Page 59 of Runner 13

Stella

‘It looks so much like him,’ says Pete, squinting at the photo on my phone. ‘He had a moustache before.’

He takes out his phone and searches on Google Images for Steve Parsons. Sure enough, there’s an old race photo from his obituary. We compare the two. It really could be him.

‘But how is this possible?’ Pete asks. ‘And what does it mean?’

‘Did they find a body?’ I ask.

Pete shakes his head.

‘So maybe it is him. Whoever it is, we know they’re dangerous, and they’re armed.’ I lean forward to speak to Ali. ‘How long until we reach Adrienne?’

‘Not long now. You can see the jebel up ahead.’

The jebel looks dark and foreboding from this angle; it’s bigger than the one they climbed before.

My phone rings, making me jump. It’s Henry. I ask about Mariam first.

‘She’s en route to Ouarzazate. She’s going to be fine. But I have to tell you something. I just received a disturbing email from your father’s solicitors. I’ve forwarded it to you. Let me know what you make of it.’

‘Shit, OK. Any sign of Dale?’

‘None. The police are crawling all over the bivouac. I have no idea how we’re going to run the last day of the fun run.’

‘I think your concern needs to be the fucking killer on the loose,’ I say, shutting off the phone.

I take a few deep breaths, then open the email. I frown.

‘What is it?’ asks Pete.

‘It’s an email from my dad’s lawyers, but it’s written in all sorts of legalese. Like a contract. An amendment to a contract,’ I clarify.

‘Knowing Boones, it’s going to be watertight. He’s surprisingly on top of those things in his other races.’

‘It says that in the event no elite athlete finishes the race, the prize money will be automatically transferred to this bank account.’ There are a series of numbers: a long international banking address.

But there’s no name attached to it. Maybe there’s no need.

My stomach fills with lead. ‘I think I know what’s happened.

Boones’s ultimate race.’ I grab Pete’s hand.

If I’m right, this changes everything. ‘Run this through with me. If one of the runners finishes, they get five hundred thousand, right?’

‘Right …’ says Pete.

‘And this contract says that if none of them finish, the money is transferred to someone else. Some mystery person. What if that’s what “Dale” is after? If he can stop people from finishing the race …’

‘Then he’ll get the money,’ Pete finishes. He’s as white as a sheet.

Suddenly, my dad’s words make sense. ‘Oh my God. He never suspected Dale would go to these lengths to stop the runners from finishing. That’s what he meant when he said “He’s gone too far”. He tried to stop Dale, and that’s when Dale shot him.’

‘He’d do that for half a million dollars? It’s a lot of money, but to actually murder people … How can it be worth it?’ Pete asks.

‘I don’t know. But it means whoever is in the race is still in danger.’

‘If Adrienne’s emergency beacon has gone off, that means she’s out of contention. Maybe Dale won’t need to do anything to her.’

I bite my lip before speaking, considering Pete’s point. ‘Maybe. But Rupert is still out there. And Hiroko.’

‘Of course.’ Pete leans back against the headrest, but I can see a sliver of hope has crept in. That maybe Adrienne is no longer caught up in all this.

Ali slows the car as we reach the vicinity of the flashing GPS marker. We all press so close to the glass, our breath leaves marks on it, scanning the horizon for signs of life.

That’s when I see it. A slumped figure in a white shirt. I nudge Ali, who sees it too, pulling the car round in that direction.

Pete is out of the vehicle before it’s even stopped. He rushes over, dropping down to help Adrienne.

Except, as I see after a few quick steps of my own, it’s not Adrienne. It’s Hiroko.

He’s fast asleep. He looks shrivelled, dried up like a raisin. He hardly compares to the man who had been on the starting line a few days ago. But he has no injuries that we can see. We attempt to revive him with some water.

‘I don’t understand,’ says Pete. ‘His beacon isn’t even on.’

There’s a red light emanating – flashing – from Hiroko’s breast pocket. I reach inside and pull out a different emergency beacon. ‘Adrienne’s,’ I say.

Pete groans.

She must have come across Hiroko in this state and left her beacon with him so he would be picked up. That means it can’t have been more than an hour ago that she left.

We both look up at the jebel. She’s there – somewhere. Untrackable.

‘We have to climb,’ Pete says.

‘It’s not safe. We can take the car and make it round to the other side – it will still be faster than following her. She’s already got an hour’s head start on us. We can meet her when she comes down the other side.’

‘My legs are fresh. I can run.’

We hold each other’s gaze for a moment. A turning point. There isn’t a decision to be made; that’s already happened. It’s not permission he’s asking for.

I hand him Alex’s map. ‘Follow this,’ I say. ‘We’ll meet you at the bottom here, where they come out for the final push to the finish. I’ll wait for you there. Don’t do anything stupid.’

‘OK,’ he says.

I grip his hand. ‘Be careful.’

As we’re holding hands, a loud bang makes us both duck. I scream.

We look up.

‘Fuck, fuck, fuck,’ Pete says. And then he’s off.