“Eric, Tessa, and I will go out tomorrow. Ryan, could we use the Charon Group’s helicopter? That way we stay off the radar, making it easier for us to get there and back.”
Ryan nods. “Of course. I’ll have the pilots fuel up and have it ready first thing in the morning. It’s about a two-hour flight, so it won't take too long.”
“Thanks, man. It may take us a week or two. Not only do we need to find a way to approach Ricardo, but we need to get an in with him too. Plus convince him of the plan. We’ll let you know when we need to be picked up again.”
Nate starts to sit down, but then Eric gestures to him and he grimaces. Nate runs a hand through his hair, then turns to me. “You aren’t going to like this,” he begins, andthat’salways a sure-fire way to get someone’s back up, “but while you were with Cruz, we all had a discussion.”
“About?”
“Trackers.”
Tilting my head to the side, I narrow my eyes at him. “What about trackers?”
“You’re getting one.”
“Okay.”
The room goes deathly silent, each pair of eyes fixed firmly on me.
“Do you think–” Kian starts, and Jase nods, his eyes wide as he looks me over.
“She definitely is,” Jase agrees.
“I am what?” I ask, brows lowered in confusion.
“Psst, Ryan, grab her, hold her down. We have to make sure,” Kian stage whispers.
“What the fuck?”
“Sorry, but it’s gotta be done. We have to make sure you’re not an alien body snatcher.”
I twist my mouth to the side. “Just because I recognize that I’ve been kidnapped twice, a deranged psychopath is after me and having a tracker might just save my life—does not mean I’ve been body snatched.”
Susannah laughs, her eyes twinkling in merriment. “I can’t believe it was that easy. I was sure you were going to flip the table or something.”
I frown at her, offended. “I’m not always a raging bitch, you know. I can be agreeable.”
Kian and Susannah laugh harder.
“You know what? Fuck you both. Who needs best friends anyway?”
“Wait, what? I leveled up to best friend status?” Kian shouts, punching the air.
“Not anymore, I’m taking it away.”
He turns on the puppy eyes and trembling pout, and I sigh heavily. He perks up—I swear if he had a tail, it would be wagging—and I decide I can’t take it anymore. “Fine, best friend status reinstated.”
“Whoo-hoo!” he shouts, doing his best Homer Simpson impression.
“All I have to say is that all of you better have a tracker too. No point in it just being me if one of you gets caught up in anything,” I counter.
Eric stands up and pulls out a small case from a bag at his feet. He saunters toward me, a wide smile stretching across his face. “Done.” His proclamation goes around the table as everyone reveals they’ve had it done.
“Well, fuck. Guess I can’t back out of it now.” Pushing my chair back I face Eric. “Come on then, let’s do this.”
Fifteen minutes later, both Cruz and I are sporting new trackers. Eric loaded the app onto our phones and gave us the password to use it, and Jase got Cruz’s biometrics set up so he can use the elevators and doors that have biometric locks.
Cruz takes a seat next to me, his body heat warming me. Each minute that ticks by I feel a mounting anxiousness rising. His words from earlier replay over and over in my mind, and I find myself distracted.
