Page 37 of Exposing Adonis

“I’m sure you’ve noticed, but I am a bit controlling.” Alex settled his laptop on the table, the lip perfectly parallel with the edge.

“Controlling? You don’t say?” Geordie feigned shock.

Alex carefully lifted his laptop’s screen to open it, then dusted off every key. He turned it on, sliding his fingers along the edge three times before the tone indicated it was ready for use. “I … have a way to track all of my classmates.”

“How?” Alastair pried.

“Yes, Alex …” Geordie narrowed his gaze. “How?”

“Our watches.” Alex Baas lifted up his wrist, and the same blue face that was on my bicep hidden by my sleeve, shone in the computer’s light. “I may have had trackers put in them.”

“Mighthave?” Geordie exclaimed, looking down at his watch like it was about to explode.

“Why on earth would you do that?” Alastair inquired, coolly.

“For a situation just like this,” he snarled, his lips curling and his canine teeth bared. “Do you know how many people want to kidnap us? I wanted to make sure we were safe. All of us! So I could always know where we were.”

Alex spared a glance at Geordie who looked at him like he was a snake about to bite. Disgust colored his features.

“How benevolent.” Geordie’s voice was laced with derision. “Violating our privacy for our own good. You’re as charitable as the American NSA.”

“You can dislike it all you want, but it will save our friends now. And isn’t that worth it?” Alex’s voice calmed from its previous anxiety, and that mesmerizing quality returned.

I agreed with him. If Callum and my brother were saved by his intrusiveness, then all would be forgiven. In fact, there was a certain appeal to putting a subdermal tracker in Callu.

He looked at the computer screen, tapping at charts that I couldn’t decipher. A deep, green screen appeared, like an intricate Google Maps, but with dots around the globe. Many were moving, some as fast as stars. Others were sedentary. They looked like constellations on the earth.

He zoomed into the picture, clicking into the Eurasia region. Where we were in southern Turkey, there were three dots, with the initials PF, GC, AB and CM. He looked at that cluster, perplexed, and looked around as if searching for something.

PF. Pippa Fox.

GC. George Campbell.

AB. Alex Baas.

CM. Callum MacLachlan. The watch that was on my arm. The dots were clustered together in one location.

Then he pushed his image south, to the expanse of land between us and where the Baas Tech Refugee camp would be, and there was nothing. No dots, no initials, just empty topography.

Did Chloe Laurent get to keep her watch? Or did the KPLA take it, or smash it to bits?

He slammed his computer down. “Let me make a phone call.”

Alex looked back at Jason, and beckoned him with a finger. The two strode back into the house. Alex’s typically languid steps were replaced with something stilted and rushed, which mussed his carefully manicured hair and he continuously pulled down his bangs to get it to fall over his brow at that perfect 45 degree angle.

I stood, completely rooted to the spot, unable to make any move that would hurt or help the situation.

When Alex came back out, his hands were twitching at his side. “I know where they are. I can take my helicopter. It’ll be faster.”

Jason came out a little later, then took his spot near Alex again, clasping his hands in front of him. His brow had a slight crease, and unlike his normal un-blinkingness, he looked flushed.

“I’ll go,” I said, stepping forward.

“I’ll go with you.” Alastair said. He stepped forward, his chest out. “It won’t hurt to have a second pilot. Hugo and Geordie will get a vehicle, with the radio and head south to the border.” He looked around him, down at the radio that was still giving us static. “You might be able to relay messages. At worst, you’re our contingency plan and Quick Reaction Force in case things go south.”

“You will stay with Geordie,” Alex said to Jason.

“Sir, I think …” Jason tried to interject, but with a menacing glare from Alex, he shut his mouth and turned to stone again. His eyes flicked over to Pippa, and he softened. She didn’t notice, her eyes on the radio. She looked worried. Scared.

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