Scavenger Hunt

by John R. Little

  Jesus, how’d I manage to get in so deep with her?

  Her first pet was a puppy named Kara. She couldn’t remember how she picked that name, but she could remember the puppy as if it still was with her. It was a small lapdog that just oozed love for her. Kara was killed when she ran out to the road. Emma saw the dog die and tears rolled down her face when she told Jonathan about it.

  “I still use Kara’s name for passwords. It’s easy to remember and lets me keep a bit of her alive in my mind.”

  Jonathan reached over and hugged her. He hated to think of her hurting that way.

  Emma fell asleep for the last two hours of the flight and Jonathan closed his eyes too, but he was too wired to actually sleep.

  Team Genius seemed to have an easy job this time.

  Pitcairn Island had about 50 inhabitants, all of which were descendants of the crew of the HMS Bounty, where the famous mutiny occurred. Everyone on the island had a last name of Christian, Warren, Young, or Brown, four of the mutineers on the Bounty.

  Jonathan had memorized everything he could find out about the current inhabitants. Their task was to find the youngest person and the oldest person on the island and get them together for a photograph.

  “Should be a snap,” he’d told Pietre and Samantha. The island itself was tiny, less than two square miles. How hard could it be?

  When they’d had that conversation, they all ignored the 10,000 pound elephant in the room: money.

  They were almost out. Pietre had pissed away so much on drugs…

  After arranging their transportation to get to Pitcairn, they had less than $8,000 out of their original $50,000 credit limit. Without more money, they wouldn’t be lasting much longer in the game.

  Until now, he’d had no idea how to solve that, but as he rested with his eyes closed, a hint of a smile came across his face, as an idea formed in his mind.

  Samantha - Six Years Earlier

  She was the most beautiful bride any of the guests had ever seen. Samantha was the girl next door, the girl everyone loved. She had shoulder-length reddish-brown hair, eyes that were so bright they seemed to glow with excitement, and a smile that just melted everyone she met. She had a few scattered freckles on her cheeks that made her all the more adorable.

  At her wedding, she was radiant. She had never been happier, after finally working all the details out with Carl. It was the happiest day of her life, and deep inside her, she knew things would only continue to get better.

  Carl was the man of her dreams, even if her parents couldn’t see that.

  He’d made most of the arrangements for the wedding. It wasn’t always what she would have chosen, but he always seemed to be ahead of her. He picked out the flowers for the bridesmaids long before she ever would have gotten to it. He picked the dinner menu and told her about it after. He even decided where they’d go for their honeymoon: Sorrento in Italy. She’d never heard of the place.

  Part of her felt a loss at not being involved in every step of her own wedding, but she never knew how to tell him that. It was easier just to try to find a few touches she could add.

  They’d leave Seattle in the morning, but the one thing she did insist on was not missing their wedding night together. She was worried he’d want to get on the plane to Italy right after the ceremony.

  After they made love that night, Samantha crawled in to hug him in the king-sized bed.

  He said, “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  After a short pause he added, “I want us to start having kids right away.”

  “Oh…”

  He sat up on one elbow. “That’s not okay?”

  “Well, it’s not that. It just seems so sudden, that’s all.”

  “We’re married now. Married couples have kids. You said you wanted them.”

  “Well, I do. I just thought we would enjoy married life for a while. Just the two of us.”

  “I’ve read that it can take up to a year to get pregnant, so we may as well start trying now. It probably won’t happen for a while anyhow.”

  Samantha didn’t say anything back. She bit her lip and started to look away. He reached out to her with his index finger and turned her face back to him.

  “You’ll stop taking the pill?”

  She didn’t answer right away. He looked at her and then gave her that wonderful smile and her heart melted.

  “Yes, I’ll stop.”

  That night, she listened to Carl’s breathing as he slept and she lay awake staring into the darkness. She couldn’t believe she’d just agreed to have kids right away. She was only 21. She really wanted to enjoy married life for a while, to travel with him and have dinners out and to have wild sex on the coffee table if they wanted to. All of that was going out the window.

  For the first time she wondered if she’d made a mistake. Carl didn’t even ask her if that’s what she wanted. Well, he did, but it didn’t really feel like he did. It was more like an order.

  But now she’d agreed. If she backed out now, he’d probably get really mad, and she was afraid of him being mad. She didn’t like how angry he got with her the previous week about the stupid centerpiece.

  Maybe she could just tell him she’d stopped taking the pill but keep taking it in secret. No… that wouldn’t be good. They’d be starting their marriage with a lie. A huge lie. She’d just have to do what he asked. She just hoped it wouldn’t happen for some time.

  Luck wasn’t on her side.

  When Samantha stopped taking the pill, she was pregnant within two weeks. She couldn’t believe it and was amazed to discover that she didn’t feel disappointed. Rather, she felt an overwhelming excitement when she found out. Carl was also very happy when she told him. He picked her up and swung her around in joy.

  “Now you have to quit your job,” he said.

  “What? No, I don’t have to. I love my job.”

  He frowned.

  “Samantha, I will not have my pregnant wife flying all over the country. It’s just too risky. I want you safe and sound at home.”

  “But lots of people fly when they’re pregnant. I’m sure it’d be safe until the third trimester, maybe even close to when the baby is due.”

  “No, I won’t allow it. Anything can happen. I make plenty of money. We’ll be fine on my income.”

  “That’s not the point. I like working. I want to keep working as long as I can.”

  Immediately, she saw the rage in his eyes and wished she could take back what she’d said.

  The next few seconds seemed to happen in slow motion. He raised his hand, pulled it back, and then swung at her face. The sting of the blow didn’t hurt her nearly as much as her heart did.

  He hit me.

  She fell to the ground holding her face and cried.

  “Oh, my God, Samantha. I’m so sorry! I don’t know what came over me. I’m so terribly sorry. Are you okay, sweetheart?”

  She looked up at him, tears running down her face. She got up and locked herself in the bathroom.

  That night, Carl slept on the couch. She wouldn’t open the bedroom door as much as he begged her to. She was too upset to sleep.

  The next morning, she went to the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. She knew she should probably start staying away from caffeine now, but she really needed it today. Once it was going, she went to the bathroom and looked at her face in the mirror. She could still see the handprint on her face. When she lifted her head, she was startled to see Carl standing behind her. He slowly brought his hand to her face and gently touched her cheek.

  “I’m so very sorry. I promise you this will never happen again. I’ve just been really stressed at work, and I guess I just lost it last night. I couldn’t stand the thought of us putting our baby at risk. Please forgive me.”

  He hugged her but she pulled away after a few seconds.

  “I was thinking a lot last night,” she said. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I should quit. That way I can focus on the baby and g
et things ready.”

  He gave her a big smile. “I’m glad you see things my way now.”

  Samantha loved getting the nursery ready. They decided not to find out the sex of the baby, so she decorated the nursery with pale greens and yellows and jungle animals.

  When the big day came, they had a beautiful 6-pound 12-ounce little girl. They named her Nicole after Carl’s mother.

  After Nicole was born, Carl didn’t think it was a good idea for Samantha to go back on birth control pills, because she was nursing. They tried the natural way of birth control, keeping track of her schedule. However, that was difficult when nursing because she wasn’t getting her period, so she really had no idea when she was fertile and when she wasn’t. Carl did everything to assure her that things would be just fine. He’d use condoms if she wanted.

  She did want that, but then he complained it spoiled the moment.

  Not surprisingly, Samantha was pregnant again when Nicole was five months old.

  Pietre - Pitcairn Island

  The island was so small, it wouldn’t count as much more than a suburb of Colorado Springs. Pietre knew there were only about fifty inhabitants, but it seemed so weird to find a place in the middle of nowhere that was like this.

  There were only about 35 houses and a few shops. The only real tourist products were stamps, since there were zillions of stamp collectors who wanted stamps from one of the most isolated places on Earth.

  Several places sold honey. He didn’t know why that was such a big thing.

  Really, he didn’t much care. He just wanted this task to be over so they could move on to the next one and he’d see Maria again.

  He walked with Samantha and Jonathan and they looked in each little store and tried to peek in the windows of the houses.

  The oldest and the youngest.

  Shouldn’t be that hard with so few to choose from.

  They passed an old man sitting on a bench. He looked to be about seventy.

  “He might be it,” said Jonathan.

  “Maybe,” said Samantha.

  Pietre stared at the old man, who looked right back at him.

  “Not polite to stare,” said Samantha.

  Pietre turned to look ahead with the others. “Why would they send us here?”

  “Why not?”

  “The place reeks of evil. You know that. That old man could have raped his 10-year-old daughter. Look at the men on this island. They all give me the creeps and most of them are rapists.”

  They’d all read the history of Pitcairn Island on the Internet. The island had been a British colony, thought to be paradise. That was until a police officer from the U.K. began uncovering allegations of sexual abuse. The investigation found an island-wide tolerance of sexual promiscuity, even among children, with an apparent acceptance of child sexual abuse by adults.

  Many citizens, including the mayor, were found guilty of rape and assorted other sex crimes in 2004.

  Samantha lowered her head and seemed interested in the ground below. “We weren’t there. We don’t know the culture this place has. Nobody here believed they were doing anything wrong.”

  “Half the men here were convicted of some kind of sexual crime. Mostly against little girls. They didn’t think that was wrong?”

  Jonathan said, “That was also a decade ago.”

  “This place is just evil. That’s why the show sent us here.”

  “You mean the producers sent us.”

  “The show did. It’s evil.”

  They stopped walking. “That’s ridiculous,” said Samantha. “How can a show be evil. Only people are evil.”

  Pietre couldn’t think of how to argue, but he knew what he felt.

  “We can check the church. The priest will know who the oldest and youngest are,” said Jonathan.

  An hour later, they knew more about the inhabitants of the village then they had ever planned on knowing. Father Christian told them about every birth and every death, sometimes flipping into the Pitkern language, but the contestants always brought him back to English.

  The old man they’d seen earlier was 87 and the oldest resident. His name was Gregory Brown. The youngest was a newborn girl, Elsie Young.

  They thanked Father Christian and walked back to the old man. They agreed that Samantha should do the talking for them.

  As she approached the old man, Pietre and Jonathan hung back. They didn’t want to spook him.

  Jonathan said, “I sometimes think the same thing. About the show, I mean. It sounds stupid to think the show could have any kind of characterization separate from the producers, but sometimes I wonder if they’re controlling the show or — ”

  “Or the show is controlling them,” finished Pietre.

  They watched as Samantha walked with Gregory Brown. She laughed and chatted and he smiled and looked at her.

  Pervert, thought Pietre.

  The baby was only a few houses away. “Thank God, we’ll be off this island soon,” Pietre said. “Can’t happen soon enough for me.”

  Jonathan - Twelve Hours Earlier

  It was after 3:00 a.m. Jonathan crept out of the room Team Genius shared and took his tablet computer outside. He was careful not to wake anybody, even though he knew they wouldn’t much care. They’d probably think he was sneaking over to Emma’s room.

  He could hear Samantha’s light breathing and Jackie’s heavier snores. He didn’t hear Pietre at all but he didn’t care.

  There was a bright full moon hanging high in the sky that illuminated the street. He couldn’t see anybody else, the residents all sleeping in their homes.

  He flicked the computer on and it immediately flashed with a login pop-up. For a second, he hesitated, but only that one second.

  The game was what mattered. He had to win.

  He logged into the Scavenger Hunt web site as EmmaLehman. All the login ids were the same format so he didn’t have to sneak the information from her.

  Password?

  Kara.

  He hoped she was consistent in using her dog’s name…

  After a second, the screen popped up, “Welcome Emma. What would you like to do?”

  He hit the Banking icon and brought up Team Superior’s credit card account. They had more than $40,000 left.

  He clicked on Transfer and typed in his own team’s credit card account. $35,000.

  Are you sure?

  Yes.

  Transfer Complete.

  Jonathan logged out and logged back in using his own name to confirm the balance in Team Genius’s account. He smiled and logged out, went back to his room and fell into a deep sleep.

  Chapter 24: Team Superior

  Maria - Pitcairn Island

  Maria was happy. Not just happy, but ecstatically happy. She’d always been a bubbly and excited girl on the outside, and everyone who knew her always thought she was the happiest girl in the world. Maria knew better, though, because although she always managed to maintain a bright smile on her face and laughed all the time, only she knew most of that was fake.

  She actually felt very lonely all the time.

  Her parents were stinking rich, and they loved to show off their wealth. Maria’s mom had the same beautiful green eyes that Maria had, but that was the only thing she was grateful to inherit. Jessica Hudson, her mom, was always flashing her jewelry, having cosmetic surgeries to make her look “healthier” and showing off her ability to donate to the arts.

  It would be fine if she really wanted to donate, but Maria knew it was all for show. The money was a drop in the bucket, but having people fawn over her generosity was priceless.

  Maria hated being around it.

  She was fifteen when they moved to New York City. Her father purchased a penthouse apartment (more like a small subdivision in Maria’s eyes) overlooking Central Park. It seemed like an opportunity for Maria to grow up, and she decided to take advantage of that.

  She made sure that she left a good impression on everybody she met, and that meant a
lot of smiling and laughing. She never told anybody about her rich parents; she wanted people to like her for herself.

  Walking by Second Chance Books that day was a complete fluke, but when she browsed inside and met Emma, it was amazing. They clicked and having Emma offer her a part-time job was exactly what she needed. She met customers and helped them and had a wonderful time.

  Life was good. Very good.

  Except she’d never met a man who seemed to want to be with her. She’d been careful about dating customers of the store, not wanting to ever cause trouble at work if things didn’t work out. Most of the other students at the photography institute she attended were women, so that didn’t help.

  She’d been lonely most of her life. She wanted to find that one man who would love her and that she would love, the man who would turn out to be her soul mate, the man who she wanted to go through life with.

  All the smiles in the world couldn’t replace that loss.

  Now, she had Pietre. She listened to him in the darkness as he snored lightly. Maria had never slept a whole night with any man before and she loved it. She wanted it all the time now. With him.

  He’d saved her from the head-hunters (if that’s what they were), and they spent hours talking in the forests of the Amazon. It wasn’t enough to know for sure that this was the relationship she was looking for, but it sure felt like it so far.

  He was kind and gentle, and when they made love, he treated her like a glass figurine, careful to take care of her needs. She wasn’t used to that.

  Part of her mind kept shouting at her: He’s a drug addict. Run away as fast as you can!

  But he’d been honest with her about that and about needing help to make sure he broke the habit for good this time. She wanted to be that help.

  She reached over and whispered, “I’m so glad I met you.”

  He stopped snoring and she could sense his eyes open.