The truck drove down the road, and Jess felt it take a sharp right onto what she assumed was the main coastal road. It continued on for about fifteen minutes before taking a curving left onto a rough gravel road where she was bumped up and down and thrown around.
The truck skidded to a stop, the cabin doors opened and slammed closed. The black hood was pulled from Jess’s head and she gulped in a mouthful of air and blinked. Night was over, the sky already blue-gray, the new day beginning. Green hills stretched up on all sides. They were in a small fishing village nestled into the folds of a valley that fell into the sea. As she looked up at the hills, the sun broke over them, bathing Jess in golden light.
Perhaps the last sunrise she’d ever see.
“Where are we going?” Jess croaked.
Enzo stood on the other side of the truck, inspecting Giovanni, whose swollen eyes were open just enough to know he was conscious, his face battered and bloody. Enzo laughed, said, “He knows where we’re going,” and pointed out across the water. “Isola del Gigli.”
Jess's eyes followed his hand. Past the breakwaters of the fishing village, a rocky crag of an island, less than a mile offshore, stood out of the still waters of the Mediterranean. Dark green trees sprouted at the base of the island, a small jetty just visible. The walls of a structure rose up from the stony cliffs, lights twinkling in the upper rooms.
Someone grabbed Jess’s arms, almost pulling them out of their sockets. She cried out. It was Vlad, one of Giovanni’s men who had turned on them, and he dragged Jess out of the back of the pickup.
“You don’t need her,” Giovanni whispered from between cracked lips. The other traitor guard pulled him to his feet.
“Oh, but we do.” Enzo walked ahead of them, to a wooden dock the pickup was parked next to. A green and red fishing boat, paint peeling from its sides, sat at the end of the dock.
“Not for this,” croaked Giovanni, stumbling forward.
“Exactly for this.” Enzo smiled as he jumped into the back of the boat.
Vlad pulled on Jess’s arms, pain lancing through her shoulders. “Come on,” he commanded.
Jess ambled forward, her prosthetic loose. How humiliating if it came free and she sprawled spinning into the dirt. She kept her head low, watched the seaweed-covered rocks at the edge of the dock. The seaweed covered only a foot or two of the rocks coming out of the water. A foot or two. It had to be low tide.
The boat was filled with a tangled mess of white netting and orange floats, and stank of rotten fish. Jess realized it would be futile to try and resist, so she did her best to step carefully into the boat. Giovanni wasn’t as accommodating. Vlad shoved him from the dock and Giovanni fell into the bottom with a sickening thud.
The large man who had attacked Jess in the apartment in Rome came behind them, holding tiny Hector, who squirmed in his arms. Once they were all aboard, they threw off the lines and the boat’s engine roared to life, belching blue fumes out behind it. The boat left the dock and growled into the bay.
Pinned in the big man’s arms, terrified Hector stared at Jess, his eyes wide.
“Don’t worry,” Jess whispered, “it’ll be okay.”
But she didn’t know if it would be.
Giovanni’s body hadn’t moved since he landed in the bottom of the boat.
Seagulls squawked, wheeling in the sky over the boat, expecting a meal. Jess looked up, squinted into the sun. She felt its heat and warmth, but more than that, she sensed malevolence. Nomad was coming from behind the sun. In a few hours it would pass the sun, and might be visible to Earth-based observatories for the first time. This close, they might be able to see it.
She looked into the blue sky. Would it arrive earlier than her father predicted? Would she be able to see the auroras in the sky, even during the day? She didn’t see anything. Her dad said it would knock out the electricity grids. Glancing left, she saw lights on in the fishing village. So she still had time.
Gritting her teeth, she pulled on the ropes. Goddamn it.
The boat churned across the water.
Jess performed a calculation in her head. Twenty-four hours until Nomad made its closest approach. If her father was right, it was closing the distance at thirty million kilometers an hour. It had already passed Jupiter’s orbit on its way in, and was halfway to Mars by now. That meant it was in the Asteroid Belt. If it collided with something there, they ought to see a flash, a momentary accretion disk. At least they’d be able to see it.
But probably not. Not at that speed; it would have to be a perfect hit. And the Asteroid Belt, for its name, was mostly empty.
An idea flashed into Jess’s mind. Tidal forces.