Free The Edge by Roland Smith Page A

place for a Peace Climb.”
    â€œYou are very lucky to have seen one. I am climbing next to you, with your luck. If you do not mind.”
    â€œI do not mind at all,” I said.

Search and Rescue
    RAFE GAVE ME the stink-eye as Alessia and I arrived at camp fifteen minutes behind everyone else. It was all I could do not to shoot him a victorious she-walked-with-me-not-you-big-jerk grin. There were now two campfires burning. One of them had a water kettle hanging over the flames. Most of the tents were lit from inside, looking like colorful lanterns against the darkness.
    â€œGather round,” Phillip shouted, which was ridiculous because we were all standing within twenty feet of him and Cindy. “Now that we have all the climbers, I thought it would be a good idea to have a meeting to work out what we’re going to do.”
    â€œBut before we begin,” Cindy said, “do any of you have a cell signal?”
    Phillip tried to hide his irritation—not very successfully. Several people fished their cells out. All of them shook their heads.
    â€œI can’t believe this!” Cindy stamped away to their tent and disappeared inside.
    â€œAll right, then,” Phillip said. “Back to the meeting. This shoot is pretty simple. In a few days, I will be filming your group climb in the Pamirs. The spot will be determined by your collective climbing skills, weather, and other factors. This is not a climbing competition per se, but in another sense it is a competition. There are teams all over the world climbing on the same day that we are. All of the climbs will be filmed. All of them will get airtime in Plank’s two-hour special, but some will get more airtime than others. I want our team to be that team that gets the extra airtime. We’ve all traveled a long way to be here. It would be a shame to see our climb, or most of it, on the cutting room floor.”
    â€œHow do we control that?” Rafe asked.
    â€œBy stunning filming, interesting interviews, and incredible set shots. You’ll notice I have two campfires burning. One is for cooking; the other is for interviews. Beautiful light. We’ll start the interviews tonight.” He looked at Alessia. “How much airtime you get in the final cut will in large part depend on how well you interview. It’s all about story.”
    It was actually all about how you looked and what you sounded like. I’d been up that wall before, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to climb it again.
    â€œWhat is a set shot?” Alessia asked.
    I was wondering the same thing.
    â€œIt’s a video sequence that may have nothing to do with your primary climb. We’ll insert it because it looks good.”
    â€œIn other words, it’s fake,” I said. It was out of my mouth almost before I thought it.
    â€œNot at all. You’ll actually be climbing. It’s just that where you’re climbing may not have anything to do with the real climb. And believe me, I know most of the other directors on this project. They are all going to be shooting raw set shots, hoping to get them into the final cut. It’s the difference between a minute or a minute and a half of airtime and five or even seven minutes of airtime.”
    Phillip was obviously shooting for the seven-minute side of this equation.
    â€œBefore we left, I managed to get ahold of some top-secret drone images of the area.” Phillip gave us a conspiratorial grin. “Don’t ask me how, but I have some friends in the Pentagon from some of the films I’ve directed. And I’ve found the perfect spot for our first set piece. I’ve sent my film crew out to scout the location.”
    I looked around and realized that JR and the crew were not in camp.
    â€œWhere are they?” Mom asked.
    â€œObviously they aren’t back yet,” Phillip answered.
    â€œHow far away was this place?”
    â€œFive or six miles. I expected them back by