Rachel drove toward the pier while I watched the city out the window past her pretty, harsh, dark-eyed profile. She looked completely unworried and kept the car smooth and steady, like she`d spent years behind the wheel. What can I say? She`s a fast learner.

　　She waited at the light then rolled across a divided highway, toward the boats bobbing in the river. Seagulls circled the choppy river in the evening light, and I lowered the window to hear them scream. I smiled at the familiar sound. They didn`t care: whether it was Little Big Rock or Manattan, crumbs were crumbs.

　　Pier 72 jutted from the western edge of Manattan, a long parking lot with white lines and dented guardrails. A few cars scattered the pier, with a construction trailer at the far end.

　　Rachel parked near the trailer, and asked me, "Are we good?"

　　"We`re good," I said.

　　She turned in her seat and looked at me. "It`s been a long day."

　　"You should try pulling lobster traps."

　　Her dark eyes lightened. "My mom would`ve liked you."

　　An ember that I hadn`t known was burning suddenly caught fire in my chest. Rachel Kravitz. Damn. I sat there and watched her until she opened her door. She stepped outside. I watched her do that, too. Then I followed her to the railing and we looked at the opposite shore, which I figured was New Jerse.

　　"You miss her, huh?" I asked, thinking about Dewitt.

　　"Every day."

　　"Are you worried about your sister?" I bit my lip. "I mean, about &"

　　"Leaving her behind if something happens to me?"

　　"Yeah."

　　"It used to terrify me." Rachel turned her face to the setting sun. "Before I shot Boone. I knew they`d put me away, and she`d be alone. Well, she`s with our grandparents, but they don`t understand her, they don`t know what she`s seen. So for a long time I tried to be someone else for her, someone better."

　　"Isn`t that what you`re still doing?"

　　"No. Now I`m just being myself. Audrey knows I can`t be anyone else." She laughed softly. "If I could, I`d choose someone easier than this."

　　"Miss Corene says easy` is another word for not worth the trouble.`"

　　"`Miss Corene?" Rachel eyed the length of the pier. "Sometimes you seem almost normal, then you go all hillbilly on me."Stolen story; please report.

　　"Apparently I`m too normal," I said. "Not successful enough."

　　"Maddie tell you that?"

　　"That`s what she likes in a guy, ambition."

　　She glanced at me. "Isn`t that what you like in her?"

　　"That and her fine ass," I said, then flushed in embarrassment. Which sort of undermined my attempt at gruff sexism.

　　Rachel laughed at me. "You`re sweet."

　　I rubbed my aching hand until the embarrassment faded. "So what happens now?"

　　"We get backup. They`ll be here any minute, some kind of interagency task force. NYPD, whoever else Umlaut convinced to listen. We`ll tell them we`ve got a lead into the suicide bombings, ask them to put snipers in a few of the buildings."

　　"Will they?"

　　"If the senator pulls strings? I don`t know. I hope so. Then I`ll call 9-1-1 and mention that you`re here. You and me."

　　"Why 9-1-1?"

　　"PJ said he`s monitoring it, remember?"

　　For a second, I didn`t. Then I said, "Oh, right, in that construction site."

　　"Yeah." Rachel blinked a few times, then rubbed her right eye. "So he`ll hear that we`re at the pier. He`ll come after us, and the snipers will shoot him in the brainstem."

　　"Simple enough."

　　"Well, I`m probably missing a few hundred steps, but that`s the general idea."

　　"You think it`ll work?"

　　"I don`t know. We`ll find out soon enough. But that`s the plan. Unless you`ve got a better one?"

　　I shook my head and we stood quietly on the pier, listening to the current splashing around the pilings. I hurt everywhere, a mellow ache like after a long illness. I thought of Simone, crawling down the stone pier toward me. I thought of Dewitt and Maddie, one dead and the other gone. I thought of Rachel standing behind her father, raising the gun in her hands. I thought of the people slaughtered on the subway and on the street.

　　Rachel watched the river and I watched her, feeling the tug of her gravity. She looked younger, standing there, and softer. And full of contradictions. Strong and vulnerable, beautiful and hard.

　　I`d loved Maddie for a long time, and I`d made a lot of promises to her and to myself, some spoken, some not. I took all of them seriously. Call me na飗e, call me a simp, but nothing mattered more than that. More than love. Dewitt would`ve mocked me for admitting it, but what else is there, really? That`s why I couldn`t walk away from Maddie. She was the first girl I`d ever loved, and despite everything I still loved her. I`m not saying I liked her much, but a love that dies too easily was never love at all.

　　And yet ... things change. People change. And as I watched Rachel standing there, I thought, I will never get tired of watching her.

　　"Actually," I said, "I do have a better plan."

　　"Explosives under the pier? Yeah, I thought of that. It`s a no go. I asked."

　　"No, you complete madwoman," I said, with a huff of laughter. "Not explosives under the pier. I don`t .. I`m not ... `explosives under the pier` isn`t the sort of phrase that pops out of my mouth. I was thinking more something along the lines of `dinner and a movie.` When this is all over."

　　She glanced at me, and for the first time ever I saw hesitation in her face.

　　"Yeah," I told her. "I`m asking you on a date."

　　"I--Jesus, Lark. Right now?"

　　"What, nobody`s ever asked you out before?"

　　I swear that she blushed. "I`ve been in prison!" she said.

　　"Welcome to freedom. Are you ready for your first kiss?"

　　"Oh, shut up. I`ve been kissed."

　　"Stop," I told her. "You`re making me jealous."

　　"You`re an idiot," she said, and a siren sounded from the street.

　　"Maybe that`s your backup," I said.

　　But when I turned to look, I caught a glimpse of an ambulance diving past. Then the back doors swung open and a bundle rolled out and smacked the pavement. Horns honked, cars swerved.

　　The bundle was a crooked heap of cloth, with jeans and sneakers and an off-white sweater: it took me three disbelieving seconds before I realized it was a dead body.

　　Rachel grabbed my arm. "Get in the car."

　　"That guy needs help."

　　"He`s beyond help. Go!" She shoved me toward the car. "PJ`s in that ambulance. Passenger side."