“I didn’t realize there was a Defender for Alphas.”
Wyatt smiled. “It’s a recent invention. The Defender for Earthers is nicknamed The Big D. This one is called The Little D.”
“Interesting. Cam sure is a wizard with stuff like that,” Raphael said.
“Actually, I believe Indigo Smith rewired Cam’s original Defender device to make one to use on Alphas as a part of his escape plan before he was sent off to the gulag. Cam made a few more adjustments to keep Alphas from suffering splitting headaches if the device is used on them.”
Raphael and Wyatt had left Barney to sleep off the Alpha Defender shot while they delivered the security surveillance to the group.
Cam rolled his eyes and stared at the ceiling for several moments, muttering to himself. He then said, “Okay, I understand your confusion, but I’m telling you that after driving for almost an hour, Indigo parked the car for five minutes, turned around and drove Wheeler’s car back into Alienn. He put the car back in the employee parking lot. We have no idea when. There’s no telling where he is now.”
“Why would he do that?” Diesel asked. His exasperation level seemed on par with Raphael’s.
“What?”
“Drive out of town, then return to Alienn.”
“Find him and ask him yourself, because I don’t know.” Cam huffed and closed his laptop. All their nerves were a frayed since Wheeler still hadn’t woken up.
Aunt Dixie had been called to join them. She promised to bring Miss Penny. Raphael didn’t know if that would be helpful, but Diesel seemed okay with the idea.
“Wheeler’s car is parked back in the truck stop parking lot, right?” Raphael asked.
“Yes. Right. So I said.” Cam popped his laptop open again, typed a few keys on his computer as if to reaffirm his statement.
“I think we need to check it out.” Raphael hadn’t taken a seat. He looked longingly at the door, ready to bolt through it and do something, anything that would put him closer to finding Francine.
“Well, I think we need to wait until Wheeler wakes up before doing anything else,” Cam said.
“What if he doesn’t wake up?” Diesel asked quietly.
The room went dead silent.
The mood in the conference room turned so morose after Diesel asked the stupid, foolish question he hadn’t meant to speak out loud that they adjourned. They filed slowly out of the room, walking as if Wheeler’s condition might have worsened, even though it hadn’t been half an hour since they’d left his room.
Diesel noted that Raphael appeared calm, but ready to leap up at a moment’s notice to run and rescue Francine if only he knew where to go.
Gage didn’t seem surprised to see them back in Wheeler’s room. He launched into a slew of medical explanations. Diesel listened to his brother ramble, listing no less than eight causes why Wheeler might still be unconscious. Though there was no clear reason for him to still be out cold, Gage wasn’t ready to believe anything horrible was happening to their brother.
Diesel put a hand on his younger brother’s arm, saying softly, “Please wake up, Wheeler. Just for a minute.” Wheeler didn’t move. Diesel had to work even harder to keep his feelings under control. It helped when Juliana took his hand and leaned her head against his shoulder.
The whole family had gathered outside Wheeler’s room, waiting either for a sign he was going to wake up or the arrival of any test result or medical person to give them an update on his condition. He wondered if he should summon their parents home from their travels.
Axel motioned him away from the group, taking him aside to add yet one more morsel to his already overfull plate.
“I hate to bring it up now, but I’ve been meaning to tell you about our cousins.”
“What cousins?”
“The Ashcraft cousins.”
Diesel nodded. “Oh right, they operate a bauxite refinery on Alpha-Prime, right? Don’t we ship bauxite ore to them every month?”
“Yes. And they did run a refinery, but last month they entered into a partnership with some other company who will take over operations there.”
“Why do I need to know this?” Diesel asked.
