For a very long time Dr. Dante stared at nothing. “Fine.”
Johnathan’s heart sank. Had he really expected a different answer? Had he really thought the man wouldn’t care?
No. But he’d hoped. That’s why he’d made the offer. Now he had to follow through.
“Decide where you want to go. I’ll make some calls in the morning.”
“After I adjust the VrK. Or try to.”
“Why?”
“Because you saved Nash, and you didn’t have to.”
“Luca’s his Cana.”
“You could have taken him anyhow and let Seung worry about what to do, but you didn’t.”
Johnathan smiled a little. “She probably would have killed me if I had.”
“Maybe.” Dr. Dante shrugged. “Either way, I need to at least attempt to pay back the favor.”
“Thank you, Reese.” Johnathan exhaled a breath of relief. “Thank you very much.”
“Dr. Dante.” His expression hardened. “Only my friends get to call me Reese.”
Johnathan swallowed down his pride. “Then thank you, Dr. Dante.”
He nodded once and returned to watching the rain.
* * *
Reese had no idea when Johnathan retreated upstairs. Just that one minute the man was there, the next, he was alone, sitting by the window staring at the dark.
The rain softened, then stopped, leaving the wind pushing against the tree branches. It was the sound he’d fallen asleep and woken up to.
And why had he woken up from a sleep so deep he’d been unaware of what the Mah and Varu were doing?
While Seung would have tried to be discreet, Reese knew someone like Craige wouldn’t have cared. Even Nash wouldn’t have cared. He never did at the Utah Facility.
But even if they’d been quiet enough to avoid human ears, Reese would have heard them.
Yet he’d been dragged by nothing from a dreamless rest that left his heart slamming against his sternum as if he’d been running.
It was probably the whole Urja thing. Reese was to the point of believing anything could happen, even spontaneous combustion.
His frustration fizzled as quickly as it rose, and he was back to the web of strangeness tugging at his senses, drawing his attention to the distance.
Leaving him waiting, for what he didn’t know.
But there was something out there.
He was so lost in the silent call, he didn’t realize Seung had come downstairs until she opened the front door and stepped out on the porch. Reese got up and joined her.
The oversized T-shirt she wore turned orange under the predawn light of pinks and gold.
“Did anyone leave this morning?”
“What?”