“I can hear it now, so I know which way to go.”
Over the torrential rain, the thunder, the truck engine? How? Probably the same way the man knew things he shouldn’t know.
Couldn’t know.
They rounded the corner. White and red points broke through the tree line ahead. The headlights on the truck reflected off signs, pointing toward the highway on-ramp. Another few moments the hum of cars seeped into the cab.
“Where are you taking me?” Luca wasn’t even sure why he asked.
The man merged the truck into traffic.
Silence was all the answer Luca needed. “You don’t know, do you?”
“Right now, I just need to get you as far away from here as possible.” The man lowered his chin. “It should come back to me, though.”
“Your memory?”
“Yeah.”
“When?”
“Hours? Days?” He shrugged.
If it didn’t, Luca would never get answers. “Can you at least tell me your name?”
He shook his head.
“Is it Nox?”
“Nox?”
“It’s tattooed on your wrist.”
The man turned his hand.
Had he forgotten it was there? Luca didn’t want to ask.
*****
Knocking jerked Reese Dante from the sofa where he’d fallen asleep. Bright light flooded the narrow windows flanking his front door, and the air pulsed with a mechanical heartbeat. The grandfather clock beside his saltwater aquarium read 3:25.
The knocking became an insistent banging.
Reese stumbled to the door and turned the knob before he even questioned whether not opening it was a good idea.
Wind rushed past Reese, tossing his T-shirt and tugging at his boxers. The floodlights seared his eyes, cutting silhouettes of the two men and one woman standing on his front porch. With no barrier between him and the helicopter out front, the deep thump of rotor blades assaulted his eardrums.
Reese raised a hand to block the glare.
One of the men stepped closer, and the light reflecting back off the windows pushed away some shadows. Insignia marked the stranger’s fatigues. “Dr. Reese Dante?”
“Who the hell are you?” He waved at the helicopter crushing his flower beds. “And why is that thing on my lawn?”
“Dr. Dante, my name is Colonel Harrington, U.S. Army. And I need you to come with us.”
“What? Why?”
“I’ll explain when we’re in the air.” The colonel’s grip on Reese’s upper arm ended any argument.