“We missed the exit!” she cried.
With infuriating calm Nathan had said, “But we’re still alive. No problem. Next exit is in 8 miles, we’ll turn around and get back in no time. We don’t have to be first to the airport; we just have to make the flight.” But they hadn’t. Coming back, they had been trapped in a backup due to construction on the exit ramp. She had seethed and considered abandoning the rental car by the side of the road, but Nathan had dissuaded her. When they had finally arrived at the airport, they had been just in time to watch the designated flight lift off without them. Nathan had systematically canvassed the airline agents to find the next quickest flight to Taipei while she had vented her frustrations to Michael’s recorder. They had taken off two hours late and arrived at Taipei in the early afternoon. They had to assume the lotus position and chant until the monk was satisfied and gave them their clue. To her anxious question of how far behind the first team they were, the monk had radiated bemusement and mimed that he did not speak English. They had proceeded through four tasks, with no sight at all of any other team. Her spirits had sunk and she had been irked at Nathan’s equanimity but pleased with his almost superhuman efforts on the tasks, even laughing at one of his jokes as they trod a rice paddy. The had been calf-deep in — nothing she liked to think about — in a rice paddy, and Nathan had looked at her smudged face and ruefully said, ” The four basic elements; air, fire and mud.” It had hit her so funny that he had had to hold her up until the gasps subsided. Then they had finished the challenge, without any other team showing up, and run on.
When the taxi had finally gotten to the pit stop at the Chang Kai Shek monument, Nathan had broken into a trot as he spied Tom and a second figure in ceremonial robes. She had huffed, while keeping pace with him, “Why bother?”
“I promised you I would never give up and I’d always give it my best, and I will do that to the very last inch.”
She had sighed and not looked Tom in the face as they stepped onto the Fantastic Race mat.
“Ariana and Nathan. Unfortunately you did not take the designated flight and therefore you will have to wait 30 minutes until I check you in.”
They had trudged over to the waiting mat and collapsed. Nathan had assumed the lotus position and closed his eyes and concentrated on his breathing. She lay down and stared at the darkening sky, feeling miserable, and, she was surprised to admit, humiliated. Finally she couldn’t stand the quiet. Tom and the native were quietly conversing 50 feet away, Michael was capturing their images from various angles. However asleep he looked, she felt Nathan to be awake and highly receptive, and she wanted to talk to him, though she was acutely conscious that the impersonal, unblinking eye of the recorder could be on them any moment.
“I missed the airport exit and put us behind. I’m sorry.”
Nathan raised a quizzical eyebrow, but didn’t open his eyes. “You threaded that accident scene like a professional stunt driver in an action movie. I was impressed. Thank you for saving our lives by the way.”
“If this is an elimination leg, we may out of the race. Do ya think Tom’d make us wait if we were last? I mean it would just be easier to eliminate us, would it no?” she finished hopefully.
There was the barest shrug of his shoulders. “My legs are crossed. But if this is our last leg, I can say we truly never quit, and I thank you for sharing a unique experience with me; I feel quite honored. That is what I am hoping too; that there is one more team out there arguing over road signs.”
Since this might be the end of the race for them, she felt that she had to say something. After struggling for a long few minutes on how to phrase it, she ventured, “You know, when I sent you that invitation, I wasna really serious. I didna think you would accept.” She shifted her head slightly to get a good view of his face as he digested her frank confession.
The left corner of his mouth twitched upward and the skin around his closed eyes crinkled with good humor. “Since its confession time, I guess I have to admit that I had a suspicion a few minutes afterward, and felt a little guilty.” A broad grin broke out like a sunrise over the ocean. “But not guilty enough to let you off.”
A chuckle burst out of her and she punched him lightly on the leg. After a minute of companionable silence, she ventured. “We probably won’t be racing madly around at this Finish Line Resort place… but kin I still get an occasional foot rub?”
“You may have a foot rub whenever you like.”
Her rejoinder was broken by Tom’s announcement that time was up.
Habit dies hard, and they had just promised each other they would remember not giving up, so they popped up off the mat and scrambled to the Pit Stop to face Tom’s stern countenance.
“Ariana and Nathan, this is an elimination leg. The last team will be eliminated.”
Ariana was surprised that her left hand had automatically reached to squeeze Nathan’s right hand. She was just about to say how much she had enjoyed the race, when Tom continued, “Fortunately for you, you are not the last team. In fact, you… are…Team… Number… ONE!”
They stared at him without comprehension for a moment and then she heard Nathan shout, “Yes!” A woman was screaming – and she realized it was her.
Finally they calmed down enough where Tom could be heard saying, “Flight 3407 had engine problems and had to divert to another airport. So missing the flight was actually a lucky break. Though the way you blasted through the challenges when you landed, you might still have been Team Number One.”
She started. Linnae had shaken her knee and was looking at her with amazement. There was shouting and cheering around her. Someone had made up a ditty about ‘six o six’ and everyone was encouraging her to join in, but somehow, she only wanted to check her e-mail.
[Captain of the New Zealand rugby team and fan were the last team to arrive and were eliminated.]
CHAPTER 9 [Seventh Leg (Taiwan to Singapore) — Six teams remaining]
As the troupe settled down to watch the recording of the next episode, Ariana settled down in the back and took a deep breath remembering the most notable part of this leg — which she was CERTAIN was not going to be broadcast…
Most of the teams had been eating in the room reserved for them, and she and Nathan had been sitting across from each other talking amiably about life on the touring circuit, when Tom and several strangers had come in, followed closely by Garrett, who was wearing a purely nasty expression, and Jeremy, who was looking more than a little embarrassed. The quiet background conversation in the room had trailed off to nothing as the somber group had walked across the room to stop at their table. She had looked up, uncertain as to why the mood was so serious.
“Nathan, there have been some – accusations -,” Tom had seemed hard pressed to get the word out, “that you might be using performance enhancing drugs.”