“How could things be worse than they are now?”

Danny realized that both their voices had the cavernous sound created by cheap speakerphones. He wondered if Laurel was hearing his voice as he spoke. “Maybe she figures that if you have a face to put to your negative thoughts, it’s going to hurt a lot worse. Which could be true, you know?”

“No way. It’s not having a face that’s so bad. If I knew who the guy was, I’d probably laugh. I’d probably think he’s a total loser.”

Maybe he is, Danny thought wretchedly.

“I thought for a while that it was Kyle. My partner. But it wasn’t.”

As Danny wrote PAST TENSE in the logbook, he realized that someone had turned up the speakers in the trailer.

“I hear an echo,” Warren said suspiciously. “Who else is listening to this?”

Danny gestured angrily for Trace to turn down the speakers. “Nobody. They’ve got me on some kind of headset. Sheriff Ellis wanted to eavesdrop, but I told him I wouldn’t talk to you unless it was just the two of us.”

“Good man. Good old Danny.”

Someone grabbed the pencil out of his hand and wrote AUSTER?! in Carl’s logbook. It was Biegler. Danny snatched the pencil back and waved him away. He knew Auster was dead, but he had to play out the charade to protect his link with Laurel.

“About your partner,” he said. “I should tell you that you’ve got a lot of people worried about him out here.”

Warren laughed softly. “That’s kind of hard to believe.”

“I wouldn’t kid you, Doc. The folks out here would feel a whole lot better if Dr. Auster would come to the phone and say a few words. Just a quick hello would be enough.”

“I told Ray Breen,” Shields said with obvious irritation. “Kyle’s busy going over our tax documents. There’s a Medicaid investigator in town trying to put us in jail.”

“Is that right?” Danny glanced back at Biegler.

“I’m surprised he’s not out there with Ellis.”

“I haven’t seen him. Just a whole bunch of deputies and cops.”

“City cops outside the city limits?”

“They’re part of the local SWAT team. You’ve caused quite a commotion out here, my friend.”

“I guess it would. Look, Major, can you tell me anything about Vida Roberts? We heard she was hurt in a fire at our office.”

Danny wrote, Concerned about future/at least for others. Used “we.” People scrambled to read what he’d written. “She’s in the ICU, that’s all I know. I can check on her if you like.”

“Please.”

“One more thing,” Danny said. “Your daughter.”

“Beth?”

“Right. How would you feel about sending her out here to me? Just while you and Laurel get this thing worked out?”

“Beth’s fine, Danny. She’s in no danger. I hope nobody out there thinks I’d hurt my own child.”

“No, no. Not under normal circumstances, that is. But Grant was pretty rattled when he came out of there earlier.”

“Grant didn’t understand what I was trying to tell him. He doesn’t like having to grow up. He’d love to stay a kid forever. But no one can do that, can they, Danny?”

“That’s a fact.”

“I knew you’d understand.”

Danny grimaced, then plunged ahead. “Well, I do and I don’t, Warren.”

“What’s that?” Shields asked, his voice cracking with what sounded like fatigue.

“I said I don’t really understand what you’re doing. I’ve only known you a couple of years, but one thing I do know is that you’re a man of honor.”

Shields didn’t reply for a while. Then he said, “Thank you, Major. That means a lot coming from you.”

“I’m glad. But, Warren, the things you’ve done today…scaring your kids, putting their lives at risk, holding your wife prisoner…those are not honorable things.”

Danny felt someone yank his shoulder. He turned and saw Biegler shaking his head and mouthing, Stop! Danny put out a hand and shoved him backward. Biegler looked ready to attack him, but Sheriff Ellis wrapped a bearlike forearm around the government agent’s chest and held him back.

Danny kept waiting for Shields to reply, but the doctor said nothing.

“I can see how you might feel justified,” Danny went on. “In an angry state of mind, I mean. But you can’t justify those things, Warren. Not in my eyes. Some of the fathers we coached against might do this kind of thing, but not you. You’re too good for this. And you know that things as important as your marriage need to be considered in a calm state of mind. You’ve got to put a cold eye on them, as my old commanding officer used to say. Then you can see what’s really there. What’s really happened.”

There was a long, staticky silence. Just as Danny thought the connection might have been lost, he heard Warren say, “I’m feeling pretty alone in here, Major. Like I’ve lost my bearings. You know?”

Danny felt the first glimmer of hope. “That’s why I’m here, buddy. I’m going to help bring you back down to earth.”

Warren laughed strangely. “I’m not sure there’s any way back from where I am now. I’m not even sure how I got here. It’s like there’s another directional vector besides north, south, east, and west. And I’m stuck on it. Does that sound crazy?”

“Not to a man who’s been there himself. Sometimes life gets out of whack like that. I almost flew into the Arabian Sea one time, because my head was all turned around from personal stuff.”

“That’s hard to believe.”

“Believe it.” Danny hadn’t smoked a cigarette in twenty years, but he wanted one now. “How long has it been since you slept, Doc?”

“A while now.”

“How many hours?”

“Ahh…close to forty.”

Danny scrawled 40hr deficit in the logbook. No wonder the guy was on the ragged edge. “Forty hours without sleep. Would you go out to the airport and fly in the state you’re in now?”

“Of course not.”

“Good. Because I sure wouldn’t fly with you. So, here’s my question. If you wouldn’t fly in this state, why would you make decisions that could cost you everything you have?”

This time the silence stretched for more than a minute. Then Shields said, “I’ve already lost everything, Danny. And now my wife’s gone, too. That’s all I was clinging to…doing right by her and the kids. I feel like I’ve been in a raging river, clinging to a branch on the bank. But now that branch has been yanked away. There’s nothing to hold on to anymore, and nothing at the end of the river but black water. A bottomless hole. Ah, forget it. You don’t know what the hell I’m talking about.”

Danny started to say he did, but then he remembered Biegler’s warning. “Hold on, Doc, I’m having trouble hearing you. Let me call you right back.”

He smothered the headset mike in his fist and motioned for Trace to break the connection, which, to Danny’s relief, he did almost instantly.

“Why the hell did you do that?” Biegler asked.

Danny turned to Sheriff Ellis. “I need to talk to him about the health issue.”

“His cancer?”

“He’s already there himself. You heard him.”

“That’s an unacceptable risk,” said Biegler. “You might send him into an emotional tailspin.”

Danny felt the same exasperation he’d felt when serving under incompetent officers. “You think the guy doesn’t know he has a brain tumor?”

“I’m saying what’s the point of reminding him? If he’s not focused on it, let’s not go there.”

“He’s there now. Look, I know this guy. He’s a physician and a realist. He’d rather hear the truth than a load of bullshit. That’s why he asked for me in the first place.”

Biegler looked at the sheriff.

“I’m with Major McDavitt on this one,” Ellis said. “Dr. Shields is upset because he can’t get a straight answer from his wife. Let’s don’t make things worse by lying to him ourselves. Let’s talk straight to the man.”

Danny nodded thankfully and picked up the headset.

“You guys had better be right,” Biegler said.

Danny closed the mike in his fist again. “Biegler, you remind me of every REMF I ever met in a combat zone. You want a guaranteed result with zero risk, and your ass covered if the shit hits the fan. But that’s not how it works in the real world. So please shut the fuck up and let me work here.”