Gage’s mind leaped back a half a life. Looking down from a dusty one-lane bridge, spotting a ruddy fisherman waist-deep in the Smith River, wading boots losing traction on the descending tail of a submerged sandbar with boulder-strewn rapids gapping and foaming below. Then Gage racing downstream, sliding down the hillside, crawling out on a fallen log above the rapids…reaching…reaching…reaching toward the young man flailing in the torrent, the crush of water filling his waders-

Gage blinked, then refocused on Kishore, his answer unspoken: Brothers are bestowed by chance and nature; friends you love by choice.

Kishore squeezed Gage’s upper arm, then turned toward Spike. “Can I talk to you for a minute, Lieutenant?”

Gage watched them walk down the hallway, hoping to read more of Burch’s future in her manner and gestures. Kishore stopped fifty feet away and rotated her hand in front of her chest, then dug into her pocket and handed Spike a small plastic bag bearing a white label. Gage knew what it contained: two mangled slugs caked with Burch’s blood, now seeming less like evidence and more like sacred artifacts. Spike cradled them in his hand and looked back down the hallway at Gage. He nodded in silent comprehension, then slipped them into his breast pocket.

Gage turned away and reached for his cell phone to call Faith. She answered on the first ring. He heard her all-terrain tires rumbling on the pavement. She and Courtney Burch were just south of Mount Lassen in Northern California, entering the desolate expanse of the Central Valley. Gage told her the truth, counting on her to mold it into softer words to pass on.

He found himself staring at the screen after he disconnected, imagining Burch’s playful face, hearing his accented voice during the calls and messages that marked the turning points in their lives. “Graham, it’s Jack, guess what, best man? Courtney said yes…I just got the bar results. If that bloody champagne hasn’t become vinegar…We’re on our way to the hospital. I can’t believe it, in a few hours I’ll be a father. Me. A father…It’s about my mother. I’m flying home to Sydney…We just got Courtney’s MRI. It’s spread to her lymph nodes…call as soon as you can.”