Ian shrugged. “The simple answer is absolutely yes.”
“And the complicated answer?”
“It’s still absolutely yes, but there would be more flowery explanations involved. And I know how you hate those.”
“Tell me anyway.”
Ian said, “I believe that the invisible predator alien has the power to return all of your memories. I believe he is the one whomanipulated them in the first place, more than once. The alien is confined belowstairs at the Big Bang Truck Stop. That is what the 4 o’clock meeting with Diesel involves. I believe we should discuss a few scenarios before we get there so we’re prepared. Thoughts?”
Luca nodded. “Yes. Let’s go to my workshop and I’ll grab my notes and we can discuss scenarios.”
Ian reached into his jacket pocket and pulled Luca’s notebook out, waving it in front of his face. “The senior Mr. Edgar Smithers is not your man. The wily invisible alien is, trust me.”
“I am not even going to ask how you found my notebook.”
“And I’m not going to tell you that your girlfriend, Beryl, was the one who found it. I just got lucky enough to be there when she did because Jake Jones insisted that the notebook wasn’t his and he’d never seen it before.”
Luca rolled his eyes. He really loathed not having all his memories.
“So, what? I was pretending to be Jake Jones for a month?”
Ian nodded. “Yes. When I came into your shop, you didn’t know me.”
Luca was stunned. “Did you use the codewords?”
His friend huffed. “What do you think? Of course I did. I had to pretend my imaginary girlfriend wanted a veil of iron from a movie calledVoid in the Shadow.”
Luca shook his head. “I really hate this invisible alien I don’t remember ever seeing.”
“Get in line.”
Luca dressed quickly and they snuck out of his hospital room and out the nearest exit. The whole time, he kept repeating the vision in his head of Beryl, first kissing him and then leavingheartbroken when she realized he didn’t know her, even though now he wished he did.
He was acting like a dirtbag jerk and vowed to make things right with her, even if he couldn’t rekindle their relationship or move it forward, no matter what her passionate kisses did to him and his lonely soul.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Beryl reluctantly entered through the side door to the Big Bang Truck Stop’s basement facility, headed for Cam Grey’s security office, where the brig was located.
She trudged along, dreading her meeting with Diesel, Wyatt and Jake, whose name was apparently really something else. A name she would likely never learn.
She’d run into Diesel and Wyatt on her way to see Jake at the hospital. They’d invited her to the meeting, but couldn’t tell her what it was about where they might be overheard. She understood and promised to be there. But that was before she’d found out Jake didn’t know her.
She would have to get used to that. Or not.
Actually, she didn’t have to get used to anything. He didn’t remember her. That might stay true. She shouldn’t count on him getting any memories of her back.
She felt another stab of pain to her heart and trudged on.
After she’d left his room, weeping uncontrollably like a big crybaby, she got hold of herself, drove home and called Wyatt in the hope of finding out more information. She wasn’t surprised when he told her he wasn’t at liberty to tell her much, but he did confirm that Ian and Jake Jones were not human, and he and Diesel didn’t know her erstwhile boyfriend’s real name.
“It’s possible it will come up at this afternoon’s meeting with Diesel, but I wouldn’t count on it,” Wyatt said. “I’m sure there is a supersecret chain of command that will insist that heand Ian not be identified for any reason, no matter what. You know how those clandestine groups can be about secrecy.”
“Yeah. I get it. Thanks anyway,” she said.
Before she could hang up, he said, “Also, not to be a whiner, but I really wish you and Jett had that antidote for your sticky glitter bomb madness. I’m going to be shedding glitter every hour of every day from the back of my cruiser for the rest of my natural life. Honestly, I expect there will be globs of glitter in my coffin when I’m laid to rest.”
Beryl said, “We did come up with an antidote, we just didn’t test it yet.”
