Indonesia P2
The eight remaining World Challenge participants were exhausted, the long 24 hours of travel had done them in and after dinner everyone retreated to their sleeping bags. The room was large enough for them all to have a little space and as Chuck returned from the bathroom with his teeth brushed and his pajamas on, Sarah smiled.
"You look like you are at sleep away camp," she tugged a bit on his pajama pants.
"I never went to camp, but if they had it indoors at an observatory I totally would have," he grinned as he collapsed down cross-legged on the sleeping bag.
Sarah was already wearing a tee shirt and shorts, her face washed and her hair up on top of her head in a messy bun.
"You look gorgeous," he reached over and squeezed her thigh.
"Hardly," she scoffed.
Chuck wasn't going to fight with her, he knew she knew he meant it so he crawled into the sleeping bag and held the top up for her to join him. They laid side by side looking up at the stars, no words, just the sound of their breath.
Sarah had her hands folded on her stomach and she took one and reached over to the tiny space between their bodies, she extended her pinky so it traced along the edge of Chuck's hand and without taking his eyes off the stars he laced their fingers together.
It wasn't the first time Sarah had felt the indescribable pull she had towards this man next to her, it was something she discovered very early on in their time together, she was drawn to Chuck. She loved his words, the way he always found the most endearing thing to say and she had very quickly grown to love his passion, but here like this she knew that it was even more intrinsic, she belonged with Chuck.
As his eyes got heavy with sleep, Chuck turned towards Sarah and welcomed her into his arms. She enjoyed spooning into his long tall frame, but tonight she stayed facing him, her head in the crook of his neck, her heart beating against his.
***555***
The next morning was a flurry of activity, the teams were awoken at 7:00 am and there was a very light breakfast that made Sarah nervous.
"They have fed us very well every morning so far…." She mentioned as she sipped her coffee.
Chuck just looked at her funny.
"Food challenge, I can feel it coming," she shuddered.
"Maybe it will be as good as those donuts in Gdansk," Chuck hummed like Homer Simpson.
"I hope," she frowned.
They were given their clue when they turned in their sleeping bags. It was a logo. It had a snake on it. For the first time in the two and a half years he had known her, Chuck thought Sarah Walker looked scared.
They showed the logo to a cab driver who nodded, but not with the usual smile that accompanied recognition.
"You sure?" he asked in heavily-accented English.
Chuck nodded back and they climbed in the cab.
"Maybe it will be a snake charming class," Chuck offered, "you could charm anything, even a big 'ol snake."
Sarah smiled, but her mouth was pinched at the corners like she had to work really hard not to frown.
Sure enough the place in question was called the Snake Charmer House, it was written in English on the sign, but there was no class.
They were the 2nd team to arrive, Jake & Doug already there when their cab driver rushed past Chuck & Sarah's.
"Dig in!" Jake exclaimed as he greeted them from a seat at a short counter outside a small shed, the smell of grilled meat was obvious.
"Oh man," Sarah slowed her pace and wrapped her fingers around Chuck's wrist.
Sarah Walker had had to survive in rough circumstances before, she had eaten things most people wouldn't have thought possible, but she always tried to stick to flora, fauna and insects. The idea of chewing something fleshy that was not the standard well-butchered American cuisine turned her stomach.
"You can do it, they're dead," Doug sympathized.
"I'd rather wrangle a live one," Sarah admitted as she finally sat next to Doug with Chuck taking the stool on her other side.
A World Challenge rep appeared from behind the window and presented Doug and Jake with their portion of grilled snake. It was about 2 inches, maybe a couple of ounces.
"Can I eat both of ours?" Chuck asked.
Sarah was about to argue, but really if he could do it and it didn't bother him she was certain she could come up with a very suitable way to reward him the next time they were alone.
"Sorry, mate! Each traveler has to eat their own," Gavin produced two more plates with the grilled meat on them.
"It's OK," Sarah said stoically, "I can do it."
And she could of course, Sarah Walker was no wimp, but this was by far the worst thing she had to do so far on this mission. She looked at Chuck.
"I'll go first," he offered and stabbed the meat with a fork.
It was firm and pretty lean, he bit into it tentatively and found the smokiness of the grill kind of dominated the flavor of anything else.
"It's OK," he nodded and Sarah followed suit.
She debated taking huge bites and getting it over with quickly, but her first bite was cautious.
Jake & Doug devoured theirs without hesitation and were waving good-bye as Sarah swallowed the first bit.
"Alright?" Chuck asked between bites.
"I'm good," Sarah smiled and squeezed his thigh under the counter as she took another, larger bite.
The other 2 teams, Kevin & Lucy and Dan & Cassie showed up and all four of them seemed disgruntled at the idea of eating snake, but they all sat down. Chuck finished quickly and Sarah only had a little bit left to go.
Chuck leaned over and whispered in her ear.
"Just imagine it is escargot ad we are in Paris," he started and the feel of his breath against her ear was so soothing.
"Or emu and we are down in Australia, let's say Sydney and I am taking you to the opera tonight. I'll wear a tux," he teased.
Sarah finished the snake with ease and turned her face to his, rubbed her nose against his.
"Thank you," she kissed his cheek and they got their clue and moved on.
"My badass woman rocked the snake eating!" Chuck declared, fist held high as they went back to get a cab.
The clue directed them to Kawah Domas crater which was in the middle of the woods, the driver took them to the edge of the area but couldn't go any further.
"Guess we are going on a hike?" Chuck grinned, the heat of the day already soaking the neck of his tee shirt.
Sarah took a moment to orient herself and take in the literal forest for the trees.
"Trail markers," she pointed off in the distance to World Challenge flags.
Chuck nodded and they set off, the forest floor snapping and cracking beneath their feet. It was humid and warm, but as a result the scent of the trees and flowers was amazing, the green of everything around them even more verdant.
"I probably don't want to know what is living out here with us, do I?" Chuck asked casually.
"Just don't look too hard, most of the critters here will try to blend in, so if you aren't looking for them you won't see them…and their many legs," she teased and laughed as he shrieked when she tickled his back with her fingers.
"Not cool, Miss Walker," he pouted.
"Sorry, baby, it was too easy."
"And after I was so loving and supportive about the snake eating."
"You were and I intend to repay you for that just as soon as we are alone," Sarah kept her hand on his back but with a much more intimate touch.
"I don't see anyone else around now," Chuck looked all around the dense forest.
"Except all those critters I really don't want to see me naked," she smirked.
"Right, yes…." Just as he said that something rustled in the leaves and a long dark snake slithered across the path in front of them, disappearing into the cover on the other side.
"Sorry about eating your brother earlier," Chuck called.
Sarah just laughed and shook her head. The hike was fairly short, maybe a mile by Sarah's calculation and they arrived at a clue box manned by a WC rep and a local who had an awful lot of eggs. Doug was hanging out which indicated it was a roadblock that Jake was doing.
"Who's feeling hard boiled?" Sarah read.
"I'll do it, you did the last one," Sarah offered.
"OK," Chuck smiled.
"OK, Sarah, you need to take this tray of 60 eggs on the back of one of these mopeds and follow the marked trail to the hot springs. Once you are there, you will find baskets like this," Gavin the rep showed her the example, "you need to hard boil one dozen eggs and get them back here for our expert to inspect. If they are not hardboiled you will have to try again. You only get the 60 eggs though."
"Got it," Sarah nodded.
She took a tray of eggs and secured it tightly to the moped, the first challenge was getting the eggs to the springs in one piece.
"I am so glad she is doing this," Chuck said to Doug.
"Not much of a cook?" he grinned.
"I can make like one thing, but I can craft the perfect bowl of cereal," Chuck said as he joined Doug on a felled tree that was being used as a bench.
Chuck wondered briefly if the Intersect 2.0 had any cooking tips, that could really come in handy…. but probably not for a spy.
Sarah started up the moped with a rumble and fastened on a helmet.
"Be careful, sweetie," Chuck called and Sarah gave him a thumbs up before heading down the trail.
"She's pretty good on that thing," Doug mentioned.
"She rides the stationary bike at the gym a lot," Chuck said lamely and Doug looked at him quizzically.
"She has really good balance," Chuck followed up, "a lot of core strength."
Chuck rolled his eyes internally and dropped the subject.
Sarah took the moped along the trail nice and easy, remembering her precious cargo in the back and shortly after she departed, Jake passed her going the other way. He waved but kept going. Sarah was certain they were the only team ahead of her so she continued her slow and steady pace.
The temperature at the hot springs was easily 20 degrees hotter than the already hot temp in the rest of the forest. Sarah tugged her tee shirt up and knotted it just below her breasts and removed her helmet. She thought for a second and loaded 15 eggs into the basket, that would give her 4 attempts of 15 in hopes 12 of the 15 was cooked through.
There was steam coming from the hot spring and the water bubbled like a pot, but Sarah really had no idea how quickly the eggs would cook. Again, she opted for patience and dropped the basket in before sitting back on the rock and waiting.
Sarah Walker was not particularly good at waiting, but she set the timer on her phone for 10 minutes, 10 minutes was long enough to cook eggs on a stove and this water had to be hotter than that, so she sat back and waited.
While she waited she thought about last night, lying under the stars with Chuck beside her, it was the perfect moment of solitude and connection. As amazing as every single moment alone and naked had been she felt even more naked under the vastness of the universe.
Being a spy was sometimes a very solipsistic endeavor, you were alone and worried primarily about yourself and the success of your mission and while she was definitely thinking about the mission she couldn't help but also think of how much her time with Chuck had opened her up to all sorts of possibilities.
How easy he was to talk to, to confide in. She loved how sincerely he listened when she said something and how he knew when to tease and when to be serious. She loved how the sex could be light and funny or hot and steamy or slow and intense. She loved how he trusted her and in turn she returned that trust implicitly – trust she had never fully gifted to another living soul. He was it for her. Forever.
Just as she was about to drift into images of long white dresses and flower bouquets she heard a moped approach. It was Jake, he was back.
"Only 10 of them were cooked through," he lamented, wiping sweat from his brow.
Sarah nodded and sat up a bit from her reclined position.
"Hot, right?" Jake tried not to stare at her bare stomach.
"So hot," she agreed as she looped her ponytail into a messy bun, even the ponytail too hot on her neck.
Jake arranged another basket of eggs and placed them at a safe distance from Sarah's.
"How long did you cook them the first time?" she asked casually.
"Five minutes," Jake said and Sarah couldn't tell if he was bluffing or not, he seemed like the type that would try to throw her off with a shorter time in hopes of convincing her to head back with uncooked eggs.
Sarah just nodded and made no move to remove her eggs before her phone timer went off. When it did she took the basket out and put it on the rock she had been sitting on. The eggs were way too hot to touch for a minute or two. When she could handle them, she angled her body so Jake couldn't see the rock and leaned over, hoping to distract him with her ass if she had to. Sarah spun the egg on the flattest part of the rock knowing that a hardboiled egg would spin without wobbling.
When a couple of eggs passed the spin test she loaded them back on the moped and waved to Jake as she pulled away. The ride back to the starting point was easier as Sarah had mapped the divots and tree roots on the way down, she pulled into the egg hut easily.
Chuck held his breath as the local took Sarah's eggs one by one and using a long big knife hacked them in half looking at the yolks. All 15 of the eggs she boiled were thoroughly cooked and Chuck & Sarah got a clue and were suddenly in first place.
"Nice job, Sarah," Chuck shouldered her pack when he saw how red and sweaty she was.
"Hot down there?" he frowned and used the hem of his tee shirt to wipe the sweat off her neck.
"Yeah," Sarah nodded with a smile at the tender gesture.
The WC rep, Gavin, had water for them and they each took a bottle for the hike back out to the road. Their clue directed them to a tea plantation on the other side of the town. There were cabs waiting for them and Chuck and Sarah got in the first one, which was blessedly cool with air conditioning.
"You alright?" Chuck asked more seriously when they were settled, Sarah was an alarming shade of red.
"Just a little over-heated, I'll be fine," she assured him.
Chuck conserved his water just in case Sarah needed a little extra and they relaxed as the cab took them to their next spot.
***555***
The tea plantation was beautiful, pristine landscaping around a huge sprawling plantation house with a bunch of matching out buildings around it. Right on the big wide veranda was a clue box.
"Detour: Paint Your Partner or Turn Over a New Leaf," Sarah read aloud, "In the first one we would have to do each other's make-up," she giggled, "in the style of a Japanese bride, ooh that is elaborate…. OR we dress up like tea farmers and roam the tea fields for a pair of specially marked clippers."
"I'm OK with wearing make-up if you want to get out of the heat," Chuck offered.
"I think that one will be much harder though," Sarah pondered for a second.
"We can start in the fields and if it is too hot we can switch?" Chuck suggested.
"Yeah," Sarah nodded, "I can't imagine what make-up would look like in this heat and humidity."
They walked around the back of the plantation house, following the arrows for 'Turn Over a New Leaf' and were stunned by the expanse of the tea fields.
"That is a lot of tea," Chuck said unnecessarily.
"Uh huh," Sarah said, a little nervous.
They were given long khaki pants and shirts, to protect them from the branches and the bugs and a hat with a net almost like a bee keeper. The fields were well kept and there were clear paths to walk and the clippers they were looking for had red handles and were rather large.
"It is beautiful here," Sarah said when a soft breeze kicked up making the oppressive heat a little less so.
"Peaceful," Chuck agreed as they listened to the birds singing and the rustle of the leaves.
They walked slowly and methodically up and down the paths for almost thirty minutes, Sarah was a little worried that they were taking too long, no one else had picked this challenge it seemed. She was loathe to go inside though, it was so gorgeous in the fields.
"I always wanted a garden when I was a kid," Sarah admitted.
"Really? You don't strike me as the gardening type," Chuck mused.
"I'm sure I wouldn't have wanted to do the work, but I love the idea of things growing from the dirt. Starting as seeds and getting the right combination of conditions, water and sun, to burst forth with shoots and stalks and leaves. I love carrots and beets and things that grow so perfectly and beautifully below the dirt," she kept talking as they walked, poking into the bushes looking for the prized clippers.
"I tried to avoid vegetables at all costs as a kid," Chuck laughed.
"As a kid?" Sarah arched an eyebrow.
"OK, but I am better about it now than I used to be. Ellie scared me in to spinach when she was in med school."
"I wanted to grow lettuce and tomatoes and cucumbers…"
"You wanted to grow a salad," he laughed.
"Yep! And string beans because they climbed, you could set up a trellis and they would climb it."
As Sarah continued to talk about her dream garden, Chuck could picture it so clearly: Sarah in shorts and a tee shirt, a smudge of dirt on one cheek and her hands in thick gloves, a trowel in one hand as she knelt in the dirt. As quick as the image appeared it shifted and Sarah was not alone any more, there was a little blonde child next to her with a watering can as big as she was.
The image was so clear to Chuck, so beautiful it almost brought tears to his eyes. Could they have that someday? A normal life with kids and a garden.
"Oh, here!" Sarah pointed as she spotted the red handles of the clippers up ahead.
Chuck reached in to the bush and retrieved the clippers, they were heavier than he anticipated, but he hauled them up on to his shoulder, took Sarah's hand with his free hand and they followed the paths back to the building.
Chuck handed over the clippers in exchange for a clue envelope.
"The end of your day is close by, but be careful the last step is a doozie," Chuck read confused.
"You will go on foot, followed the marked path. You will know it when you see it," was all Javier said as he patted Chuck on the back.
Sarah had no idea if they were in first or last position at this point, there was no sign of the others in the house, but she didn't know where the make-up challenge was. They walked at a good clip, no other teams around and suddenly Sarah heard it.
"A waterfall," she said, stopping Chuck's progress and listening intently.
Sure enough the markers led them right to the edge of the earth. There was a sign:
"The fastest way to the finish is off the top of the falls, but if you prefer there is a walking path. If you opt to jump, leave your bags here and we will bring them to you," Chuck read the sign out loud.
Sarah assessed the situation quickly. She could see Jen waving to her from the shore just beyond the waterfall's pool. The pool was big and looked plenty deep, the jump not too high.
"You game?" she smiled broadly.
"Sure," he said less enthusiastically.
"We don't have to do this," she took his hand in hers, held his wrist and felt his pulse speed up a bit.
"No, I'm good," he smiled at her.
Sarah took off her boots and socks, strapping on her Tevas and packing her boots away. Chuck did the same, shucking his shirt as well.
"Do we do this together?" Chuck asked, he had never jumped off a waterfall before.
"Of course," she said, holding his hand again.
"I love you," he leaned in to kiss her.
"I love you too. One – two- three," and they jumped together.
They let go of each other on the way down but they hit the water almost at the same time, feet first.
The water was so cool and refreshing Sarah felt the whole hot, sweaty day fall away. She pulled the elastic out of her hair and let the water saturate it, fanning it out behind her. Chuck came up from the water shaking the water off his own hair, a huge smile on his face.
"That was awesome!" he swam the short distance to her side, pulled her close and kissed her again.
They then made their way to the edge of the little lagoon, pulling themselves easily up to the rock ledge where Jen was waiting.
"Bet that water feels good," Jen smiled.
Chuck and Sarah nodded in unison.
"Well, Chuck & Sarah…. you are…." Jen dragged it out, "the first team to arrive at the pit stop for this leg of the race."
"Really?" Sarah grinned.
"Really," Jen grinned back.
"It was a crazy hot day that started with eating snake, so I will take that first-place finish," Sarah said, genuinely proud of herself in a way she wasn't usually.
"We are camping here tonight, around the falls. As first place finishers, you will have a bit of a camping upgrade," Jen hinted.
"Excellent, I am more of an indoor person," Chuck admitted with a shy grin.
"Well it isn't quite indoors, but you'll see. Also, since you are here first you will have the most time to explore the falls. There are 8 different waterfalls in the area, linked by these amazing lagoons and pools. This water is some of the purest on the planet, you'll see springs all around, feel free to drink from them. You are welcome to swim and climb at your own risk. Your gear will be brought down and stored in your tent, we will eat at 7:00," Jen gave them the scoop.
"Sounds great," Chuck clapped his hands together and just as he and Sarah were about to plan their next stop they heard crazy yelling and turned in time to see Jake & Dug cannonballing off the waterfall.
Their collective splash hit Chuck, Sarah & Jen and they emerged sputtering and laughing.
"Quite an entrance fellas," Jen shook her head as she wiped the water off her face.
"Oooops," Jake looked mildly sheepish.
"Come on out, you are the 2nd team to finish and I'll fill you in on the rest of the evening.
Chuck and Sarah used that as an excuse to sneak away. Sarah found a wide rock ledge that went behind the falls and led Chuck there.
The roar of the water was deafening and the mist made it kind of hard to see, but it was lusciously cool and smelled like the minerals in the wet rock, it made Sarah's teeth ache it was so pure. It was too loud to talk and when she turned to look at Chuck he was already looking at her, he pulled her close, wrapped his arms around and kissed her so thoroughly.
He was shirtless from their jump, so her hands slid easily along his wet skin, her nails digging in just a little as she pulled him closer. She was crazy with desire, but conscious of the group of people not very far away. No matter how loud the water was they were still out in public, so she satisfied herself with a long deep delicious make-out session.
When they finally broke apart they were both a little winded, Chuck's wet hair kept flopping on to his forehead, not as long as it once had been it was still a little crazy. He reached up on brushed it back with a smile.
"This way," he said, although Sarah couldn't really hear him she just read his lips.
Chuck took her hand and led her out from under the waterfall, the rock ledge continuing in to the next area, which was shadier and with a less dramatic fall, they found a big flat rock and Sarah sank down to sit, Chuck joined her as he stretched his legs out. Sarah turned and reclined back, her head in his lap looking up at him.
"Good day?" he played with her wet hair.
"So good," she agreed.
"There is a tiny plot of dirt behind my apartment, by the grill, not very big, but Ellie always talked about putting in tomato plants," Chuck mentioned.
"Yeah?" she smiled up at him.
"Yeah," he smiled back.
***555***
Kevin and Lucy arrived shortly after Jake and Doug, so it turned out that the mystery team of Dan and his way-too-young wife Cassie were eliminated.
"You guys are the final three teams and have made it to the final leg of the race," Jen said.
"Your next city will be the final city, but it will be a grueling two legs there to determine the winner."
The three remaining teams had gathered for dinner near the falls, their tents were set up nearby and as promised, Chuck & Sarah had an upgrade.
"I can't believe we made it this far," Lucy said with a look of shock on her face.
"Me either," Kevin agreed, but squeezed her hand.
"You've all done amazing things, you should be proud of yourselves, you are special people to make it through this," Jen said sincerely.
Sarah wondered if this was the moment, was this the recruitment spiel, but Jen left them all to enjoy their dinner. When the food was gone, but the beer was still flowing, Jake, Doug, Kevin & Lucy told Chuck & Sarah about the make-up challenge.
"It was like something out of a horror movie, we all looked like victims of some sociopathic ritualistic serial killer," Doug painted quite a picture.
"It was bad," Lucy concurred.
"And it was so hot, just when you got something right it would start to sweat off," Jake added.
"Yeah, that was why we did the other one, I couldn't imagine keeping make-up on in this climate," Sarah had finished her beer so she reached over and helped herself to Chuck's, he surrendered it without question.
"We considered switching, but we would have wasted so much time getting the make-up off we just stuck with it," Kevin got up and got another beer for himself and Chuck.
"Thanks, man," Chuck smiled.
"Sarah didn't look like she was giving yours back," Kevin winked.
Sarah smiled innocently, her mind going back to that first dinner in Chile and how much she disliked Kevin & Lucy and now she thought of them as friends. Thinking back to that first night, three weeks ago, seemed like a lifetime ago. Her relationship with Chuck felt both refreshingly brand new and like it had always been.
Sarah slid closer to Chuck on the bench they were sitting on, curled and arm around his waist.
"I had never jumped off a waterfall before today," Chuck admitted.
"Us either," Lucy nodded.
"Awww, man, it is the best," Jake interjected.
"Yeah, you guys seemed like pros," Sarah giggled.
"Sorry if we splashed you, Sarah," Doug looked a little remorseful.
"No problem, I was already soaking wet," she grinned.
It got dark and the few bits of light were extinguished to keep from attracting bugs.
"Guess it is bed time," Chuck stretched.
"And you guys have a little hut thing," Jake pointed to the straw structure on a big flat rock near the falls.
Sarah instantly thought of the benefits of being on the rock island, fewer critters in their tent for one, the rush of the water would provide a bit of noise to cover any other noises that might be going on in the tent.
"It's like a little house," Chuck smiled as he looked at it.
"Let's go check out the bed," Sarah whispered in his ear.
Everyone said good night and went their separate ways, the tents for the other two teams scattered to give each team a little privacy.
Sarah scanned the tiny hut and fund no surveillance.
"Huh?" she looked at the butterfly.
Chuck came close and hugged her, whispering in her ear.
"Did we pass the test or fail it?"
"Not sure," she whispered back, "or maybe the surveillance is intermittent between teams."
"Either way we have a lovely little private hut, with a raised cot bed that should keep us safe from creatures of the night," Sarah looked at the mosquito netting with a smile.
Chuck shuddered at the thought.
"If you go around behind the hut there is a spring of clean water for washing up and enough cover for bathroom stuff," Sarah noted.
"This is honestly the first time I have camped outside since I was a child," Chuck seemed equal parts gleeful and nervous.
"Well, in that case we will have to make it a night to remember," Sarah attempted the Bartowski eyebrow dance.
"Hold that thought, I have to go pee in the woods, I'll be right back," he winked at her.
TBC…