Desmond opened his eyes. The helicopter was vibrating even more. Avery was pushing it to its limits. Peyton’s head still rested on his shoulder. She was out cold. He desperately wanted to wake her, to ask what had happened to them, how they had lost what he felt all those years ago. Somehow, he knew he was nearing the end of the memories he could access, like a faraway signpost he could just make out through a fog. He wondered if the programmer, Byron, had been right on the ship: had Desmond made these memories of his youth and his years with Peyton available via cues? The cold in Berlin. The cell in the barn. The picture of Orville. Seeing Peyton again, touching her skin. Each seemed to have opened the door to a chapter of his past.

But he sensed that his most crucial memories would not be so easily retrieved—especially the location of Rendition. That secret was the reason for his amnesia in the first place—the reason he had built this labyrinth.

That’s it: the Labyrinth Reality app. It’s the key.

His breadcrumbs had led him to the app; he was now more certain than ever that it would unlock the rest of his past. He needed to get a phone and re-download the app.

What he didn’t know was whether he was ready to know exactly what he had done—and exactly what kind of man he was.

There was one memory left that he could reach now, and he closed his eyes, willing it to come.

Chapter 67

Chapter 67

After what Desmond considered to be a disastrous lunch with Peyton’s family, he didn’t see them much.

He interviewed at half a dozen startups, but he found himself with a new problem: he was gun-shy, afraid to commit. What if it was another xTV? He didn’t want to make the same mistake.

Another startup he had options in failed that week. He would be out of money for the trailer park rent within a month. He needed to take one of the job offers soon.

Christmas was a week away. He was terrified Peyton was going to ask him to come home with her. She didn’t. She seemed to instinctively know his boundaries.

“Just so you don’t get carried away and buy me an island or something for Christmas, let’s set some ground rules,” she said.

“All right.”

“We can each spend ten dollars on each other.”

“Okay.”

“And the gift has to reveal something about each of us.”

That confused him.

“I want to know something about you, Desmond. It has to reveal something about your past. An experience that shaped you somehow. Understand?”

He did. And he had no idea what to give her. He obsessed in the weeks leading up to Christmas.