3

      NICK WAS WOKEN by the bright sun shining through the pinhole gaps in the leaves of the shelter. The air was comfortably warm and he could hear birdsong and the rhythmic crash of the waves on the shore.

      He yawned and looked down at the head that was resting in the crook of his shoulder. He could see the sweep of Jessie’s brows and her chestnut hair fell in a thick cascade over his arm. She stirred in her sleep and her mouth parted to emit a soft snore.

      Nick smiled, remembering how quickly she’d fallen asleep the night before. He’d deepened his breathing as soon as they lay down, hoping to put her at ease by making her think he was already asleep. He hadn’t been sure what kind of reaction to expect to the revelation that they were sharing a bed but the way she just lay down next to him without making any sort of fuss about it had impressed him.

      Truth be told, his overall impression of her was a good one. She seemed to have a lot of spirit and he liked the determined glint that had sparked in her eye when it came time to eat the beetle grubs.

      Nick had been unenthusiastic about this castaway competition from the start. He was used to working on his own—just him and the elements—and he had tried doggedly to disenchant Lois of the idea. But she had remained resolute and while Nick knew that she couldn’t fire him she did have the power to thwart or curtail his future projects. Working with Lois was a particular kind of torture, working against her didn’t even bear thinking about.

      So it had never really been a matter of “if,” but “when.”

      Of course now that he was in it, he had to admit that he was intrigued by what was going to happen. In his show he reminded viewers over and over again that psychology played a vital part in survival. In extreme circumstances a strong mind could make a weak body do impossible things. But the reverse was also true. When the mind gave up, the body followed.

      The fascination of watching random people under pressure was irresistible. Who’ll crack, who’ll turn nasty, who’ll come through with their integrity intact, who’ll surprise?

      Nick also knew that when a group of people found themselves in a genuinely life-threatening situation it was always only a matter of time before the instinct for self-preservation caused rifts and betrayals. However, the castaways with Nick were obviously in no real danger of starving to death. And so, the money prize had been introduced to provide the necessary incentive to selfishness and backstabbing.

      How long before they stopped working together?

      Nick smiled to himself as his thoughts meandered. Lois had done a good job of picking the finalists. Nick knew that hopeful contestants had sent in a biography and an essay detailing their most impressive survival experience to date but he had never gotten to see these. Neither had Lois told him anything about the eventual finalists. Her idea was that it would make it more interesting for him to be in the dark about these strangers that he was stranded with.

      He’d had little more than perfunctory conversations with them so far. He knew that Cindi was a bartender in New York—”By which I mean, I admit it, I’m an actress. Between jobs, you know?”—and that Malcolm was some sort of accountant—”Figures and statistics, I won’t bore you with it.”

      And his impression of Jessie? Only fleeting so far but he liked her. What was it she’d called him? Tough guy. It should have annoyed him but there was something about the way she said it, so casually and without a hint of flirtation, that made it sort of charming.

      Out of the corner of his eye he glimpsed movement at the opening of the shelter and he tilted his head up to see Kenny’s camera trained on them.

      Nick let out a quiet chuckle. “Morning. How about giving us a minute to wake up?”

      Kenny lifted a hand in greeting but didn’t move away as Jessie started to stir. She let out a sigh and her eyelids fluttered open. She looked blankly at Nick for a moment, blinking, until a smile of recognition curved her lips.

      Nick instinctively returned the smile. “Morning.”

      “Yeah…hi,” mumbled Jessie, putting a hand up to brush some strands of hair back from her face. She rubbed her eyes and blinked a few more times, looking around blearily as if getting her bearings.

      She raised herself onto one elbow and, catching sight of Kenny, let out a laughing groan and turned away from him, hiding her face.

      The next moment Jessie burst through the top of the shelter, shrieking at the top of her lungs.

      Nick watched, stunned, as her head disappeared through the hole in the roof and he heard her exclaim to Kenny, “Did you see that? It’s enormous!”

      Nick winced. He had hoped that if she did notice the bulge in his trousers that she would at least have had the diplomacy not to mention it. Her comments, flattering though they were, were the last thing he’d expected or wanted. What was the matter with her?

      He looked down just in time to see a gecko lizard slithering off the bed, its long tail flickering as it scuttled out of the hut.

      Nick got up, running his hand through his hair and stretched as he emerged from the shelter. He smiled when he saw Jessie watching fearfully from a distance.

      “It’s okay,” he said, raising his hands in a gesture of triumph. “I have vanquished the monster.”

      “What the heck was it?”

      “It was just a gecko lizard.”

      “A lizard?” said Jessie. “Are you kidding me? Lizards are small and cute. That was as big as a dog.”

      Nick offered the camera a skeptical look. “More like a cat really.”

      “It was sleeping on top of us!”

      “Yeah,” said Nick. “They like the warmth. And maybe the companionship, who knows?”

      “Great. I hope the two of you will be very happy together. Don’t forget to invite me to the wedding.”

      “Look,” said Nick reasonably. “There’s no need to be scared. They’re vegetarians, harmless really.”

      He watched as a flush