Page 46 of Exposing Adonis

“Are you asking me if he’s … pressuring me?”

“Yeah, kiddo,” Brett said, his knuckles tightening. “Do I have to have a word with him?”

“Ugh, you’re such a douchebag,” I cringed at the prospect of ever telling Brett Bradley a damn thing about my sex life. “Not to mention this paternal act is weird coming from you.”

He shrugged, smiling unapologetically, like I had given him a great compliment that he could only take in stride. “I’ve had a change in life situation. It alters my perception of you.”

“So mysterious.” I rolled my eyes. Definitely a civilian, but most definitely notthatkind of civilian. I’m guessing the cloak and dagger kind, that walked around on their tiptoes to the Pink Panther theme song. Company men never say what they mean, and when they do, you’ve got to go through a Rube-Goldberg machine to figure it out.

“Is there anything else you can think of?” Brett asked. “Seriously, kid. We need to know.”

I clamped my mouth shut. I still didn’t trust this guy. Not as far as I could throw him.

“Lea,” Joe said in a soothing tone. “I know that we’re coming at you as strangers …”

“I’ve known her for years,” Brett interjected. “I visit their mom regularly. Lovely woman. You really should let her set you up with someone.”

“Don’t make fun of my mother.” My eyes narrowed on Brett, my finger twitching to get that butterfly knife.

He raised his hand in surrender, and smiled at me. His face would be greatly improved with the removal of a few teeth.

“We’re the good guys, I swear,” Joe said, ignoring his partner and me. “Your uncle, Leopold, was like a father to me. He drank San Miguel beer, watched underground MMA. He used to compete too. The straw hat he always wore was because he thought the sun would age his skin, and he was obsessed with looking young.” He then sighed, very deeply. “He said you made your first kill before he took you under his wing. A cop, right? In the Pasig river?”

That was like getting hit with a bucket of cold water. My uncle would never have told anyone about that incident. Not even under threat of torture. Yet here was this guy reciting it like it was common knowledge.

“I was trying to get to him when he … when they retired him.” Joe said, his voice sounding pained. “I was the one who found his body.”

I stared at Joe’s face, looking from the corners of his eyes, down to his mouth. No flare of the nostrils to show that he was stressed. There was no blush, no loss of eye contact. There was sadness in his expression, but no deception. He was telling me the truth.

“I’m on your side.” Joe assured me, laying his palm flat on the table.

I nodded, acknowledging what he said, but my nose suddenly clogged and I couldn’t speak. Brett observed this interaction with an impassive stare, his eyes pinging between the two of us as if taking inventory.

“Did you see anything else unusual?” Brett asked again, slowly, without his usual irritating manner. “Anything that could help us figure out what’s going on out there.”

I ran a hand through my hair, remembering how Callum liked to tug on it. I closed my eyes and thought back.The helicopter. His blood on my hands. How I had slapped him as we flew away.

“Yes,” I finally said. “When we were flying away, I was about to pull security while holding pressure on Callum’s wound.” My eyes unfocused as I tried to decipher this memory. Everything had happened so quickly. “There were two groups - one was trying to attack us, and the other had their backs to us. Defending us.”

“Do you remember what they were wearing?”

“One group, the one attacking, had black pants on. That’s KPLA, right?” I said. “The other, they wore anything. Jeans. I can’t remember any kind of uniform, really. But they were red armbands.”

“KNF, then.” Joe supplied.

I thought back to that moment, describing everything I could. The car bomb rushing at the gate, and the green truck defending it. The sedan as its wheels were blown, and how it tumbled before exploding, knocking everyone off their feet, and even sending us off kilter in the air.

It had bothered me back then. There was something off about the whole encounter. The look on Brett’s face told me he agreed.

“I’ve suspected that someone had picked a side.” Brett placed his hands in his pocket. “Someone was supplying them, ready to have them take over the area.” Then his eyes flicked towards Joe. “I’m thinking Baas might be our guy.”

“To what end?” I asked, though I suspected I already knew.

“To control the oil,” Joe said.

“Alex Baas makes sense,” Brett said. “He has the refugee camp, all the reason in the world to take over the area. If he brings peace with the KPLA and KNF, then…”

“He’d be de-facto owner of the entire territory.” I finished for him. “He wants to become a shadow governor?”

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