Gage sighed. “A garbage collector found him behind one of the bins picked up to dump in the truck. It seems someone knocked him in the head hard enough to keep him out for several hours. His vitals look good, but it worries me that he hasn’t woken up yet.”
Diesel turned to Raphael and Lucy. “Why don’t the two of you try to get access to the video from Barney? Ask nice and maybe he’ll look at it and tell you if anything we need to know is on it.”
Raphael asked Gage, “Where is the garbage bin your brother was found behind?”
Diesel’s eyes widened. He answered before Gage could, understanding immediately why Raphael asked. “It’s very close to the area where Francine got into that car.”
Wyatt said, “I’ll go with you to ask Barney about his video feed. Perhaps a law enforcement presence will encourage him to let us look at it.”
Lucy looked at Raphael and then back at Axel, as if she weren’t sure which direction to go. Axel said something in her ear, but she shook her head. “No. I’ll go with you to see Wheeler.” She turned to Raphael. “Please find her. Find my sister.”
Raphael nodded. He planned to do whatever it took to find Francine. He would not fail.
Lucy was depending on him, but he had his own reasons.
Life without Francine was not a future he wanted to consider.
Chapter Sixteen
Francine was having the strangest dream. She’d been flying through the galaxy with Raphael and all of a sudden she woke up in a car with someone she didn’t know. So odd.
The pungent scent of orange peel lingered in the air, but it was fading, as if someone had just sprayed her with a mist of citrus while peeling an orange and then walked away. She was in a bed, but not her bed. Too soft.
Orange peel scent or not, she stretched, trying to wake up and start her day. Her hip bumped something. Was there someone next to her in bed? Oh, right. Raphael.
Was this his bed? She thought he’d have a harder mattress.
Didn’t matter. Raphael was awesome. She couldn’t wait to marry him. Their trip had been amazing. Whether they stayed on Earth or went off into the galaxy to chase bounties, she would be happy as long as she was with Raphael. Perhaps she would become a bounty hunter, too. Then they could go everywhere together.
She reached out an arm to wrap it around Raphael, but she wasn’t next to a person. Her eyes opened and she saw a large, long pillow. Not Raphael. Huh.Where did this body pillow come from?Come to think of it, where was she? This definitely wasn’t her house or her bed.
She sat up too fast and fell back on the bed, dizzy from the mere effort it took to rise. What was wrong with her?
Francine rested, eyes closed, scrambling to get her wits about her and remember any current events. She remembered landing at the Big Bang Truck Stop and disembarking. Diesel wanted Raphael’s help, so she went home by herself.
She remembered walking toward the parking lot where she’d left her vehicle. What happened next? Francine searched her mind for a clue.
The hazy memory of a car pulling up alongside her made its way into her mind. Oh, right. Someone in a car beeped a horn at her and waved. She smiled and waved back.
The passenger window had lowered. Francine had walked over and leaned in to talk to…one of the Grey brothers. And then there was nothing before waking up here.
Except for the strong scent of popcorn that had wafted nearby, smelling delicious. If there was popcorn nearby, she was too tired to eat it. Maybe she’d just take a little nap before trying to figure anything else out or trying to find any popcorn.
Francine didn’t even remember what Wheeler Grey had asked her. Maybe he’d offered her popcorn.
Raphael and Wyatt got to the bank just after noon. He twisted the violet diamond ring on his finger, a nervous tic he thought he’d rid himself of years ago. He was grateful for the gem-studded band, because otherwise he’d be miserable with Earth’s solar power beating down on him. His sunglasses were in place, which helped tremendously.
The magic of violet diamonds from Ichor-Delta was their ability to absorb the most harmful Earther colony sun’s rays for people of his race and keep from burning a layer of his skin off by the end of the day.
Once inside the bank, he didn’t remove his UV-resistant sunglasses. Quite a bit of sunshine streamed through the narrow windows along the walls. Too much indirect solar light gave him a headache unless his eyes were protected. The ring also helped to combat that issue, but the glasses kept his head clear of all pain.
It was very busy inside the Aurora Borealis Bank. Raphael worried the manager would be less likely to help them until customer traffic slowed down. He stared across the room and noticed what looked like a female assistant seated at a desk right outside the manager’s office in the back corner of the bank.
Two of the manager’s office walls were made of glass. Wide blinds covered the glass walls, hiding the manager from view. Was he even in there?
