Chapter 13
The smell of eggs, bacon, toast, and coffee assaulted Jayden as she walked into the communal room of the conclave. It was just six thirty in the morning, but there was a lot to be done, a lot to be dealt with. A month was not nearly enough time in which to do it all. Not as far as she was concerned, anyway.
Thirty or more people sat around long tables. The chatter and clatter of cutlery scraping on plates was so loud, she wanted to turn around and walk right back out again. She didn’t. She’d promised Fen she would do this. She’d committed to the project. Everyone was here. It was too late to back out now. No matter how much she might want to.
Rhian was sitting at one of the tables, alone, a stack of papers in one hand, a cup of coffee in the other. Her attention glued to the tablet on the table in front of her. A frown marred her forehead as she bit her lower lip.
Jayden crossed the room and pulled out the chair next to her. When she didn’t react, Jayden shrugged, sat down, and waited. And waited.
Her blond hair was tucked behind her ears, as usual, and it brushed the collar of her shirt at the nape of her neck. A small pair of sleeper earrings caught the light, and Jayden was mesmerised by the way the it reflected from the surface. A subtle pattern had been cut into the metal to enhance the effect, casting tiny light patterns across the soft, downy skin at her jawline.
Jayden was enthralled by the way the shadows shifted as her jaw worked. The muscles bunched and relaxed under her skin as whatever she was reading clearly pissed her off more and more. She was about to question how she knew Rhian was pissed off, but before the thought was fully formed, she realised the answer: she knew a lot about Rhian.
She knew that the coffee in her mug would have milk but no sugar in it. And milk, not cream. She knew she’d have had a breakfast of medialunas and that this was probably her third cup of coffee already. She also knew that, by the look of the shadows under her eyes, Rhian hadn’t slept.
She shouldn’t be noticing all these things. Rhian was a work colleague, not a friend. She sighed deeply, then cleared her throat to get Rhian’s attention. “Good morning,” she said. “What’s got you so engrossed there?”
Rhian looked up from her tablet, eyes wide. “Hi there. I didn’t see you come in.”
“I know.” She smiled. “I’ve been sitting here for five minutes, waiting for you to spot me.”
“Really?” She put the papers on the table. “I’m sorry. I was just trying to figure something out.” She took a sip and put the cup back on the table, empty.
“Anything I can help with?”
“No.” She turned her head one way, then the other, until the vertebra slid into place with a pop. “Just one of the climbers who didn’t get on the plane, so we have to fly in an alternate. It’s proving difficult to get a straight answer as to why Karen didn’t want to come on the trip she fought so hard to get on in the first place.”
“Ah, I see.” She wiggled her finger, pointing at Rhian’s face. “This is your I-don’t-understand-what-the-idiot-was-thinking face.” She narrowed her eyes. “It’s a workable look, but be careful of the lines those furrows will leave.”
“Funny.”
“I try my best. When will the alternate get here?”
“Day after tomorrow.”
“Now I get it. We should all be out on the glacier at base camp by then, and you’re not sure if we should delay that trip to wait for her or if she should be brought out after she gets here.”
Rhian laughed. “Since when am I that obvious?” She turned the tablet towards Jayden and pointed to the screen. “I don’t think we can afford to wait.” She slid her finger across the screen and let the graphic of the area and a long-range weather forecast play. The storm system was set to blow in within the week and would likely have them stuck in for another week. Outside training would be slowed to low-level hikes, as the wind forecasts were just too high to risk being up on the mountains. They’d have to stick with distance work and the indoor training systems they’d set up in the climbing gym.
“I saw it before I left this morning. You’re right. We can’t wait. Once the storm digs in, we’ll be losing a week of mountain prep as it is. It’s part of what I wanted to talk to you about. If we can, I’d like to try and get these guys out of here today rather than wait till tomorrow.”
“Short notice?”
Jayden shrugged. “On the mountain, you have to be adaptable. This will give us an insight into who is and who isn’t up to that challenge.”
Rhian looked at the screen again and nodded. “Good point. And it’s not like you were planning to take them up any of the mountains.”
“No, I just need to see these guys establish a base camp on the glacier and then pair off to find a high camp for one night. I need to know they can handle the conditions and what skills they have out there. We both need to know they have enough knowledge to keep themselves safe.”
“Okay. Will you pair them off?”
“Yes. For this first challenge. They don’t know each other very well, and we should see if they can work together and learn to trust each other too. I’ll also be able to see how they handle the quick start and the hike, and we’ll get a sense of their attitudes at base camp before I send them out. By the time they start, I’ll know who will work best together. But I want to keep switching up the pairings. That’ll help them cope when pairs change after eliminations.”
Rhian nodded. “Then go amass your troops, General Harris.” She tossed in a jovial mock salute.
“You’re not coming? I thought you were with us on this expedition?”
She shook her head. “I think we need to adapt the plan.” She offered Jayden a lopsided grin. “I’ll bring Brooke out and meet up with you when she arrives.”
Jayden shook her head, uncomfortable with the idea of Rhian heading out onto the ice without her. “No, you can come out with me and the rest of the group. I’ll get Miguel or Santiago to stay back and bring—Brooke, was it?” She waited for Rhian’s nod of confirmation before continuing. “Well, one of them can bring her out when she gets here.” Jayden inclined her head, settled on the newly formed plan. Not letting Rhian be out there alone was just good safety protocol, protecting the project and all that other good crap.
“That leaves you short a guide out there, Jayden. I’m a decent climber, but I’m not Miguel or Santiago. You know that. You need them and their expertise from day one. Plus they’re stronger and can carry more than I can.” She shook her head. “No, my plan makes much more sense. I’m the least useful person to you on this expedition. Therefore, I should stay behind and bring her when she gets here.”
“You’re not useless,” Jayden protested.
“I didn’t say that. I said I was the least useful. That’s different.”
Jayden had to concede the point. “Then it should be one of the other crew members that brings her out.”
Rhian frowned. “I am perfectly capable of walking out there with her. The more crew members you have with you to start with, the more training you can get through before this storm system hits. Neither time nor the weather is on our side right now. We’ll head out first thing in the morning after she arrives. I’ll be able to prep her one-to-one when she gets in from the airport. You know this plan makes the most sense.”
It did, and Jayden knew it. But she was also acutely aware of the last time she’d given in to a request like this. A request to trust in someone else’s judgement, someone else’s skills. Rhian is not Rebecca, and this isn’t Everest. This isn’t an earthquake hot zone, and the route is one she’s already walked most of with you. She knew if she was going to refuse this plan, she’d have to explain why she couldn’t let Rhian do it. And she couldn’t do that without telling her far more than she wanted Rhian to know about her.
She’s a big girl, Jay. She’s also your boss. So take a deep breath and let her call the shots. There’s no increased risk to her plan that warrants a safety intervention.
“You’re right, it does. It’s a good plan. And thank you.”
“You’re welcome. See? My contingencies are paying off already.”
Jayden chuckled as she shook off her uneasiness and stood, clapping her hands to get everyone’s attention. “Good morning, ladies and germs,” she said to a round of titters. “I’m Jayden Harris, and I’m the chief guide around here.”
“Does that mean you’re gonna hold our hand up there?” The thick Irish accent of Killian O’Leary cut through the crowd.
“It means that health and safety out there is my number one priority. If I tell you not to climb something, you don’t. If I tell you to go back to camp, you go. If I tell you to pair up with someone, you pair with them. And if I tell you to get the hell off my mountain, you get out of my sight.” The room was silent. “Are you clear, Mr O’Leary?” She couldn’t make out his mumbled response. “I asked you a question. Are we clear, Mr O’Leary?”
“Yes,” he said louder. “How the fuck did she know who I was?” he whispered to the tall black man in the room—Luiji Mantessori—loudly enough to be overheard. She chose to ignore it and move on.
“Every one of you has experience in the mountains. Every one of you has climbed at least one of the Seven Summits or one of the 8000ers, many of you more than one. But right now, you have to prove to me that you’re capable of this challenge. We have a month of training before we start filming. A month to get yourself as ready as you possibly can be for the challenge ahead of you. And we’re not going to waste a minute of it. It’s 6:30 a.m. At seven thirty, the bus outside will take everyone on it to the Adventure Trekkers office to gear up. We’ll be spending six nights on the glacier. Our objective is to establish our base camp and for each person to be paired up and spend at least one night on a high camp.”
Low whispers and comments flittered about the room. Chairs scrapped away from tables, and a couple of people stood. Not sure if they were ready to go and pack or ready to object, she carried on.
“Gather any personal kit you need for the six nights. Technical gear is at the office. I will brief everyone on the bus as to what we need in our base camp. This is a mandatory training exercise. Clear?” She looked around the room at all the nodding heads. “Carlos will close the doors to the bus at seven thirty exactly. If you aren’t on the bus then, you won’t be coming.” Wide eyes and stunned faces greeted her proclamation. “Clear?”
More nods.
“I said, are we clear?”
A chorus of “yes, ma’am” filled the room.
“Then what the hell are you waiting for?”
Fifteen chastened men and women almost ran from the room to gather their kit. She could see them cataloguing lists in their heads as they burst through the doors and away from her. She sat back down and cast a questioning look to Rhian, who was sniggering behind her empty coffee mug.
“What?”
“I know I called you General, but I didn’t realise you were going to go all boot camp on them.”
Jayden shrugged. “I wouldn’t have done if Killian hadn’t started up like that. This is too big a group with too many egos to let him get away with something like that and think I can still control this group.”
“Makes sense. You going to be able to keep it up the whole time?”
“I won’t have to. By the time we get back, this group will have bonded, and they’ll have either learnt to respect me and my skills, or they won’t. If they don’t, it won’t matter how heavy-handed I come down on them, they’ll never listen to me. If they do, then I won’t have to be heavy-handed with them.”
“A clever tactic.”
Jayden smirked. “I’ve been around the block a time or two.”
“I just bet you have,” Rhian said. Jayden lifted an eyebrow, and Rhian seemed to realise what she’d just said. Her face turned bright red, and her mouth popped open. “I…erm…I didn’t mean that the way it sounded,” she stammered. “I meant all your experience climbing. That’s all. I wasn’t—I didn’t—I mean…oh, bloody hell.” She scrubbed her hands over her face and sighed. “It’s no use. Go ahead and kill me.”
Jayden laughed. “Why? Then I wouldn’t get to watch you squirm, Miss Phillips.”
Danger! Danger! Back away now! She cleared her throat. It was becoming a habit around Rhian, it seemed. “Anyway, I should go speak with the crew. They don’t need to set up their ice base until the week before we start the filming.”
She got up and walked away but not before she caught the smirk that now accompanied Rhian’s blush. “Oh, what the hell. It’s just a bit of friendly banter,” she whispered under her breath. “She’s a big girl.”
Her conversation with Angela Parrott and Simon Gant took less than five minutes, and she decided to wait for the climbers on the bus. It would be interesting to see who arrived first, what little cliques had begun to form already, who sat next to whom on the bus. And, more interesting yet, who sat furthest away from each other.
She spent the next half hour planning the drills she needed to cover this week with each of them. Self-rescue skills. Rope skills. Risk-assessment skills. Navigation skills. All of which she had to test before she could assess what each of them required individually to ensure their safety.
The first contestant on the bus was Kimi Shizuma, the twenty-year-old Japanese free-solo climber from Hida, in the Japanese Alps. A tiny five foot two inches of muscle and power. Rhian had shown her the footage they’d taken of her climbing at the trials. Her movement across the indoor walls had been awesome to watch. Lacking the wingspan of the taller climbers, she relied on dynamic movements to race up walls, jumping from hold to hold with no contact on the walls at all, grabbing and securing herself in her new position with a grace and ease Jayden hadn’t seen in a long time. Kimi nodded as she passed Jayden, swung her pack off her shoulder, dropped into the window seat, and parked her bag on the aisle seat. Clearly not bothered about company.
Jayden filed the information away and marked a note to watch her group work carefully. Lone wolves weren’t always good at climbing in pairs.
She wasn’t the only lone wolf in the pack, apparently. Three more got onto the bus alone and occupied seats by the windows, using their packs to deter any visitor who might think to join them. Hunter Jones and Lonnie Brown were the first people to leave the conclave together and board the bus. They glanced at each other when they saw how others were sitting, shrugged, stowed their packs in the rack overhead, and sat next to each other with a fist bump.
By 7:28 a.m., they were only waiting for two people—Luiji and Killian. Half of her hoped they didn’t make it in time. She’d love to see the looks on their faces when she had Carlos pull out just as they came running out the doors. But at seven thirty, she had no such luck. They weren’t on the bus, but they weren’t even visible in the distance behind the bus as Carlos pulled away. The rest of the passengers were quiet. Time for a little damage control.
She stood to address them all. “I’m a bitch on wheels, right? Gonna ride your arses to the edge of the earth, then push you over the edge, right?” She met the eyes of every person on the bus. “Maybe. But everything I do will be with one single goal in mind. Anyone want to hazard a guess what that might be?”
She waited, the groan of the old diesel engine the only sound until a small voice piped up. “Keep us safe.”
She smiled at Kendal Richards, the tall, rangy blond from New Zealand. A little timid, but at least she offered her opinion. “Exactly. You’re all experienced climbers. You’ve all taken on and conquered some really difficult climbs. You wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t. But experienced climbers die on mountains every day. Climbers with more experience than you all put together die on mountains because they get complacent. They get cocky. Arrogant. Their skills get rusty—their basic skills.
“This first week is about making sure that you aren’t rusty, that you aren’t arrogant. And that you aren’t going to get yourselves killed doing something stupid. To do that, I need discipline, and I need attention to detail. You give me that, and you’ll go home a better climber than you are right now. Whatever the outcome of this contest, that’s got to be worth something, right?”
Everyone nodded, and relaxed back in their seats.
“You going to let them back on expedition?” Kimi asked from her seat.
Jayden smiled. “Depends what they’ve got to say for themselves.” And how they said it. She was pissed that her phone hadn’t rung yet. It was now seven forty, and they were pulling up at the office. “Right, everyone off the bus. The annex at the side is where all the gear’s kept. It’s a lovely, tidy place at the moment. I know because I organised it. I want it to stay that way at all times. You’ll be sharing three-man tents, so get yourselves organised. Split heavy gear and share loads. You’ll need a full climbing rack and a full length of rope each. Take enough water for the day and food rations for the week. Any questions?”
Kendal raised her hand.
“Shoot.”
“How long a hike to the glacier today?”
“Fifteen kilometres, then you’ve got to cross the glacier until you find a suitable spot for base camp.” She waited for any further questions. When none were forthcoming, she clapped her hands together. “Right then, kiddies. You’ve got an hour. Let’s get a move on.”
It was after eight before her phone rang. Rhian’s number. She slid her thumb across the screen. “I warned them,” she said with a smile.
“I know. They didn’t seem to think you were serious.”
“So I gather. And now?”
“They look like naughty little schoolboys outside the headmaster’s office waiting for the cane or something.”
“What’s their excuse?”
“I didn’t ask. Didn’t think it mattered. Everyone else made your deadline with time to spare. There’s no reason why they couldn’t.”
Jayden nodded. Exactly. “What time did they make it downstairs?”
“Ten to.”
Twenty minutes late. “Did they see you?”
“No.”
“Okay, thanks. Stick Luiji on, please.” She waited as Rhian handed over the phone. “Well?” she barked at him.
“I had to use bathroom. I was only a minute after half past seven, but you had already gone.”
“Bullshit. You came downstairs at ten to eight. Twenty full minutes after I told you I’d be gone. Want to try that again?”
There was silence.
“Give the phone back to Rhian.”
“Hello?” Rhian said.
“Seems he thinks it’s a good idea to lie to me.”
“I heard. Want to give Killian a shot?”
“No point. I think they need to stew in their own juices for a couple of days. Can you bring them out with Brooke when you come?”
“Sure. But aren’t you worried about what they’ll miss in the meantime?”
Jayden sniggered. “If I’ve judged these guys right, they’ll bring their A game when they get back here. They’ll have something to prove.”
“Isn’t that the problem? The chip on their shoulders is the size of the bloody mountain they’re supposed to climb.”
“No. They’ll have something to prove to me. They’ll know I think they’re the bottom of the pack, and it will make them work twice as hard. They’ll complete the skills training with Brooke. I was going to have to split sessions anyway. I’ll spend the time with them to make sure it’ll be fine. They’ll just be backloaded like she is.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“What do you want me to do with them for the next two days, then?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“You aren’t their babysitter, Rhian. They’re big boys. They can either find themselves something constructive to do, or they can get themselves into more trouble. It’s up to them.”
“You’re the boss.”
Jayden laughed. “If only that were true.” She hung up and went inside to check her pack and share gear with Miguel and Santiago.