Chapter 19: Number Five

Austin was on the upper deck of the 7:10 at 6:55, holding a single red rose.

He had no spare.

I saw it at once, and I saw that he had done it on purpose.

"I wanted to give you one thing and mean it," he said.

The commuters had mostly found their seats, but nobody opened a laptop.

The man with the bicycle moved closer.

"Austin," I said. "I'm going to answer you now, in front of everybody, because you asked me in front of everybody."

"Please."

"Thank you for being alive," I said. "I mean that with my whole chest."

"I know."

"I was seven, and I don't remember any of it, and I'd do it again."

His glasses had fogged already, which saved him some trouble.

"But I won't be your fate," I said. "I tried. I put you on the schedule."

"You wrote me in as a second source."

"I did," I said. "You were the best second source I've ever had, and I don't want one."

Austin took a breath.

"Is it the captain?" he said.

"It's the captain."

The man with the bicycle said, "Called it."

"I have a rule," I said, to Austin, and to the deck. "Never have only one of anything. A point of failure is a point of failure."

"I remember the rule."

"I am going to break it for one thing."

I did not look toward the wheelhouse.

I knew that the door was open, and that someone behind the glass had stopped moving.

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