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“It’s pretty obvious we’ll never get up that without a ladder or a rope to help us,” Kira finally said.

“We have to,” I said. “Every problem has a solution. We just have to think of it.”

We looked at each other, our brains working furiously, but nothing leaped to mind.

I turned hopefully to Jax. “Can you snap your fingers and a rope will magically appear?”

My words must have triggered a thought, because he suddenly smiled. “Not exactly. Take off your shirt, Red.”

Chapter Thirty-Six

ANGEL SINCLAIR

“Excuse me?” I looked at him incredulously.

Jax spread his hands to include the entire group. “Everyonetake off your shirt and give it to me. We don’t have a rope, but we canmakea rope out of our shirts. I’ll get up there first. If Bo gives me a boost, I should be able to pull myself up. Throw me the rope made of our shirts and I’ll be the anchor at the top. Among us, we should be able to get everyone up.”

All of the girls had sports bras on, so it was kind of like wearing a crop top, not that I’d ever worn a crop top in my life. Regardless, all the essentials were covered, and there was no time for modesty.

“I’m an Eagle Scout,” Wally offered. “I’ll tie the knots.”

“Hurry,” Kira said.

Bo was already standing at the wall. He bent down and Jax climbed on his shoulders, steadying himself against the wall. He was still shy of reaching the ledge, so he warned Bo he would have to jump to make it. Bo nodded and braced himself with one hand against the wall. Several of us stood behind Bo, bracing him from the back.

We held one collective breath as Jax bent and jumped up, his fingers barely gripping the edge. With a grunt, he pulled himself up onto the wall and rested. We cheered as Bo rotated his shoulders.

“Throw me the shirt rope,” Jax shouted.

Wally was frantically tying the last of the knots, and Kira had been helping by handing him the shirts. When Wally was done, Kira threw it up to Jax. It took four tries, but Jax finally caught it.

Kira went first, bracing against the wall and using the shirt rope to pull herself up. Once she was up, the two of them helped the rest of us get up. We slid down the other side, pumping a fist when we finished.

“Keep going,” Bo said as soon as Jax met us at the bottom. He slapped Jax on the back. “Good thinking.”

We followed him, but the truth was we were beyond exhausted, and we had no idea how many more obstacles we had. We left our T-shirts behind, as it would take too much time to untie them, and ran to the next obstacle. We had to go around the KIT building before we came to an area with a flagpole about twenty feet high, surrounded by air-filled, bouncy exercise mats.

“What’s this?” Hala said in astonishment.

We all exchanged puzzled glances with each other.

Bo picked up the instruction card. “It’s the final obstacle.” He glanced at his watch. “We have thirty-four minutes to complete it. The goal is to get whatever is at the top of the pole. The only thing we get to help us is, apparently, this coil of rope and those bouncy mats, presumably in case we fall off while trying.”

“Where was the rope when we needed it for the last obstacle?” Mike grumbled.

“Let’s go,” Wally said, clapping his hands. “Let’s shimmy up the pole and get the thing. It looks like an oversize hockey puck.”

Jax grinned at him. “Slow down, cowboy. Let’s see if we can knock it off first.”

“Oh.” Wally paused. “That’s a good idea.”

“Everyone find a rock and try to dislodge it,” Jax said. “The instructions didn’t sayhowwe had to get it, just that we get it.”

“What if it’s something dangerous inside like a bomb or something?” Frankie asked.

“I would think the instructions would have told us to be careful with it.”

We glanced over at Mr. Donovan who stood in the shade, watching us.