got under Summerset’s skin.
Pleased with herself, she bounded up the steps and into the bedroom to change to workout gear.
An hour in the gym, some hard laps in the pool, would loosen her body and her mind. To avoid running into Summerset, she took the elevator down, then stopped short when she saw Roarke, already sweaty, doing bench presses.
“Fancy meeting you here.”
“I didn’t know you were home.” She walked over, looked down at him. “Did you buy everything already?”
“Everything worth having—today. Did you catch all the bad guys?”
“Made my quota. I thought I’d sweat out some theories, suppositions, and probabilities, then shower before scooping up another load of bad guys.”
“Good plan. Nice to see you.” He clicked the weights on their safety, sat up, and reached for his water bottle. “After a run?”
“Initially.”
“I wouldn’t mind one. Where are you going?”
“Hadn’t decided.”
“I’ve got a new VR program, and two can play.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I’m not after sex sweat.”
He tipped back the water, eyes amused. He’d tied his hair back, and his skin gleamed.
He could probably change her mind on the sweaty activity, she decided.
“Strange, isn’t it, how often your mind leaps straight to sex?”
“Maybe because you’re always nailing me.”
“Maybe. But for now.” He pushed off the bench, walked to a built-in cabinet for the VR gear. “It’s more than a run. There are various obstacles, choices in directions, all of which have their own consequences or rewards. Different scenarios. We have urban, rural, suburban, seemingly deserted landscapes of myriad types. Night, day, a combination. Whatever you like, basically.”
“Is it a game or a workout?”
“It’s both. Why not have fun at it? Where would you like to go?”
She started to pick an urban background—it’s what she knew. But if it was a game, too, that meant competition.
“Let’s go rural.”
“You surprise me.”
“We’ll both be off our turf. Mix up day and night.”
He passed her a set of goggles, began to program. “The goal is to reach the destination that will be shown on the map in the insert at the bottom of your play screen. If you fail to navigate an obstacle or you’re injured, you lose points and distance. Clear one, gain them. Clear so many, you’re rewarded with something useful.”
“How many times have you played this?”
“A few, but not the scenario I’m putting on. We’ll start even on this. Thirty minutes do you?”
“Yeah, that should do it.” Eve fit on the goggles, studied the landscape that surrounded her, checked the insert, and saw the snaking, winding paths, intersections, blocks, and the pulsing light that indicated the goal.
Thick woods, dim light, a rough track and a lot of undergrowth. The sort of place strange animals wandered. Animals with teeth.
She’d be more comfortable running through a dark warehouse full of homicidal chemi-heads.
Which was exactly why she’d gone against type. She’d work harder.
“Watch for pulses on the map, they’ll indicate obstacles or some element of trouble. Ready?”
“Okay.”
The roar of wind came up, whipped the trees as the scene came to life around her. She heard crashing— branches falling, and a kind of whoosh and pound that might have been a waterfall.
But what did she know?
Eve started off at a warm-up jog, chose the left fork on the track. Another, bigger crash, and a tree fell across the path only a few feet ahead of her. She vaulted over it, racked up a few points. Increased her pace.
She veered right, heard a rumbling, echoing growl, and decided to backtrack. She’d just take the longer route.
She ran flat out now, finding her rhythm, muscles warming.
She saw the narrow, swaying bridge ahead—rope and open planks—with some gaps—over a wide chasm. A river, the color of mud, roared and churned below. She rushed the bridge, leaping over gaps, nearly crashed through when wood cracked under her feet.
Then the whole business began to vibrate. She thought,
She sprang up, snagged dangling rope and propelled herself forward. The surge of wind, speed, struck her, as exhilarating as it was terrifying. She landed hard—a jolt from ankles to knees—on a narrow ledge.
To the right, the ledge widened and stacked into rough stone steps. On which stood a howling pack of wolves. Even as she considered her options they began to slink forward.
She stopped, considering, and started climbing, dragging herself up the cliff face.
Sweaty, straining, she reached the top.
She patted her hip, felt the sheath.
Frosty.
Panting a bit, she ran left, away from the wolves. Just as she found her rhythm again, something snaked around her ankle. The next thing she knew she hung upside down, dangling from a rope from a tree branch.
Somewhere, drums began to beat.
Probably cannibals, she thought. It would figure.
By the time she levered herself up—oh, her aching abs—and cut the rope, landed hard on the forest floor, the drums sounded a whole lot closer.
She caught her breath, glanced at the map to choose directions.
An arrow dug with a thwack into the tree an inch away from her braced hand.
She ran hard. Climbed a mountain of stones, fell into a bog, jumped off a cliff into a river to avoid a really big bear.
Her next reward—a flashlight—came in handy when dark fell like an avalanche.
Wet, winded, momentarily lost, she found herself surprised when the screen flashed END TIME.
She pulled off her goggles, turned to Roarke, and was pleased to find him as winded as she.
Plus, she’d edged his score by three points.
“Apparently I have a broken arm,” he told her. “It cost me.”
“I was nearly snack food for a bear, and lost my knife when I fell into a bog. That was fun.”
He grinned. “It was. Want another thirty?”
She’d planned on an hour, she reminded herself. So why not?
“You’re on. I want a quick swim after, then I’ve got work. Questions. Lots of them. Maybe if I bounce some off you, you’ll have an answer.”
“All right then. Loser deals with dinner. I’ve a mind for red meat after this.”
“Again, you’re on.”
“From the beginning, or where we left it?”
“Where we left it.”
At the end of thirty, she slid down to the floor—limp.
“I was attacked by a pig.”
“A boar,” Roarke corrected.
“A mutant pig. I always knew there were mutant pigs with really sharp teeth in the woods. Why do people like to go there? And there was a meadow. Pretty. It looked safe. Snakes. I should’ve known there’d be snakes.”
