No One Left Behind, Except for Me novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: Hold the Seat

Doc's office had one window, one laptop and a coffee machine that had not worked since August.

He sat me in the good chair and propped the laptop on his desk.

Mikkel stood by the bookshelf with his arms folded, still in yesterday's wool coat.

The screen flickered, and the Institute's program chair appeared from Oslo, where it was already evening.

She was in her fifties, with cropped silver hair and reading glasses pushed up on her head.

"Ms. Cahill," she said. "I have read two documents this morning. One is from your athletic department, and it is eleven lines long."

"And the other?"

"The other is from Dr. Dahl, and it is four pages, with times."

Mikkel did not move.

"Dr. Dahl writes that he saw you on the road at six minutes past six," the chair said. "He says the road was open, a truck passed him, and you had walked for fifty-two minutes."

"That matches my watch," I said.

"Your department says you declined a seat and abandoned your post." She took off the glasses. "Which is true?"

"Neither."

"Tell me in your own words, in two minutes."

I told her.

I told it plain and in order, and I left out how much it hurt.

When I finished, she was quiet for a long breath.

"You wrote the protocol that the headcount was built on?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Then I have a procedure question." She leaned toward her camera. "In your protocol, who can tap a name aboard?"

"The captain."

"And does the system record the time of each tap?"

I blinked.

"It does," I said. "But only the department can export the audit. I'm the admin, and my screen shows only the current list, not the log."

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