4 - Nico
Wind and rain lashed at Nico’s body as he hung from the rooftop edge.
The building’s metal flashing cut into the fingers of his right hand.
He needed to climb up but something heavy dragged at his left hand.
He blinked down through dripping eyelashes and his fingers were grasped tight around Sam’s forearm—Sam dangled in an arc under him, swung by the gusting winds like a pendulum gone wild.
In a split second, Nico clocked the situation:
They were on a high-rise, at least forty stories up.
Neither of them would survive a fall.
A deafening engine noise whined through the air—no one would hear them shout for help.
Which meant he had to save them both.
Sam looked up and their eyes caught. Nico saw Sam’s mouth move: Don’t let go.
“Never!” Nico shouted, but the rain had made his hand and Sam’s arm so slick…
he could feel Sam slipping as they swung back to the right.
He squeezed tighter and tried to pull Sam up as they swung to the left, but his arms didn’t seem to have any more strength in them.
“Climb up me!” Nico yelled, not sure if Sam could hear him.
The engine sound notched up to a roar as a giant shadow slid over them. It blocked the rain, which seemed good, but Sam’s eyes went wide with fear as they swung back again and Sam got a look at it.
Nico looked up—it was the underside of a massive spaceship, like out of those end-of-the-world alien invasion films.
Holy crap! Freak-out adrenaline surged through Nico but he forced his mind to focus: one crisis at a time.
As Sam’s body swung back to the left Nico whipped Sam up with all his might—it felt like his left arm was going to pull out of its socket, but he didn’t care. He had to save Sam—
Sam’s body flung up even with Nico’s shoulder and Nico felt panicked—Sam wasn’t high enough, he wasn’t going to make it—but suddenly gravity reversed. Like a giant alien vacuum had been turned on, both of them were sucked up into the air above them, feetfirst.
Nico’s hand slid down to Sam’s wrist.
Sam was higher than Nico now, and Nico could feel his fingers being pried off the building edge.
Something buzzed in Nico’s right ear as Sam’s body jerked loose of his grasp.
“Sam!” Nico let go of the roof, desperate to reconnect as they flew up toward the sinister spaceship.
The buzz again.
Sam was pulled further and further away from him and disappeared into the alien machine.
“Sam!”
Buzz.
And then gravity was back on, and Nico was falling.
Sam was gone.
He was alone.
And he wasn’t going to make it.
He hurtled toward the earth and screamed—“Sam!”
Gasping for breath, Nico forced himself awake. Had he been yelling? He scanned the plane’s business class cabin. No one was staring at him.
His eyes were wet, and he rubbed at them with the sleeve of the scratchy light wool zip cardigan he was wearing over a white button-down dress shirt, because that’s the kind of guy Corey Freeman was supposed to be. He wished he were in a sweatshirt instead.
Buzz.
His left earbud had fallen out, filling his head with the plane engine’s roar, but the right was buzzing with the alarm he’d set earlier. Nico swiped it off.
Mon11Feb
2328 36,000 Feet Above Southeast Farallon Island Pacific Ocean
Time toImpact: 05days 9hrs32min
His built-in seat monitor showed there was still 4 hours 22 minutes of flight time to Kona, Hawaii. Nico called up the movie he’d woken up to watch.
They had Die Another Day , and another old Bond movie, Diamonds Are Forever . The plan was to watch them both. Sam knew all of them, and it would be something they could talk about. A way he could make it up to Sam for not being there.
As he went to put on the fancy Bose headset, his wedding ring caught his eye.
He still wasn’t used to wearing it. But here he was undercover.
And he had to keep Sam as far away from any danger as possible.
Nico took it off, slipping it into the little watch pocket of his jeans, next to the thumb drive of data from the telescope.
He hit play.
Tue12Feb
0155 Kona International Airport HI
The warm air hit Nico as soon as he walked out of the air-conditioned airport, the humidity reminding him of Huatulco.
Fingers drumming on the strap of the canvas overnight bag on his shoulder, Nico walked down the line of cars in the yellow lights, looking for his ride. He nearly passed the stocky Hawaiian in an orange tracksuit who was holding a tablet that said M R . F REEMAN before remembering that was him .
Nico pivoted. “Hi.” He put out a hand to shake. “Corey Freeman.”
“Hoku.” The driver shook Niko’s hand. “Welcome to Moku o Keawe.”
Nico flashed on the thought that Sam would have been disappointed—they didn’t have any secret code words to exchange, like Bond and the guy in the Cuban cigar factory. I’m here to pick up some Delectados. Universal Exports.
Hoku opened the silver Jeep Wrangler’s passenger door, and Nico tossed his bag in the backseat by two neatly folded winter parkas.
“One of those for me?” Nico asked, climbing in.
Hoku got in the driver’s seat and pressed the ignition button. “We’ll need them. Gets chilly in the realm of the gods.”
Realm of the gods?
Nico wasn’t sure how to ask without sounding stupid. But he needed to make sure… “We’re going to the Keck Observatory, right?”
Hoku pulled out from the curb and sped them down the nearly empty access road. “No worries. We call the summit of Mauna Kea wao akua . That’s where all the telescopes are. Keck too.”
There were no streetlights, and besides the Jeep’s headlamps, Hawaii was dark . Probably a good thing for the optical telescopes.
Nico checked the time on his phone, adding six hours to figure out the time in New York: 7:56 in the morning.
“How’s cell phone service up there?” Nico asked.
“You should make your call now,” Hoku said, taking the left onto HI 19. Nico had studied the island’s layout on the flight. This was north.
He put in his right earbud and dialed even though it was early.
“What?” Ari sounded annoyed when they picked up. Not a great start.
“Hi, sorry to bother you, but you’ve known Sam so much longer…”
Ari sighed. “What’s going on, Nico?”
Nico was very aware Hoku was hearing everything on his side of the conversation.
“I could use some Valentine’s Day advice,” Nico admitted.
“I don’t know what he wants, or expects.
I guess I should get him something?” He hadn’t even gotten his first paycheck, so he didn’t know how he was going to pay for anything.
He didn’t think whatever you need on his Corey Freeman platinum card included something personal like a gift for his husband.
He wasn’t going to spend the emergency $200 Sam had insisted he keep in his wallet.
Besides that, he only had fourteen dollars cash, and it wasn’t like he had time to start recycling cans and bottles for money on the Big Island…
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Ari said. “Sam thinks the whole holiday is a commercial sellout.”
“Really?” Nico was relieved he wasn’t going to have to figure out what low-cost thing Sam might possibly like from some random airport gift shop.
“He kind of hates it when people make a big deal out of it,” Ari added. “Doesn’t like birthdays that much either. Less is more with our boy.”
Nico was a little surprised. But when money was no object, and it didn’t seem to be for Sam, maybe things weren’t that important. Maybe that’s where they met, coming at it from two different sides but arriving at the same place. Things weren’t that important. People were. Sam was.
“Thanks,” Nico said. “I owe you.”
“Anytime, though I’m better after a matcha latte.” Ari yawned. “You can make me one sometime. Anyway, Sam’s my best friend. I’d do anything for things to be nice for him.”
“A hundred percent,” Nico said. They agreed on that. “Okay, I’ll let you get back to your morning. Bye.” He ended the call.
“Trouble at home?” Hoku asked.
“Everything’s fine,” Nico answered, staring at the empty spot on his finger where his wedding ring should have been as he tapped against his jeans. Sam was still in his first period class at St. Bacchus, so he texted him:
Thinking about you -- Watched Diamonds are Forever last night (Bond riding on top of the outdoor elevator and then shooting mountain-climbing anchors into the building to sneak into the penthouse floor of that casino was a good sequence) There was some weird plot stuff too
The movie with Sean Connery had been pretty homophobic, actually. Nico was kind of surprised Sam loved them so much. The other one with Pierce Brosnan had been better. He should tell Sam he’d seen that too.
Also watched Die Another Day (The duel between Bond and Graves in the London club had some great stunts) Can’t wait to talk about them!
That would have to do, for now. Then Nico added one more thing:
Have a great day!
0257
When the paved road changed to gravel Hoku turned the Jeep into a small parking lot by a sign for the M AUNA K EA V ISITOR I NFORMATION S TATION . The empty parking lot and the unlit stone building with the A-frame roof were covered with a light dusting of snow.
“Ninety-six hundred feet.” Hoku parked and handed Nico a parka, which he was grateful for. “We need to acclimate for a half hour before going the rest of the way.”
They got out of the Jeep, Hoku doing some stretches.
The air here was dry. Cold—and thin like at Machu Picchu. But they were already higher than he’d been in Peru.
There were no lights on around them, but it wasn’t dark like Nico would have expected. He looked up and gasped.
The universe gleamed above them.
The moon was three-quarters full, but the stars were, well, the starring feature. So many stars, some in a giant arc of three-dimensional light. Too many stars to count.
He’d seen the night sky from lots of places: Bakersfield, Fresno, Kernville, the cruise ship, Peru, Huatulco, Sam’s parents’ ship off the Galapagos, but this… Maybe because they were so high, and the atmosphere was thinner? He wasn’t sure, but it was more intense, more sweeping, more glorious…
No wonder Hawaiians call this the realm of the gods.
It made him feel small, but not in a bad way. Like he was part of it all. Part of the universe.
And lucky.
Like seeing this was a gift from the universe.
It made him think about Warren, telling him to go live.
Have all the adventures you can, while you can.
Live for you. And maybe, a little for me too.
Nico’s eyes stung at the memory of all his late friend did for him, and how Nico wouldn’t be here right now without him.
He spoke under his breath, “This one’s for you, Warren. ”
The stars gleamed and shimmered and it occurred to Nico that sharing this would be the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for Sam.
But he couldn’t even tell Sam he was in Hawaii, on a secret mission to the second-biggest optical telescope in the world to confirm—or hopefully not confirm—the anomaly was really there.
The Director had sworn Nico to secrecy about his job. Peril of the spy trade: Keep what he did a secret to protect the people in his life. To protect Sam. And in this case, avoid triggering an alien invasion panic…
He flashed on the image from his dream, of Sam being sucked up into an alien spaceship. Of losing Sam forever. He shook it off. It was just a dream.
Nico realized he was holding his breath. He took one, and then a few more quickly—the air held 27.83 percent less oxygen up here than down at sea level.
Hoku had walked over and was looking up as well. “Never gets old. Crazy to think that each one’s a sun, like ours.”
With planets. Nico thought. And maybe other life? “We should get going.”
Hoku shook his head. “Twenty-four more minutes. I don’t want you throwing up inside my Jeep. Anyway, the longer we wait the less the moon will interfere. Come on.” Hoku started toward the visitor center.
“They’re open now?” Nico asked.
“The scientists who work here, they live up here and are kind of nocturnal. Anyway, they’re expecting us.”
Nico followed Hoku into the darkened visitor center.
“Hello?” Hoku called out.
“Hoku!” A guy in his early twenties strode out of a side office, where dim red lights were on. His tight black turtleneck and slacks showed off a rocking body, and Nico clocked that he was really handsome.
The two men clasped hands like they were about to arm-wrestle and smacked each other on the back in the way straight men felt safe showing affection. And then the hot guy put a hand out to Nico. “Science Operations Specialist Eliot Young.” His eyes twinkled. “Just call me Eliot.”
“Corey Freeman.” Nico shook his hand, feeling nervous, which didn’t make any sense.
“You’re a lot younger than most of the VIPs we get,” Eliot said, making it sound more like a compliment than a diss.
Nico shrugged, not sure what to say to that.
Eliot laughed good naturedly. “I get it a lot too. Promise I won’t judge you for it.” He put a hand on Nico’s shoulder and Nico felt buzzy from the touch. He really was sexy. But straight, right?
“I’ll take him up, Hoku.”