“You gotta come see this!”

It was Nish, and he was foaming at the mouth. Whatever he’d seen had got him so excited he hadn’t even finished brushing his teeth–he’d run straight to the tent, where Travis was just putting on his sandals to start the day.

“Where the heck are my glasses?”

“They’re on top of your head, dummy,” Travis informed him.

Nish ripped his wraparound sunglasses off and tossed them into his sleeping bag.

“Not these ones–the X-rays!”

Nish was thrashing about the tent like a bear in a garbage dump, turning bags upside down, rummaging through everything he came across–whether or not it was his.

He emerged from his own corner triumphant. “Here they are!” he shouted, holding them up. “Let’s go!”

“Let’s go where?”

“Just follow me!”

Travis followed Nish out of the tent and quickly down along the trail leading to the shower and laundry facilities. Nish was breathing heavily as he ran, the sweat already blackening his T-shirt. He hurried ahead, then left the trail abruptly, aiming for a thick bush almost directly in front of the shower building.

When Travis caught up, Nish was already trying to put the cheap X-ray glasses on, but Nish was so sweaty they kept slipping off.

“What are we doing here?” Travis whispered.

“You’ll see.”

People were coming and going. Travis looked at men carrying shaving kits and women with towels wrapped around their heads to dry their hair–but he could see nothing unusual.

“There!” Nish hissed.

Travis didn’t have to look twice. From out of the women’s shower room came one of the most extraordinarily beautiful women Travis had ever seen. She was tall, like a model, and had wrapped a huge beach towel around herself for the walk back.

“Damn!” Nish cursed. His X-ray glasses had slipped right off his sweaty nose and disappeared into the thick brush.

While Nish fumbled for his glasses, Travis watched the woman walk away.

She seemed a little frightened, thought Travis. Not of Nish, who was thrashing around in the bush, but of something.

At the end of the path, two men were waiting for her. They both wore dark sunglasses. One, with his head shaved, wore army-style camouflage pants. The other, his dark hair tied back in a ponytail, wore a Chicago Bulls basketball jersey. They didn’t look much like campers.

The man with the ponytail caught the woman by the arm as she passed and hurried her along the path in the opposite direction. The man with the shaved head waited, watching, as if checking to make sure no one was following.

“Got ’em!” Nish announced, emerging from his search. There was dirt on his face and all over his prized glasses. He looked absurd.

“Where’d she go?” he demanded.

Travis pointed past the guy with the shaved head. “Down that path. I don’t think you want to follow, unless you want your stupid glasses broken.”

“Whatdya mean?”

“I think that guy’s a bodyguard or something.”

Nish removed his glasses, blinking to clear away the sweat. A thought seemed to be registering.

“You think maybe she’s a movie star or something?”

“In a campsite? I don’t think so.”

“Well, who is she then?”

“I have no idea.”