As if he could read his star's mind, Foxxe's producer Wayne tapped on Foxxe's shoulder. "How many more hours before we make it to Yellowstone?"

Foxxe checked the GPS. Yeah, he loved the gadgets. He wouldn't have the luxury -- there was that word again -- of a GPS or even a compass once they started filming the next episode of "Wild Survival" for the audience of the Discovery Channel, who ate up every one of Foxxe's adventures. "I'm guessing an hour or two, maybe. Who's our contact again?"

A soft snore from the front passenger side made Foxxe grin. His faithful cameraman Andy snoozed in the pre-dawn darkness, clutching one of his smaller expensive cameras like a kid cuddling a teddy bear. Andy had celluloid on the brain and had since childhood. In truth, Foxxe considered Andy braver and crazier than even himself. Foxxe was an ex-Navy SEAL with too many medals for bravery and undetected crime for his own good, but any cameraman who worked documentaries ate great white sharks for breakfast and cleaned his teeth with lionfish quills. Nothing scared those crazy bastards but missing the shot.

Wayne slouched back in his seat. "Dr. Jeff Gleason, a volcanologist. He's your guide in." Wayne pulled out his ever-present notepad and Blackberry from under the paper piles he'd spread all over the back seat. "He's not happy about it, but his bosses at USGS insist he do this. I'm trying to convince him his job includes allowing us to film him. He's a Comanche. Our research assistant waxed poetic. Apparently he's..."

"...A sex god waiting for a temple or other such shit. Yeah, I heard her." Foxxe sighed. He didn't need Wayne to know his star was gay, and he damn sure didn't want his fans to know, or the network would cancel the show for any excuse they could find. Foxxe held no illusions about his bosses. They were predators, all of them, and if they smelled any sort of weakness, they'd exploit it mercilessly. They thought Foxxe was some macho war hero who fucked six women a night, and Foxxe reaped the rewards of their illusions. However, the reality was that Foxxe went without sex more often than not. If it weren't for Andy, Foxxe would have given up on the show by the end of the second season.

Andy was not only his bravest and best cameraman, he was Foxxe's secret fuck buddy. When the cameras were off for the night, Andy kept Foxxe warm in more ways than one. However, there was only friendly affection between them. Andy kept Foxxe at an emotional arm's length.

Wayne tapped Foxxe on the shoulder again. His grin was relaxed and friendly, instead of the usual grimace of tense frustration. "Then again, getting you a sidekick might be a good idea. You and Andy are getting stale. We need something or someone to shake up the show, but finding you the right kind of co-host would be hard. We don't want to piss off your loyal fans ever again." He shuddered, remembering their one attempt at a guest host, a lovely female star with a reputation for adventure. She'd been more trouble than she'd brought in new viewers and the ratings had tanked. The viewer mail had been all against her just as soon as she started blatantly hitting on Foxxe on the air. What had happened at night when Andy shut the cameras off had been worse.

"Not worried about pissing me off, are you?" Actually, Foxxe wasn't offended in the slightest. Wayne was right. They needed something fresh to revitalize the show. They couldn't keep ratcheting up the danger until the insurance geeks finally had heart attacks. The two lawyers they kept on staff were nicknamed Itchy and Twitchy for a very good reason. They not only looked alike, they both ate antacids like candy. "We do need a shakeup. A co-host has some real possibilities, but if we bring someone in besides Andy, who never appears, won't that fuck up my credibility?"

Andy turned away and mumbled. "We could always put a parrot on his shoulder."

Both Foxxe and Wayne laughed. It was a secret the three of them kept that Foxxe was actually just a little scared of birds with large bills. Raptors, parrots, and some seedeaters basically gave him the willies. He had a scar over his left eye thanks to a pet scarlet macaw belonging to his best friend's mother. Birds were definitely out.

Wayne continued to smile even while he made notes. "Well, since Itchy and Twitchy scrapped the season finale at a volcano, I'm still at a loss for something spectacular. Keep your eyes peeled, okay?"

"Yeah, sure." Foxxe shrugged and dreamed of his apartment in the middle of the city. As soon as they finished shooting for the season, he planned to run asses and elbows out of sight for a month at minimum. All he had to do was run through the Yellowstone wilderness for a week, then survive whatever Wayne came up with for the season finale. He could almost smell the urban jungle waiting for him.