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“Your word is good enough for me, Baz,” he said. “I left my phone in my room, but I’ll get it to you as soon as possible, and so will Zana.”
And then he smiled.
For a moment Baz didn’t say anything. Thanks, would have been the natural response, but he didn’t say it. He simply stood there, staring Conor down, unblinking. I looked from one man to the other, trying to figure out what the energy crackling between them meant. I’ve never been a body language kind of person—I prefer data, figures, cold hard facts. But now I wished I had Nico’s gift for reading between the lines, because there was something going on here, and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what it was. Baz should have been grateful to Conor for backing him up—but he didn’t look it. He was looking at Conor almost as if he disliked him. Was he pissed off at Conor for acting like Baz needed his support to get the group on his side? Or was there some other undercurrent—something that I was missing?
Conor, meanwhile, was acting… not quite conciliatory, but there was a touch of magnanimity in his voice, as if he was making it clear that he didn’t have to comply but was choosing to.
What was going on here? Did these two know each other?
It was Baz who looked away first—down at his phone as if to underscore the fact that he at least didn’t have to give up his tech.
“Good,” he said, his voice almost a growl. “I’m glad that’s clear. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a fuck of a lot to get sorted before we make land. I’m sorry I can’t stick around, but you’re in good hands with Camille.”
Camille bobbed her head nervously, and Baz yanked open the door back inside and disappeared.
“Well, that was fucking weird,” Dan said in a low voice. No one else seemed to react, but I glanced at him and our eyes met, united in our discomforted bewilderment. What the fuck just happened?
Camille cleared her throat.
“Well, anyway. As Baz said, glad that’s cleared up, and so sorry if that wasn’t made clear from the outset. I do assure you it’s totally standard for reality TV. We want you communicating with each other, not head down over your phones! But, um… well, I’ll let you finish your drinks, and then maybe everyone would like to grab their phones and turn them in, and I’ll give out the latest version of the information pack—it’s got lots of useful info on the other contestants, the rules, the welfare team… loads of good stuff. And if you’ve got any questions, I’ll be in the breakout zone on the third deck.”
There was absolute silence, then Conor began to walk towards the exit. Zana followed him without a word.
And with that, it was clear that the meeting was over.
02/16—2:28 p.m.
Hello, my name is Joel Richards, this is… God, I’m not sure. Maybe our third Mayday call? Please, if you can hear us, send urgent help. We’re stranded on an island about twenty hours southwest of Indonesia. Twenty hours by boat, that is—we came here by boat. It was swept away in the storm, we don’t know what happened to the crew. There are people here with serious injuries, life-threatening injuries, and my girlfriend— God… my girlfriend… Look, please, this is a Mayday call. If anyone can hear me, please respond or send help. We don’t know how long they will last.
CHAPTER 5
BACK IN THE icebox chill of our little cabin, the motion of the ship was somehow even more noticeable.
“That was fucking weird,” I said to Nico, who was hunched on his bunk with his phone, evidently making the most of his final hours plugged in.
“What was weird? Taking our phones? It’s a dick move, but I just did a search on the contract and it looks like Camille was right, it was in there. Ari obviously didn’t think to flag it up.”
“Not that,” I said, ignoring the question of Ari, though the fact that he hadn’t thought it worthwhile mentioning that we’d be cut off from humanity for potentially ten weeks, made me wonder what else he hadn’t brought up. “The whole thing with Baz and Conor. Didn’t you think it was strange?”
“What whole thing?” Nico looked up from the screen for the first time, frowning.
“Did you really not think something was off between them? It was like they knew each other.”
“So, maybe they do? Entertainment’s a pretty small world. Look, sorry, I have to call Mum. If I’m going to be off radar for ten weeks—”
The boat went over another wave, and I nodded hastily.
“Of course. Look, you call her, I’m going to head up and turn in my devices.”
“Don’t you want to call anyone?”
I shrugged. I’d already told Professor Bianchi and my parents that I’d be gone for two weeks, and I had absolutely no intention of staying longer than that.
“I’ve already set my out of office. I’ve sent Mum a WhatsApp saying I’ll be out of range and to call that number Camille gave if anything comes up, but I think they can cope.” I looked at my phone. “Besides, it’s seven p.m. there. She and Dad will be out at bridge.”
Nico nodded, and I picked up my laptop and made my way back up the stairs to the outdoor area where we’d had the drinks.
When I got there, I found I wasn’t the only person handing in their tech. Joel was in front of me, going through an impressive list of devices with Camille: his laptop, Romi’s iPad, her phone, his smartwatch…
