“I may have stayed up a little later than y’all.”
“Waiting for Bigfoot?” Carter asked.
Grayson shrugged. “Better chance of seeing him at night.”
“I’m sorry.” Tess cupped a hand behind her ear. “What’s that now?”
“Grayson’s a Bigfoot hunter,” Joseph said. The death stare Grayson shot him told Tess that was supposed to remain a secret.
“Please tell me that’s not the only reason you came up here,” Tess said.
“’Course not,” Grayson said.
“Uh-huh.” She let it go.
Instant coffee was the worst, but Tess choked it down without comment. She found that if she complained, it gave the men permission to do the same, and she had to keep it positive.
Joseph gave up on finding a comfortable position on the ground and stood. “We paid two grand for this and don’t even get a decent place to sit?” he grumbled.
Logan’s head snapped up. He’d just taken a gulp of water and spewed the mouthful into the fire. “Two grand?” he coughed out.
Tess raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know how much you paid to be here?” How rich was this guy?
“My brother signed me up,” Logan said, wiping water from his chin with the back of his hand, not meeting her stare.
“Either he’s very generous, got money to burn, or wants you dead and thought the mountains would kill you.”
“He said I needed some fresh air,” Logan mumbled.
“Well, our airisfresh,” Tess agreed. “But I wouldn’t pay 2K just to breathe it. Especially since it’s free. Must be money to burn.”
“He does all right,” Logan said, shrugging. “Still, it’s outrageous.”
Tess didn’t know if he meant the campout fee or the fact that his brother paid so much for him to attend. Was Logannotrich then? That would be a first. Maybe she’d lumped him in with all these other wealthy guys prematurely.
Over weak, watery coffee and a protein bar, she went over the rules and instructions for the day.
“We use the buddy system. Everything in pairs. Unless you’re within eyesight of base camp or in the woods taking care of business, you stay with your buddy.” She reached into a bright red backpack and pulled out a gun.
Half the men jumped, half cast a doubtful eye in her direction.
“Is this a stick-up?” Grayson asked, raising both hands in the air.
Tess smirked. “Before we do anything today, I’m gonna show and tell you what to do in an emergency. If I’m around, I’ll take care of whatever it is. But if something happens to me, or if you’re away from camp, everyone needs to know what to do. You all have your flare guns. Take them with you any time you leave camp. How many of you are familiar with real guns?”
Logan and Carter raised their hands.
“Okay.” Tess nodded. “Then you two are Plan B if I’m incapacitated. It’s your basic handgun—a Glock. Nothing in the chamber, but of course, always treat it as though there were. Shooting anything is a last resort. Bears can usually be shooed off with a horn or bear spray. Coyotes might be our biggest danger, but since we’ll be together at night, we should be fine.”
Ashton and Joseph cast furtive glances over their shoulders to the treeline, probably rethinking their decision to set up tents there.
“Next, the radio.” She pulled out the SAT phone. “Anyone ever used one of these?” No one raised their hand.
She gave instructions on how to call for help and made them memorize the coordinates of their location. She taught them how to use the bear spray and what to do if they encountered a snake. She took questions, and once everyone seemed to understand, she moved on to the how-tos of fishing.
As they were cleaning up breakfast—putting protein bar wrappers in ziplock bags—she overheard Joseph whisper to Logan. “Tess is pretty bossy, don’t you think?”
“No,” Logan responded. “I’d say…competent and straightforward.”
