Beautifully Broken (The Broken Series Book 2) (42 page)

I
tried not to be too obvious, but I had to turn around to see that area of the
park. My mouth fell open in shock. “That’s Rafael. He used to be my bodyguard,”
I replied in a tone that was bordering on dumbstruck. My eyes were still wide when
I turned back around to look at her.

Shae
gaped at me. “You had a bodyguard? Why?”

“My
fiancé… ex-fiancé,” I quickly corrected, “pissed off some very bad men.”

“Do
you think your ex is still paying him to be your bodyguard?” she asked,
thoroughly intrigued.

I
turned back around and stared at Rafael in disbelief.

Rafael
lowered his iPad. He smiled one of
those
smiles and waved, like I
shouldn’t have been at all surprised to find him sitting on a bench in my
neighborhood.

I
continued staring at him while responding to Shae’s question. “Either that or
he’s having a hard time letting go of the job.” My pulse quickened as Rafael
stood and began walking toward us.

“And
the angry but fine looking black brother who’s heading our way?” Shae prompted
with some amusement.

I
turned to look at Shae. She nodded over her left shoulder. Kadyn was walking
determinedly toward us. My eyes widened even more. Shae was right. Kadyn looked
pissed.

He
was still three strides away when he spoke. “Kri, why aren’t you answering your
phone?”

I
looked questioningly at him. “Because I left it charging inside? Why? Is
something wrong?”

He
scowled. “Cenia and I have been trying to call you for over an hour. You were
supposed to meet us for breakfast at my place, remember? The scavenger race
starts in thirty minutes.”

I
slapped myself on the forehead, then quickly jumped to my feet. “Oh crap!
Kadyn, I totally forgot. I came out to do some yoga. Then I ran into Shae. I’m
so sorry. I completely lost track of time.”

Kadyn
nodded at Shae as he reached for her hand. “You must be Kri’s friend from
school.”

She
shook Kadyn’s hand and grinned. “One of many,” she assured him. “What kind of
scavenger hunt are you doing?”

I
glanced nervously at Kadyn as I explained. “It’s an urban race where you
compete in challenges and solve puzzles spread all over DC. Proceeds from the
event benefit Saint Jude’s Children’s Hospital.”

“I’m
sorry to interrupt, but everyone’s sitting in Habib’s car waiting for us,”
Kadyn interjected.

“Habib
is driving?” I asked in surprise.

“Of
course. Who knows DC better than Habib?” Kadyn scoffed. “Besides, if Habib
drives, it frees the rest of us up so we can decipher the clues.”

Shae
nudged me before nodding toward Kadyn. “Competitive?”

I
laughed. “Oh yeah. Big time.” I looked for Rafael as I turned to retrieve my
yoga mat. My heart sank when I discovered he was gone. I couldn’t believe he
would leave without coming over to talk to me. I blinked back tears, suddenly
hurt that he had found it so easy to walk away. I fought to regain my composure
while rolling up the mat. I walked hurriedly toward Kadyn. “Is it okay that I’m
wearing yoga clothes?”

Kadyn
eyed my outfit appreciatively. “Works for me.”

I
gave Shae a quick hug. “I’m sorry. I gotta go.”

“What
I wouldn’t give to be you for just one day,” she whispered back.

I
pulled away in surprise. “Trust me. You don’t want to be me… not even for a
day. We’ll talk later,” I promised as I ran to catch up with Kadyn. He was
already walking toward the back of my house.

I
caught up with Kadyn just as he rounded the corner to Habib’s car. Habib was standing
next to the driver side door looking anxious. He smiled when he spotted me.
“Kristine!” He pulled me in for a quick hug as I approached the car. “It’s good
to see you. We were very worried about you.”

“This
is your car?” I asked, thoroughly confused.

Habib
smiled. “It’s my brother’s car. Kadyn told me they don’t allow participants to
use cabs in this race… but they didn’t say anything about off duty cab drivers
in unmarked cars!”

I
narrowed my eyes at Kadyn. “You just couldn’t resist bending the rules, could
you?”

Kadyn
bit back a smile as he opened the back door of the car and nudged me in next to
Cenia. He slid in next to me. I waved to Phil who was in the front seat. Habib
pulled away from the curb as soon as Kadyn’s door closed.

I
tucked the yoga mat behind my feet. “Sorry guys.”

Phil
turned around in his seat. “Did you grab your phone?”

I
shook my head. “No. I’m sorry. I was outside, and we didn’t waste time going
into the house to pull it off the charger.”

Phil
smiled. “No worries. I brought Marie’s cell phone just in case. I figured your
phone was dead when you didn’t answer earlier.” The guy thought of everything.

I
smiled gratefully as Phil handed me the phone. “Okay, so what’s the scoop?”

Cenia
began the briefing. “There are close to six hundred participants this year. The
race starts in the National Mall. We need to check in to pick up our clue sheets
and map. The race should take two to three hours to complete. Part of it is on
foot, and part of it requires transportation.” Cenia leaned forward and patted
Habib on the back. “That’s were Habib comes in.”

Habib
had a huge grin on his face when he glanced back at me. “I’ll drop you off
wherever you need to go, and I’ll keep the car running outside to take you to
the next location. That way you won’t waste time trying to find parking.”

Cenia
continued. “We’ll be receiving clues and updates on our smart phones. We can
use our phones to conduct research as we try to solve the puzzles. We’ll also
use the phones to text pictures to a designated number, so we can document our
completion of tasks.”

I
grasped Kadyn’s knee as Habib turned abruptly onto an exit ramp and raced down
I-395. “We’re essentially solving anagrams and cryptograms, making fools of
ourselves in front of total strangers, and eating weird stuff?” I summarized questioningly.
It had been some time since we registered our team, Justice League, and I
hadn’t spent much time looking over the sponsor’s website.

“Some
of the challenges will involve riddles or brain teasers. We have to compete in
some physical activities. Canoeing may be required in the Tidal Basin. There
may be some cycling, and they’re planning an extreme challenge this year, which
I suspect will require some sort of fear factor type feat,” Kadyn clarified.

I
shook my head. “I’m not eating maggots, and I’m not crawling into a tank with
spiders.”

Phil
turned around in his seat as he joined the conversation. “We have to complete twelve
challenges all together, but we have to be smart about how we proceed. There is
a 30 minute penalty for anything we get wrong. We need to be fast, but we have
to make sure we’re answering the puzzles correctly.”

“The
first 25 teams to finish the race qualify for the national championship. First
place receives $300, second place $200, and third place $100, not like that
really matters,” Kadyn interjected.

I
nodded. “I’m happy knowing the event benefits St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.
What are the odds we can place in the top twenty-five?”

“Not
good,” Cenia admitted grudgingly, “especially since this is our first year in
the race.”

“Oh,
I wouldn’t say that,” Kadyn warned as Habib pulled into a no-parking zone near
the Washington Monument. “We’ve got ten minutes. Let’s go!”

We
were one of the last teams to approach the registration desk. They quickly
checked us in, handed us a thick manila envelope, and programmed our phone
numbers into their computer system. We couldn’t open the envelope until the bull
horn sounded. Suddenly, a horn blared and a loud cheer went up. We ripped open
the large manila envelope and quickly programmed our phones with the designated
number for texting pictures. Kadyn read all twelve challenges. Cenia plotted
the first few activities and locations on the map. As soon as we had four
locations, we sprinted toward Habib’s car. The place was complete chaos with hundreds
of people scrambling in different directions.

As
soon as we approached the car, Kadyn shouted, “The YMCA, Habib!” We dove into
the car. Habib’s tires squealed as he pulled away from the curb. He was clearly
taking his role on our team very seriously.

We
tried to work through the more difficult clues while Habib drove. We scoured the
Internet on our phones as we tried to decipher a number of riddles and puzzles.
Before I knew it, Habib was pulling in front of the YMCA. We sprinted inside
the building, where we discovered that we had to choose between walking
barefoot on glass or bending rebar with our necks. We quickly shed our shoes
and walked gingerly across the glass while snapping pictures of one another completing
the task.

I
hopped down the sidewalk while tugging my shoes back on. “I can’t believe we
didn’t get cut!”

Cenia
yelled over her shoulder as she ran toward the car. “I say we do the Beyonce dance
challenge next. We have to recruit four strangers to dance to a Beyonce song
with us. If we solved the riddle correctly, we need to document this in front
of the Peeps store in the National Harbor.”

We
jumped into the car. “National Harbor, near the Peeps store,” Kadyn shouted at
Habib.

“I
just texted pictures of the three of you walking on glass,” Phil announced.

Cenia
began typing on her phone. “I’ll text your picture in, Phil.”

“I
just downloaded the song ‘Single Ladies,’” I chimed in.

Habib
wove through traffic as he raced toward the National Harbor. He pulled up as close
as he could to the Peeps store. Cenia and I quickly identified four teenage
girls who we thought would be ecstatic to dance with us once they got a load of
Kadyn and Phil. They were thrilled. In fact, they snapped off more pictures
than we did.

Kadyn
shoved a few dollar bills in one of the girl’s hands. “Thanks for the dance.
This is for the Peeps.”

I
gaped at him as he popped a Hello Kitty Peep in his mouth. “She gave you her
Peeps?”

Kadyn
nodded and offered me one. I quickly snatched it out of his hand. The Peep was
still in my mouth when I caught up with Cenia.

Cenia
held her hand out for one of Kadyn’s Peeps. “I think I just got schooled! Those
girls had some serious moves,” she exclaimed breathlessly.

“You’re
telling me,” Kadyn remarked. He opened the door to the car.

I
punched him in the arm as hard as I could.

He
didn’t bother flinching. He grinned as I shook out my hand.

Habib
looked thoroughly entertained. “Where to next?” he asked as we piled into the
car.

“The
Lincoln Memorial,” Phil answered. He explained the next challenge as Habib
pulled into traffic. “We need to record the first letter of every fifth word
written to the right of Lincoln.”

I
glanced at him, confused. “Why can’t we just pull that up on our cell phones?”

“We
can, but we also have to take a picture in front of Lincoln,” Phil explained.

Cenia
was already searching for the passage. “Wait, his right or our right as we’re
facing him?”

“His
right, our left,” Phil clarified.

“That’s
the Gettysburg Address,” Kadyn offered without even looking at his phone.

“I’m
on it,” Cenia mumbled. She pulled the image up on her phone and began writing
letters in the notebook the sponsors had given us.

Habib
didn’t bother parking this time. He stopped the car in traffic near the memorial,
and we all scrambled out. We sprinted across the lawn and up the marble stairs.
Kadyn recruited someone to take our picture. We sat on the steps to catch our
breath as Cenia finished recording the letters.

Kadyn
peered over Cenia’s shoulder. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“I’ll
take it from here,” Phil offered before lowering his voice. Remember, this is
just the starting point. This puzzle is a cryptograph, so these letters won’t
make any sense… not until we figure out which letters they are meant to
represent. They aren’t going to make this too difficult, so they probably used
a simple substitution cipher.” Phil scribbled out the alphabet forward and then
backwards directly underneath. He looked around suspiciously, then motioned us
back toward Habib’s car.

We
quickly made our way to the car. Phil placed the notebook on the hood while he
wrote. The rest of us hovered over him. “See, if we substitute each of the
letters Cenia found with its polar opposite at the end of the alphabet, the
sentence will form words.” Phil played with the letters, then read the message,
“St. team to complete the Great Urban Race is a rotten egg. Keep itre.”

“The
first and last few letters still don’t make sense,” Cenia complained irritably.

Kadyn
handed her another Peep.

I
glanced over the clue sheet, then pulled up a picture of Lincoln’s statue on my
cell phone. “Wait, we haven’t completed the last part of the clue… the one
about his hands. See here? His right hand forms an ‘L’ and his left hand forms
an ‘A’ in American Sign Language. We were supposed to add ‘LA’ to the beginning
of the first word and ‘AL’ to the end of the last word we formed after we
deciphered the letters.”