Page 34 of Exposing Adonis

“Food is not Britain’s best asset,” Hugo said, shamelessly, which seemed to ruffle Pippa.

“Mrs. Dane made it for us, do you remember? That Christmas?” She was looking right at Geordie when she said it. A small smile crept onto his face and he gave a reluctant nod. Whatever animosity that was happening with her melted away.

She was lovely when she wasn’t hateful. I still wanted to kill her. I bet mangling her face would probably make me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

The static of a radio came in loud, interrupting the meal. Hugo dropped his fork. It clattered loudly on his plate. He reached down to the large painted radio, plugged in by an extension cord. He put the headset to his ear and listened.

“What’s going on?” Pippa’s eyes went wide.

Hugo lifted one finger and shushed her, and the rest of us didn’t move.

“Red Baron this is Base,” Hugo’s accent almost fully faded with his perfect enunciation. “Do you read me? Over.”

There was static on the line, and a sudden cut. Then we heard a garbled voice that was distinctly Callum, but unreadable. I caught the words “extraction” and “trouble,” but nothing else.

I could hear my blood pulsing in my ears. The hairs on my arms rose, as a fearful static came under my skin.

“Putain! Putain!” Hugo’s large arm went up, and he struck the machine with his fist.

“What’s going on?” Pippa asked again, louder this time.

“Shush!” Geordie said, going to Hugo’s side. “I’ll get the vehicles ready. Any way to pinpoint where they are?”

“No. I’ll keep trying.” Hugo grunted, as he pressed the headset between his ear and shoulder. “Red Baron, can you hear me? Cal?”

There was nothing but the constant, uninterrupted sound of fried static.

Chapter 15

Callum

Theschoolhadthesmell of concrete, and the sand outside. Rickety swings swayed in the breeze, letting off an eerie, rhythmic whine. I closed the metal gate with aclank, turning a vertical bolt into a hole drilled into the concrete. It was a rudimentary latch that did it’s job, but it wasn’t pretty workmanship.

The truck had died a half mile from the gate. Chloe stumbled, limping down the dirt road, cradling her left arm in her hand. Leo had paced, silent and stalwart beside her, his hand loose, and open, as if ready to catch her, but also not offering his help. Not that she would take it. Stubborn girl that she always was.

“School must have been abandoned when Kemet got overrun,” Leo commented. “Looks like a decade’s worth of dust.”

“At least,” I responded. Chloe looked timidly at the space. Had she never left the camp in the years she was out here? Or had she been content to move from her sleeping tent, into a clinic day in and day out?

“There’s no food or water,” Chloe pointed out. “How long do we think we can stay here? How far are we from the border?”

“Five miles,” Leo said. “Give or take. Assuming I’m right, it’s too far to walk before nightfall, and too big a chance we’ll get seen and taken. Plus, with your ankle …” He shook his head. “Even carrying you, it’d be a slog.”

“Lovely,” Chloe sneered, insulted. She wrapped her hands around her abdomen. “Maybe you’re just not strong enough to carry me.”

Leo ignored her jab, and instead took the canteen from his hip and handed it to her, uncapped. She took it with hesitant, shaking fingers. Next, Leo went into his pocket for a packet of trail mix, and handed it to her. Then he walked away, towards the doors of the school.

“Hang out here,” he said, calling to us both. “I want to make sure it’s not booby trapped.”

“Why would it be booby trapped?” Chloe rolled her eyes, her voice skeptical.

“Because one side might have done it to deny the other shelter,” I told her quietly. Then, in a low voice so only she could hear. “You’ve got it bad if you’re trying to get a rise out of him.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” She hissed.

“The lady doth protest too much!” I chuckled. “Did you like him before you found out he was a brute, or did you only like him after?”

She responded to my teasing with a whack at my arm.

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