once it’s gone that’s it.” He seemed to be fighting to hold back laughter. She didn’t like that at all. It really wasn’t funny. Her reaction might have been borderline hysterical, but this wasn’t funny. “Look, I’ll share my food with you and you’ll get through until we can get to a natural spring and refill your water bottles.”

  “I don’t swim,” she said absently. Never mind the fact that she had left her meds at the hotel. Of course she could do without them for a little while, but she hated to miss a dose.

  “You’ll be fine.” He picked up his pack and effortlessly tossed it on his back. “All the supplies we need to go down river are waiting for us, and while it’s not a ride in some amusement park we won’t be taking the advanced rapids. It’s doable.” He assured her before turning and looking at everybody else. “Okay, let’s go people it’s a long hike to our first stopping point.”

  Still in shock, Sahara picked up her pack and followed right behind him. They were partners which she assumed meant she needed to stay right on his heels. Well, maybe not right on them, but she guessed that meant she would be in the front of the crowd all the time and not the back—which is where she was more comfortable.

  It wasn’t the workout she was concerned with, though she was sure he probably wondered if she were out of shape or something. Curvaceous didn’t mean out of shape it just meant she had bigger curves than some and smaller than others. She had joined the Rock Gym three months ago and that in itself was a kick butt workout. Actually, she had been surprised that she had made it for three months because her fear of heights hadn’t let her past the third step on the ladder and now she was climbing a full scale rock wall. Well, the smallest one, but that was a start. Of course Kallie and Jeffery had said climbing in a gym and doing a nature trek were two different things and they doubted highly if she could make it through ten minutes, let alone a day.