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She sighed, adding, “They wanted to treat you like a lab rat. That’s when my father knew it was time to make a move.”

Tears ran down her cheeks. Lily tried to hide the tears, turning away and bringing her hand to her face.

“Hey, it’s OK,” Jason said, pulling her hand back.

Lily sniffed, wiping her nose with the back of her hand.

“My father has spent two decades trying to unravel the mystery of the young boy from the sea. Some have said you’re not human. Others say you’re an alien experiment.”

“What do you think?” Jason asked.

“I think you are human. I don’t know how or why, but somehow you’re mixed up in something none of us fully understand.”

“And your dad,” Jason said, slowly getting used to referring to Professor Lachlan in that manner. “He thinks if I see this craft I’ll somehow remember?”

“When the UFO first came to America, they brought you to it. You touched the skin and the craft glowed as if it was radiating energy. It scared them. There was no explanation as to why the UFO should react like that, so they made a decision to separate you from the craft.”

“And the pictures?” Jason asked.

“My father has worked hard to get them. I don’t think he’s seen the craft, but he’s talked to people who have.”

The door to the bedroom opened and Professor Lachlan poked his head through.

“Good to see you kids are awake. Are you hungry?”

“Sure,” Jason replied, feeling awkward lying there with the professor’s daughter. He sat up on the bed. Lily sat up beside him, still wrapped in a blanket.

“Well, get dressed and come on out. Bellum’s rustled up some bacon and eggs.”

The latch clicked as the door was pulled shut again, leaving Jason and Lily lying there in the double bed.

“I’m going back to sleep,” Lily announced, flopping on the pillow.

“Oh, you are, are you?” Jason retorted. He reached beneath the covers and grabbed at her waist, tickling her.

“Ah, no! Stop!”

Lily writhed beneath the blanket, kicking feebly with her legs and pushing at him with her hands.

“Drag me into a conspiracy, will you?” Jason cried as he continued to tickle her. “Stand out in the rain like a lost puppy, will you?”

“Not fair,” Lily cried, laughing helplessly. She was trying to fight back, trying to tickle him, but she was far more ticklish than he was.

“OK, OK,” she called out. “Truce!”

Jason paused, his hands still resting on her hips as she lay there facing him with the blankets and sheets scrunched up around her. She had tears of laughter in her eyes as she added, “I promise, no more standing in the rain!”

“No more puppy dog eyes?” he cried, giving her a little tickle.

“I promise, I promise,” she replied, struggling to breathe, no longer trying to defend herself. She had her hands up in surrender. “Please, no more.”

Jason sat back on the bed and took a good look at her. Lily was beautiful. Maybe not by the standards of Vogue magazine or Sports Illustrated, but to him she was radiant.

“You did look rather stunning out there on the street corner,” Jason said.

“Standing there in the rain?” Lily asked in surprise. “I’m not sure I’d win a wet t-shirt contest.”

“Oh, no,” Jason replied, wondering how he’d ended up on the defensive. “I didn’t mean it like that. I meant, you looked pretty throughout the day.”

“Sweating in a hundred and five degrees? Standing there under the blazing sun without any shade?”

Jason was digging a hole for himself. “Ah, I meant—”

“I know what you meant,” she said, leaning forward briskly and kissing him on the cheek. “God, I thought you were never going to come down.”

“I, ah,” Jason spluttered.

“Dad said you would. He said you were a gentleman. But I thought you were going to leave me out there all night.”

Jason laughed.

A smile lit up Lily’s face as she laughed as well. Even with her tousled hair, she looked like something from his dreams. Strands of black hair fell across her face as she slumped back on her pillow.

“No sleeping in,” he said playfully.

Actually, he didn’t mind if she went back to sleep, he was just feeling mischievous. She had come to him in the night, and he felt he had to reciprocate in some way, to show her in a playful manner that he was taken by her presence.

“Well,” she said, leaning over and resting her hand on his thigh. “Then I get the first shower.”

Lily jumped out of bed with a zest for life he found intoxicating. The shower was located with the toilet in a small cubicle to one side at the back of the RV. Lily grabbed a change of clothes out of the built in dresser and slipped into the cubicle. As she slid the door closed behind her, she added, “No peeking.”

Jason held up three fingers saying, “Scout’s honor,” with mock solemnity.

The shower started and it reminded Jason of the rain last night. It wasn’t raining outside anymore. He peeked out from behind the blinds at the farmland rushing by. They were on an interstate. The occasional red barn was visible from the road, nestled in with clumps of trees and seemingly endless rows of corn whipping past the window. The Sun was well up. It must have been nine or ten in the morning, he thought. He pulled the blinds up and leaned there gazing out at the world rushing by.

Lily was singing in the shower. Jason smiled. He couldn’t have asked for a more perfect distraction after everything he’d been through. Although he couldn’t make out the words, he could tell she could carry a tune. The shower stopped after a few minutes, but it was the fact that Lily had stopped singing that got his attention. He could hear her getting dressed, bumping against the closed confines of the tiny room. She stepped out of the shower cubicle still wringing out her hair with a towel.

“There’s some spare clothes in the top drawer,” she said, squeezing past him. As she brushed against him, he could smell the scent of jasmine in her hair. Lily walked out into the main cabin as Jason hopped in the shower. The cubicle was cramped, and the pressure coming from the shower head was weak, but the water was warm. It felt good to run some shampoo through his hair and rinse off the dust and grime of the city.

Jason dried off and grabbed some clothes from the drawer. There were boxer shorts, cargo pants and an old concert T shirt from some band he’d never heard of before.

As he stepped out into the main cabin, he smelled eggs cooking and heard the crackle of bacon sizzling in a pan.

Lily was already eating.

Lachlan handed him a plate of bacon and eggs and he squeezed in next to Lily at the cramped dining table.

“Where are we?” he asked.

“Ohio,” came the reply from the front. “On the outskirts of Columbus.”

The RV slowed, turning off the highway and onto a side road. Jason could see a small, rural airport. Several hangars lined one end of a maze of concrete runways. A red crop duster sat to one side, rusting in a field while a white Learjet took center stage.

“So what’s the plan?” Jason asked.

“We’re going to fly that Learjet into the side of a nuclear power plant,” Stegmeyer replied, and with that pronouncement, a perfect morning was ruined.

Lee took the child by the hand, saying, “Come.”

The boy’s eyes looked down as the two of them walked out the door of the administration building. The night air was brisk, much cooler than just minutes before. The temperature was dropping. The rain had stopped. The night was quiet. Lee ushered the young child down the creaking, wooden steps to where Sun-Hee’s brother paced nervously on the gravel.