Inside Straight

“Welcome to American Hero,” Peregrin said, looking into camera one. “We’re halfway through the competition, and we’ve lost quite a few of our heroes. But some of the teams have fared better than others.” She turned to camera three and her wings fluttered. “I know that some of the players here think we might be reshuffling the teams tonight.”

There were groans from the Hearts.

“But we’ve decided to keep the suits separated for now.”

The Hearts gave a small cheer. “However,” Peregrine continued, “our Diamonds team has not done well, and they are at a distinct disadvantage. So we’ve decided to let them draw one member from Hearts to even the teams up.”

There was stunned silence from the Hearts, and then an angry murmur bubbled up. “You’ve got to be kidding!” shouted Drummer Boy, jumping to his feet. “We’re being penalized because they suck?”

Curveball placed a hand on one of Drummer Boy’s lower arms. “Calm down. It’s just part of the game.”

“It’s bullshit,” he said.

I glanced at Tiff to see how she was reacting. There was a Mona Lisa smile on her face. “Do we have to choose now?” Tiffani asked.

“No, you have twenty-four hours to decide. We’ll be bringing you back tomorrow night for the pick.”

“And cut,” came the director’s voice.

Peregrine cupped her hands over her eyes and squinted up at the lights. “Did you put the filter on that spotlight?” she asked.

~ ~ ~

“So, who do you want to bring over from the Hearts team?” I asked when we were back in the limo.

“Drummer Boy,” Tiffani said at once. “He makes the most sense. He’s the most powerful player on their team.”

Jetman opened the fridge in the limo bar and took out a beer. “You think he’s more powerful than Hardhat or Earth Witch?” he asked.

“Well, how handy is making steel thingamabobbies?” Tiffani asked. “Are we really going to need a trench anytime soon? And Wild Fox? Don’t even get me started on how crappy his power is.”

“We could take Curveball,” I suggested.

Tiff made a face. “Michelle, you and she have almost the same power. Why would we duplicate that? We’ve got to get someone who’ll work well with our team.” She leaned forward and touched my leg. “Taking DB will demoralize Hearts. It’ll break up their alliances. And if he’s got any showmances going, it’ll stop them, too.”

“Showmances?” Jetman asked.

“You know, when two people on a reality show become romantically involved for the duration of the show. Sometimes they stick—like Boston Rob and that joker chick from Survivor, what was her name?”

“Amber,” Jetman replied. “She looked like she was a big chunk of amber. She even had bugs stuck in her skin. It was pretty gross, but I guess you never know what’s going to float someone’s boat.”

Tiff gave Jetman a big smile. “They won the money because they had this amazing alliance. I heard one of the PAs say that Drummer Boy’s been making time with every willing girl on the show. Ever since Curveball dumped him, that is. And they may be getting back together after that little scene when we were taping.”

Aside from Curveball calming him down at the studio, I didn’t really see much going on. But, honestly, I’m bad about picking up on that who’s-doing-whom stuff.

“I just don’t get all this intrigue,” Jetman said. “I think Drummer Boy’s a conceited jerk.”

“He’s a big guy, though,” Tiff said. “He could probably be handy in a brawl. Besides, if we lose again, we can get rid of him instead of one of us.”

I had to admit, Tiffani’s plan sounded good, especially the last part. I hated the idea of one of the last three Diamonds going home.

~ ~ ~

Jetman was fixing breakfast in the kitchen the next morning. He’d started doing that after we lost our first challenge. His cooking was a bit uneven—and he couldn’t seem to make breakfast without dirtying every dish in the house.

He was just scooping eggs into a serving bowl when I came in. “Morning, Bubbles,” he said, passing the eggs to me. “You want pancakes or waffles this morning?”

I looked at the table. A stack of bacon and about twelve sausages were piled on one plate. A large bowl of fresh fruit salad sat next to it. There was a basket overflowing with pastries—croissants, cinnamon buns, kolaches, and muffins.

“Uhm, I think I can find plenty of stuff to eat. You really don’t need to make anything else.”

“Oh,” he said. I turned toward him and saw a hangdog expression on his face.

Crap.

“But you know I can’t resist your pancakes,” I said. Actually, his pancakes were really bad. But he brightened and pulled another bowl out of the cabinet.

I sat down, put the bowl of eggs on the table, and loaded my plate with pastries, bacon, eggs, and fruit.

“Remember, you’ve got pancakes coming,” he said.

“Herummm,” I replied around a mouthful of food. My wild card power made me fat, but otherwise, I could eat anything I wanted and stay skinny.

Tiffani straggled in a few minutes later. Her face was sleep-swollen. I thought she looked adorable. With her kimono-style robe wrapped around her, she appeared tiny and delicate.