Virgo's Vice Read Online Free Page A

time he was locked up in juvie, but that was only for over a year. Why was he thinking about that? He had to forget about it.
    Winning this thing was gonna be like taking candy from a baby. Not that he didn’t respect every single one of the other contestants. That would be a big mistake. They all wanted to win just as badly as he did, but maybe they weren’t driven by the same need as him. A need to prove to his family that he had it in him. That he was a good person. They said they had forgiven him and that it was an accident, so why couldn’t he shake the guilt? It was always lurking there in the background, no matter how much time had passed. Would this really help? He wasn’t sure, but it was good to have some other things to occupy his mind and to present new challenges.
    Okay, so this was Africa and some things were gonna be different, but the wilderness is the wilderness. You had to understand and respect the wildlife and appreciate the fact that they had been living here long before man came along. There didn’t seem to be any signs of human occupation around here. He had asked the pilot about that.
    “AIDs and other diseases have wiped out a lot of people in this area,” the pilot had told him. “The survivors packed up and left everything behind. Most indigenous people live in the cities where they can get food, jobs and medical help. There’s also some talk that they left because of a monster that came into their huts at night and attacked them, but they’re a superstitious lot at the best of times.”
    A monster. Billy shook his head and chuckled.
    Attorney Andy Riggs pulled his jacket off and slung it over one arm as he walked. He was really hoping there would be water in one of the bags that were dropped by parachute from the aircraft. What if there wasn’t water? He and the others ahead of him were exerting a lot of energy and it was getting hot. He was already sweating. He was annoyed he hadn’t figured out that the party was a ruse to get them all together so they had to leave in their good clothes. He didn’t care that his suit would be ruined—the cost of it could be written off and the shoes too—but it was an oversight and he couldn’t afford to make one again if he wanted to win this thing. The shoes were beginning to pinch and he wished he had thought to wear a pair of hiking boots.
    Now that he’d been able to assess the other competitors he knew he could win. A million greenbacks. He’d be able to start his own firm and hire some experienced litigators. One million would be like chump change after that, but it takes money to make money and he needed this one big break.
    He checked his watch. Almost eleven in the morning local time. He patted his pocket to make sure the stuff was still there. He had brought enough for two months, and the game was only supposed to go on for six weeks, so he shouldn’t run out.
    I can’t keep telling these idiots what to do all the time, Trip thought. They’re so helpless I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but I’ll win this thing hands down. A million bucks. As soon as the cash is in my hands I’ll be on my way to Brazil. I’ve spent more than enough time in Africa. Lexie won’t talk. I wasn’t sure she recognized me at first. She’s still beautiful and she still does things to me even though she’s older now. His breath quickened. He remembered everything about her. The way she smelled, the way she tasted, the way . . . He swiped a hand over his sweating brow. This was not the time nor the place. If it hadn’t been for that one mistake—the one kid who wasn’t afraid to talk and whose mom believed her, he would have been with Lexie long ago. I was lucky to get away. If they had known sooner about the . . . the one who died they would never have left me on house arrest with that ankle bracelet before the trial. I didn’t mean to kill her. I was just trying to stop her screaming. That’s when I knew I had to skip town. It wasn’t hard