Page 6 of Dan

“The dangers of our occupation, and height,” smiled Dan, hugging his grandfather.

“She awake yet?” he asked, peeking into the room.

“Not yet. It’s been hours, Grandpa. Do you think she’ll wake up?”

“No reason to believe she won’t. I think she’s physically exhausted and just needed to sleep. We have no way of knowing how long she was out there rowing that tiny little boat she was on. It’s amazing she made it at all. Her dental records didn’t reveal anything, but her teeth are perfect. No fillings, no signs of any bridge work. What’s bothering me is that someone burned her prints off.”

“You don’t think she did it herself?” asked Dan.

“No,” said his grandfather. “You can tell that she fought it. It’s not clean at all.”

“Damn. She’s not as big as a minute. That had to have been fucking painful.” Wilson nodded, looking at his grandson, then back at the young woman.

“She has a name. She belongs somewhere. We just need to figure that out and find out what’s happening with her.”

“Any news on the hurricane? It’s awful early in the season for a big one.”

“It’s turning east, most likely hitting central Florida. We’ll get some rain and wind, but that’s all.” The two men heard a soft moan and turned to see their patient stirring. In a soft whisper, she repeated the series of numbers.

“Five, seven, seven, eight, nine, five, one, three, four, zero, four, two, six, five, six, six, eight, nine, seven.”

“Honey, what do those numbers mean?” asked Wilson, taking a seat beside her hospital bed.

“Stop him,” she whispered.

“We’re going to stop him,” said Dan, taking the seat on the other side of the bed. “We need to know who he is and what those numbers mean.” A soft tap on the door had them turning their heads to see Ace.

“Five, seven, seven, eight, nine, five, one, three, four, zero, four, two, six, five, six, six, eight, nine, seven.” Ace frowned at the woman, repeating the numbers back to her.

“Five, seven, seven, eight, nine, five, one, three, four, zero, four, two, six, five, six, six, eight, nine, seven.” Her eyes grew wide, their green lighter and brighter as she stared at him in shock.

“Ace, brother, what do those numbers mean?” asked Wilson.

“I’m not sure yet, but I think she’s like me. I think she might be on the spectrum and have an eidetic memory. I was just repeating the numbers to hopefully let her know that she’s not alone.” She looked at the dark-haired man and nodded. “It’s a curse and gift, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “You’re like me.”

“Can you tell us your name?” asked Dan.

“Finley. Finley Xavier.”

“Finley, it’s nice to meet you,” said Dan. “My name is Dan. This is my grandfather, Wilson, and our good friend, Ace.”

“Finley? Finley Xavier?” repeated Ace, frowning at her. “We should have recognized your face. You were on the cover of Science and Engineering about a year ago. This is unbelievable.”

“Science and Engineering? Is that a real thing?” frowned Dan.

“It’s a real thing,” said Ace, pointing at Finley. “And she’s the real deal. Not only do you have an eidetic memory, you have an unquenchable ability to compute just about anything when it relates to structural engineering and design, although you’re pretty damn good at anything that touches numbers, which means you’re good at everything. Your work in breaking down everything, including language into numbers, is ground breaking for children with learning challenges. She took the idea of using Timerio and moved it to another level.”

“Timerio? Ace, brother, help me out here,” said Dan.

“Timerio was developed by a German architect. It’s a constructed language based on numbers. It’s basically a literary language that’s used for automated translations. Think of it like the Dewey decimal system for words.”

Finley just stared at the man, wondering how he knew so much about her. Maybe she’d fallen from the frying pan into the fire.

“Don’t be afraid,” smirked Dan. “Ace is one of our resident geeks. We have an entire stable of them that we keep on hand for just such an occasion.” The young woman frowned, tears filling her eyes.

“Hey,” said Wilson, touching her hand with incredible gentleness. “We’re joking. You’re perfectly safe here. No one will stable you anywhere. Is that what happened to you? Did someone hold you hostage?”

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