It was his favorite.
He frowned.What is that terrible smell? Not fresh-sawn wood! Is that antiseptic? Eww. Why?
His eyes blinked open slowly. He had the vaguest of headaches, like he’d spent too much time reading. It wasn’t uncommon for him to fall asleep while reading through…wait. Where was he?
Luca sat up. He was in a hospital. Unfortunately, the headache got worse the longer he stayed sitting up, so he lay back down. Why was he in a hospital?
He scanned his memories, trying to recall how he got here. They flashed fast and hard into his brain, like a hoard of hungry sand-claw beasts released at feeding time, making him gasp.
The information he needed came to him.
Luca was on Earth. He was on a very secret mission. No one except Cmdr. Goddard even knew he was here.Space potatoes, how could he have forgottenthat?
Flashes of the last few months on Earth sped through his mind. Before he could reason through or remember pertinent answers to his mounting questions, the handle on the door of his room moved. Someone was sneaking in.
Luca tensed, ready for battle. He searched the room for a weapon, but didn’t see anything helpful. Not to mention the dawning awareness that if he tried to get out of bed, he’d probably fall on his butt, with or without a weapon.
The door eased opened, as if his visitor didn’t want to disturb him. Shockingly, Obsidian Montero stuck his head through the slender opening. He grinned when he saw that Luca was awake.
“Ian? Why are you here? You shouldn’t be here. I am on a mission —”
His best friend in the world closed the door behind him, put his hands up, palms out, and said, “I know about your mission here on Earth, Luca.”
Luca sagged against his pillow, chagrined. “Which means something bad happened and you were sent here to fetch me back home, right?”
Ian shrugged. “Something like that. What is your last memory, Luca?”
He tried to sort through his jumbled recent memories, which seemed to have crammed themselves into his brain all at once. Before he could choose one, loud voices erupted beyond the closed door of his room.
A sharp, angry female voice said, “I don’t care who you are, you can’t come barging in here right now. It’s late. Visiting hours are over.”
“Sorry, ma’am, I don’t answer to you. Go talk to your hospital administrator. He will explain. Until then, stay out of my way.”
Ian backed up, a finger to his lips, and pointed to what looked like the room’s attached bathroom. He ducked in right before the door to Luca’s room popped open.
Two men stalked in. The first man through the door was Diesel Grey, Fearless Leader of the amusingly named Big Bang Truck Stop in Alienn, Arkansas. Luca had never met him, but he knew who the man was and that he had every right to be angry.
The man with him was Wyatt Campbell, sheriff of a nearby town. Luca had met him at Dark Matter Metal & Leather a couple of times.
Luca remembered that. Yes.
He’d been a metalsmith and leather craftsman for his undercover role as Jake Jones for the last six months while he tried to discover the identity of the Earther who had sold illegal video that outed Earth as a planet where aliens hid in plain sight.
Luca had been on his way to surveil Edgar Smithers Sr. to discover why he’d sold illegal videos proclaiming aliens from Alpha-Prime lived on Earth. He had sent a message to Cmdr. Goddard telling him that he thought he had found the culprit, but had a few details to iron out before he brought the Earther back to Alpha-Prime to face justice.
What he didn’t remember was anything else. And that was a problem.
Diesel crossed his arms and studied Luca before he said, “Hello,Jake Jones.” His tone suggested he didn’t believe Jake Jones was Luca’s real name.
He was correct.
“Grey,” Luca said politely. He well knew he wasn’t supposed to be on Earth without informing the leadership here. Diesel was likely fuming mad and had every right to be.
“You can call me Diesel,” he said, eyes narrowing as if in surprise. “And then maybe you and your fellow secret agent, who is probably hiding in the bathroom, can explain to me why you’reout and about here on Earth without permission. Operating in secret in Alienn, Arkansas. Oh, and failed to inform me or my security officer of your plans. Not cool, by the way.”
Busted, Ian left the bathroom like it was his idea. He nodded once at Wyatt, who smiled as if they knew each other. That was interesting. How long had Ian been here?
Luca and Ian exchanged a glance and Ian said, “The Calderian sent Jake Jones—I’m not at liberty to tell you his real name—because we had information an Alpha here had sold a video off-planet that was seen by untold numbers of people. It showed that aliens from Alpha-Prime were living on Earth and hiding in plain sight. Which is also uncool, as I’m sure you understand.”
