Stand By Your Hitman by Leslie Langtry Read Free Book Online Page A

coconut to get the oil. It protects againstthe salt in the water and as a bonus it works as a mild sunscreen.” Once I had the paste, I smeared it on my arms and legs before plunging into the ocean’s surf. I was sweaty, hot and tired and knew I couldn’t sleep without at least a little dip.
    My tribe had a harder time adapting. Maybe it’s because I’m from a tropical area and more acclimated to the weather. But this bunch was having a hard time with it.
    Silas’s skin turned a bright pink after only half an hour in the sun. Weirdly enough, he seemed to like it. Apparently misery and suffering were part of the authentic experience.
    Cricket wasn’t having too much trouble with sunburn. My guess was that years working outside helped her. But the mosquitoes thought she was a virtual blood buffet and proceeded to feed on her like mad. By sundown, she was covered in red welts. For just a minute I wondered if the boys really were here.
    Sami had so much melanin stored up in her skin it didn’t seem to affect her. And the bugs apparently thought she was toxic and avoided her. Isaac and Lex had a little sunburn and a few bites, but neither one complained.
    Sleeping that first night was pretty awkward. There were three men and three women in a pretty small shelter. Somehow we managed to segregate, with the girls on one mat and the boys on the other. But it was still weird. After tomorrow, I thought we’d be so exhausted it wouldn’t even matter.
    Actually, this was a strange Survivor -esque show. There were only a few people in their twenties—the rest were older. I squeezed my eyes tightly as if that would help me remember my files so I’d know who we were up against in the Inuit tribe.
    I’d already kind of met Liliana, the artist. Let’s see, there was Kit—a model who was the first to go home on two different seasons of The Bachelor . My guess was she was a little reality show nuts.
    Kit and Liliana were the only girls on the team. They bunked with Bob, the career politician; Brick Phoenix—I’m giving you his full name because (1) it was completely ridiculous, and (2) his real name was Norman Finkelstein—an actor, of course; Moe, an unemployed and overweight thirty-year-old who still lived at home (well, at least not that month); and Dr. Andy, a therapist.
    Yeesh. The Inuit tribe was younger than we were, so I figured that might be a problem the next day.
    “I’ll git you, Johnny Reb!” Silas cried out in his sleep.
    This was going to be a loooooong four weeks.

Chapter Nine
    THE SPHINX : We are number one. All others are number two, or lower .
    —Mystery Men
    I tried to sleep. Really, I did. But it was impossible. It appeared that some of the members of our team talked, shouted and sang in their sleep—except for me, Lex and Isaac. I’d have to figure out a way to deal with that. Otherwise, I’d drop dead from lack of sleep.
    It was so early the sun wasn’t up yet. I had no idea what time it was, so I climbed to my feet and slipped out of our lean-to.
    The fresh, salty air felt so good I didn’t want to do anything. Jimmy, Bert and Ernie were nowhere to be found. They probably got to stay at the resort. Oh well.
    A five-foot-long piece of bamboo lay near my feet. I snatched it up and decided to do a little fishing. After looking both ways, I took off my bracelet and snapped it into a straight saw. As quietly as I could, I split the end of the stick into four sharp tines, reinforcing them by binding them at the base with some leftover hibiscus bark. It looked pretty dangerous, I thought proudly, as I unhinged my bracelet and put it back on my wrist.
    It took me a while to get the hang of spearfishing.There were a couple of tidal pools with trapped fish, so I wasn’t completely hopeless. I had to smile remembering the first time the twins had gone fishing. They’d used so much C-4 that the one lake on Santa Muerta was unusable for ten years. Sigh. Memories.
    By the time the sun rose, I had a fire