Disappointment was clouding his mind while sadness poured in floods. He shuts down, focusing more on the mission at hand: Returning to the future for debriefing. So what if the only lead he had, the hard drive that Xander helped him track, ended up empty with nothing on it? If only she were here to rescan it and flex her tech skills that he thought were definitely advanced for 2022's frustratingly limited technology. But she wasn't there. So what? His jaw clenched, and his brows locked tighter as if flexing could restrain his wandering mind from reminiscing the past beautiful few weeks. It was getting easier, and his tunnel vision was narrowing down on one man: Steven Marcony, retired CEO of Quadnock and the only link to the alleged time travel research done in the early 2000's and shut down in 2019.
Down the streets of New York, his quick pace grounded him. He looked left and right before crossing the road, hands in his winter grey coat pockets, with a brown-red-knotted scarf around his neck; he was blending as a true New Yorker. Steven was going to have an honest conversation with him the easy or the hard way.
Regardless of his terrible memory, he remembered facts that could prove he was from the future; the Netherlands won its 1st world cup in 2022, which will happen in 2 weeks, and there was the Instagram downtime that lost Meta billions and changed their company to what it is in his timeline: software maintenance firm, but he wasn't sure on what year that would happen. What is 2026? or2023. Maybe there was no need to convince Steven he was a time traveler to have him talking; perhaps a fist to the face could shake his tongue loose. Luca rehearsed his strategy while looking at "The Ruby" building at the end of the street. Two more intersections, and he'll be Mr. Sumak, the real estate attorney that'll negotiate the fake sale of Steven Marcony's apartment.
He exhaled, waiting on the pedestrian signal to turn green while crowds invaded his personal space openly.
"New York, huh?" A sweet voice spoke from his left. He looked at her, surprised; she was no older than 33, had curly hair, brown eyes, and this delicate macchiato skin, just like Xander's. Her white scarf covered her jawline and puffed her hair further, and her nose had a red shade to it. She was definitely not from the city. She added, "you can cross roads randomly, but when there's a signal, you gotta wait for ages." she smiled, looking at him. Her smile was contagious; it paused his tunnel vision somehow, and Luca said, "Well, welcome to New York, the city of possibilities, including contradictions."
"It's a strange city; I can tell you that," she said, looking at the buildings around her with little head movement.
"For new people, indeed. Where are you headed?" Luca asked, wondering if she was like every other lost tourist in New York, or him three months ago, for that matter.
"Not, The Ruby building, for sure" She had a vixen smirk on her lips and noticed Lucas's skepticism, so she added. "You keep looking at it."
Luca chuckled, hiding his off-the-roof alertness about this strange woman and her ability to read his mind. "A habit, look ahead for the future and what it holds...the usual self-help book."
She smiled, and the signal turned green. They walked side by side, and the crowd started to fizzle. Then she said, "You won't find what you are looking for there." She didn't give him a chance to respond and pulled a card from her pocket and presented it to him. "Here. Seven pm, bring the card with you and knock twice. You're more likely to find answers tonight."
Luca took the card and examined it. Gold foil covered the black velvet card with a graffiti-like pattern. It looks like a cyberpunk style turned to high-end. On the other side was an address that read: 34th street west Mayster, and a logo of what looked like his round spherical torpero (a digital key for his time machine that got him to 2022) with an "L" in the center and a triangle that engulfed it. At that moment, it dawned on him time travel exists in 2022, and that warm feeling the stranger triggered in his heart made total sense. He looked up smiling, but the woman was already walking away, so he called her by his
own name, testing his findings, "Miss Baldwin!" She stopped and looked back. Their eyes locked in a lingering moment, and she filled him with life. "I didn't get your name," Luca added, and
his daughter replied, "Nevaeh, call me Nev, see you tonight." she paused a little and added, “maybe bring Mags with you.” She then walked off leaving Luca with a newfound purpose.
