Page 18 of Reset

“For other people maybe, but you have a secret weapon.” Ryan nudged her forward.

“You’re going to tell me it’s you, aren’t you?”

“Well, yeah, but it’s really only one aspect of me. It’s what I did in the army. I was a tracker. We can’t get lost. It isn’t possible.”

“You talk a good game, GI Joe, but what exactly is a tracker?”

“GI Joe was American. I was UK army. Civilians,” he muttered before answering her question. “Have you ever seen one of those old cowboy movies where they bring in a specialist to read the markings on the ground so the sheriff can find the bad guys?”

“Of course.”

“That’s a tracker, only the army version is more so. We’re trained to follow trails through all sorts of environments—urban, jungle, and desert. There are only a few soldiers who specialize in tracking these days. We’ve become too reliant on technology to find things for us. But sometimes technology just won’t cut it and you need a real live person. Someone who notices details that software and cameras might think are insignificant and is able to draw conclusions from those clues. It’s kinda like being part sniffer dog, part detective, and part mapping system.”

It was hard to miss the enthusiasm as he spoke. “You never told me this when I knew you. Mainly, when you talked about your time in the army, you told funny stories.”

“I was obviously trying to charm you, Stats—without sounding like a macho arsehole who bores you by boasting about his prowess.”

How he managed to make her feel amusement when their circumstances were so dire, she didn’t know. “How do these superhuman tracking skills help us then?”

There was a second’s hesitation before his reply, which piqued her curiosity. “I have kind of a talent, something that’s been supercharged since the coma. I map places in my head. I can tell you exactly how many feet it is from here to the gate, then from the gate to the room where we were held. I can tell you the degree of incline as we walk. And, if pressed, I’m pretty sure that I could take a stab at which direction is north, and I’ll probably get it right. With me, you can’t get lost.”

Sarah’s jaw dropped before she spun to face him. “Have you always been like this?”

He shrugged, seemingly nonchalant, when it was clear he felt a bit self-conscious. His ears had turned red, and he didn’t look her in the eye. To his credit, he answered anyway. “I’ve always had a talent for finding things and navigating my way. The army training honed it and gave me extra skills. During the coma, my brain had to rewire itself, and I think some connections were made that weren’t there before, ones that make it easier for me to notice things without even trying.”

Wow. Just wow. “I’ve read about this. It’s called sudden savant syndrome.”

Ryan was already shaking his head. “No, it’s not like that. I didn’t wake up with the ability to play the piano like a concert pianist, even though I’ve never touched the instrument. The brain injury just made the skills I’d already been taught a little more…refined.”

Sarah didn’t understand why he wasn’t excited. She was practically buzzing with it. To have something so amazing come out of such a terrible experience? Mind-blowing.

“Do you see maps in your head? Are you counting feet and inches everywhere you walk? Does it work if you’re in a car? Have you noticed any other new skills since you woke up? Did you tell your neurologist?”

He held up a hand to stop her. “And this is why I don’t tell people. It isn’t a big deal, Stats. The talent and skills have always been there; now they’re just a little more in my face than they were before.”

Something in his tone made her realize there was more going on under the surface of his words. She studied him for a beat before it hit her. “You can’t turn it off, can you?”

His jaw clenched and unclenched. “No.”

“So everywhere you go, you’re measuring distance and drawing maps.”

“Yeah. But like I said, it isn’t a big deal. I hardly even notice it’s happening anymore.”

Before she thought twice about it, Sarah reached up to cup his cheek. An electric bolt of awareness shot up her arm, made all the more painful with the knowledge that her touch wouldn’t have the same effect on him.

Still, this wasn’t about her. She’d deal with the fallout of being around Ryan again once they were out of danger. In the meantime, he had to know how amazing he was. “You’ve been through so much and you have no idea how remarkable you are, do you?”

To her astonishment, his cheeks turned a deep shade of red. “You had to go make a big deal out of this, didn’t you?” he said roughly.

It was a big deal. One he obviously wasn’t ready to accept—yet. So she shrugged and dropped her hand. “A girl has to amuse herself any way she can. Did you develop any other talents while you were out cold?” Turning, she resumed leading them up the tunnel.

“Not that I know of.”

“Then that’s what we can do while we’re stuck down here. We’ll work our way through different things and see if you’re any good at them. Sing me a song.”

Ryan’s laughter was like music in itself. “You’re a nut, you know that?”

“Funnily enough, you’re the only person who’s ever called me that. Most people think I’m sensible, boring, and ordinary.”