“Fine, Ethan, show me, and I’ll trust you,” I said, taking a deep breath. “This park is suddenly making me feel depressed,” I added, changing the topic to avoid any suspicion.
“I think I want to go shopping. I need more comfortable dresses if we are going to stay long on the ship,” I explained, watching Ethan nod.
“Okay,” Ethan agreed, moving back to the picnic mat and packing up our things. As he came close with the ice cream pack, I looked at it.
“Oh! Is this the flavor I got?” I frowned, taking the chocolate-flavored ice cream from his hand.
“I wanted pistachio,” my frown deepened. “What was I thinking when I ordered chocolate? I’m tired of chocolate,” I began to complain.
Ethan quickly took the ice cream from me. “It’s fine, I’ll take the chocolate. You can get the pistachio for yourself,” Ethan said. I looked at him, faking a smile.
“Really?” I asked, and he nodded. “But you don’t really like ice cream.”
“I don’t mind,” Ethan shrugged.
“Let’s get you the pistachio, okay?” Ethan urged. I smiled, noticing how sweet he always was.
“Alright, your hands are full. Just get this stuff to the car while I go get the pistachio,” I said, wanting Ethan to go so I could pick up the drive.
“I don’t mind,” Ethan insisted.
“Are you going to keep breathing down my neck? Just give me your card. The ice cream truck is right there, and I’ll be fine,” I insisted.
I watched Ethan’s eyes give up as he finally nodded. “Alright, meet me at the car, okay?” Ethan said, handing me his black card.
I turned and walked to the ice cream truck, still feeling his heavy eyes on me. ‘Look away,’ I silently prayed, hoping Ethan would just go.
“Can I have a pack of pistachio ice cream, please?” I asked the man in the truck.
“And extra napkins,” I added as the man handed me the ice cream. I took the napkins and moved to the trash can, pretending I had ice cream on my dress and was trying to clean it off.
I turned to where Ethan had been standing and saw he was gone, giving me time to dig through the trash and retrieve the flash drive.
‘There it is,’ I thought to myself, spotting the tiny blue hard drive with “EM” taped to it. I picked it up quickly, looking around one more time before tucking it into my purse and returning to Ethan.
“Did you get the ice cream?” Ethan asked as I got into the car. I nodded, lifting the pack of pistachio-flavored ice cream with a grin.
As we drove to the shopping mall, Ethan’s phone began to ring. “Tell me,” Ethan said as soon as he picked up the call.
“Miami? Are you serious? Lexi Park?” Ethan said to the other end of the call.
I turned to him, staring with curious eyes as I noticed him make a sudden turn. “Is everything okay?” I wondered.
“Wayne was spotted by one of my men. He was at the park we just left,” Ethan replied, speeding through the streets back to the ship.
“What!” I pretended to exclaim.
“How did he find you? Did they put any tracker on you?” Ethan asked, briefly glancing at me. “I don’t know, I have no idea,” I stuttered.
Ethan finally drove into his highly secured harbor, parking close to the ship. Taking a deep breath, he stared at me with worried eyes. “Don’t worry, Emily, my men will catch him,” Ethan promised. His words made my heart skip a beat as I began to silently pray they didn’t.
I nodded gently, not saying a word. “I need to scan you to see if you have any tracker inside you,” he explained, and I nodded.
I followed him back to the ship, holding his hand as he guided me to a room, a large box-sized room. He stood by the door, where there was a large screen, and he punched a few buttons.
The room lit up. “X-ray machine on,” a voice read. “Is this Alpha?” I asked, turning to him. He smiled and shook his head. “No, this is just a scanning room,” he explained.
“Please step inside,” he instructed, and I nodded, handing him my purse as I walked in. “Move to the red spot,” he said, pointing at the only red tile in the room. I did as I was told.
As I moved in, I felt a vibration on the floor and blue light passing through my body.
I turned to Ethan, whose eyes were fixed on the monitor. I stood still as the vibration lasted for 30 seconds before it finally ended.
“I don’t understand,” Ethan said, looking perplexed. “There’s no tracker in your body. How did he find you?” Ethan asked, with furrowed brows.
“I don’t know,” I stuttered, praying Ethan wouldn’t figure it out as I quickly grabbed my purse back from him. “Have your men caught him yet?” I asked, my voice barely audible.
“They would call if they do,” Ethan replied absentmindedly.
“I think Alpha would know. I’ll show you how he works,” Ethan said, holding my hand and guiding me to the staircase.
I followed Ethan to the middle part of the ship, with him holding my hand as we walked into a door labeled “Authorized Access Only.” As we got in, Ethan released my hand and stepped forward as the scanner scanned him.
“Alpha1789, Jake 146,” Ethan’s voice echoed, and the floor suddenly began to sink. Startled, I held onto the door, noticing it become an elevator taking us down.
We passed through almost seven secured doors before finally getting to the main server room. “This is Alpha,” Ethan said as the last room opened to expose a huge server room with a large monitor.
“Welcome, Ethan,” Alpha said as we entered. “Hello, Alpha,” Ethan replied. “Hello, Emily,” Alpha said, to my surprise. I raised my hand, waving.
I looked around the room, scanning for the motherboard, finally noticing it right under the monitor. ‘How can I put the chip in there now?’ I thought to myself, moving toward the monitor while still clutching my purse.
“Alpha, can you find out how Wayne has been tracking Emily?” Ethan asked, my heart racing as I watched the monitor start processing.
“I can’t. It appears Wayne has been using an untraceable SIM to communicate with someone on this ship,” Alpha said, making my heart skip a beat.
“Someone on this ship?” Ethan exclaimed. “Do you know who?” he asked, and Alpha replied, “No, Ethan, I can’t process that information at the moment.”
“I have a mole,” Ethan said, turning to me as I pretended to be shocked. “What does that mean? The ship isn’t safe?” I asked, and Ethan nodded.
I bit my lower lip, staring at the motherboard. This was my only chance to do this, but how?
“Is this really Alpha?” I asked, gently pulling my small drive and hiding it in my hand as I traced the buttons beside the motherboard.
“Yes,” Ethan said. “I told you it wasn’t a weapon of mass destruction,” Ethan explained. I nodded, turning to him and wrapping one hand around his shoulder while the other rotated around the spot I could place the drive.
“I’m sorry I doubted you,” I said, standing in front of Ethan and backing the monitor. I moved closer to the buttons, tracing the drive port on the motherboard, and quickly slid it inside before pulling Ethan in and kissing him.
“Emily, what are you doing?” Alpha said as soon as the drive entered. “Security breach! Security breach! Unknown input!” Alpha began to scream.