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“I’m with Jax,” I finally said. “Let’s see if we can knock it off.”

We scattered, looking for some rocks. I carried back several, as did everyone else. We all stood to one side and threw the rocks at the object, hoping to dislodge it.

Jax was the first to make a direct hit. It didn’t budge. “It must be attached.”

“Attached?” Kira said. “How?”

“I don’t know.” Bo shrugged.

“So, we have to climb to get it?” Kira looked agitated.

“No, not climb.” Mike now stood next to the pole examining it. “It’s too big around for one person to shimmy. Even if it wasn’t, it’s greased.”

“Greased? Ah, come on.” Jax blew out a frustrated breath and walked next to Mike, rubbing his fingers on the pole. “Mike’s right. We’d slide like a greased pig trying to shimmy this thing.”

“Even with the rope?” I asked.

“Even with the rope,” Jax confirmed. “It’ll slide, just like my feet would if I tried to climb by bracing my feet against the pole.”

Bo was silent as he circled the pole, considering.

“Maybe we could wipe the grease off,” Frankie offered.

“No time or materials to do that,” Bo said. “We’re going to have to stack.”

“Stack?” I repeated.

“Climb on each other’s shoulders until we reach the top,” Jax explained. “I bet that’s what the mats are for.”

“What?” Frankie said in horror. “Stand on each other’s shoulders?”

“Yes. Bo and I will anchor at the bottom, standing side by side in order to better distribute the weight. There will two people on top of us and then two more on top of them. Then one person will stand single and the lightest person will stand on that person’s shoulders to reach the object at the top. We can do this.” He turned to me. “Red, can you calculate our heights against the length of the pole? Are we tall enough together to reach it if we do it that way?”

I looked up at the pole and then asked everyone for their heights, reminding them not to lie. “It’ll be close,” I said when I finished the calculations in my head. “I could be off by a foot, and that would be a problem. It’s all estimation at this point.”

“We don’t have another choice,” said Bo. He looked between Hala and me. “Between the two of you, who weighs less?”

I gave my specs first followed by Hala. She outweighed me by a measly two pounds.

“Angel is on top, then,” Bo said. “Wally and Mike, you stand on top of Jax and me. Frankie and Kira, you’re to stand on them.”

“I’m not sure this is a good idea,” Frankie said.

“It’s theonlyidea, and we’re short on time,” Bo countered. “Hala, you stand single on Kira’s shoulders. Angel, it’s up to you to climb onto Hala’s shoulders and retrieve whatever’s at the top. You’ll have to climb over most of us to get up there.”

“Right.” I gulped. “No pressure.”

“Take the rope in case you need it,” Bo said, tossing the rope to me. “Just don’t drop it.”

I caught it and wound it around my neck and shoulders. “Okay, but before we stack, I would suggest asking Mr. Donovan the one question we’ve been permitted.”

For a moment, everyone just stared at me. I guess between exhaustion and stress, the question thing had slipped their minds.

“What do you have in mind, Red?” Jax said.

“We need to know how whatever is up there is attached. If I’m tasked with getting it off, I need to know exactly what I need to do to remove it. I don’t want to be standing precariously on all of your shoulders trying to figure it out.”

“Good thinking,” Wally said. “She’s right.”