She glanced up at Vincent. “They’re very dedicated. Dave worked for months to recover and pass the physicals so he could go back to active duty, even though he would have been eligible to retire on a disability pension, or be assigned to desk duty, which would be safer.”

“Safety is not what he wants?”

She shook her head. “I understand how he feels, a little,” she said. “He had something to prove.”

“That he was strong enough to come back.”

“Yes. And he has a ... calling to be out there, helping people.”

“And his friend Hutch?”

“His calling is to protect Dave,” she said. “If Dave insists on being out on the streets, then Hutch will be there, too, even though it terrifies him to think of what could happen.”

Vincent’s gaze shifted to the darkness of the tunnels beyond and there was an expression of awe in them. “Such friends,” he said quietly, and gave his head a slight shake. “They sound like the friends in Kipling’s Thousandth Man.”

She drew in her breath. “Yes. Like them. I can’t describe them half so well as Kipling, but you’ve hit on it exactly, Vincent.”

He focused on her again. “That’s a rare and precious gift,” he said. “I think they must be aware of it, also.”

“Yes,” she said, reaching for his hand and lacing their fingers together. She couldn’t help herself. “I think they are, especially since Dave was so gravely injured. Perhaps Hutch realizes it in a deeper place than Dave does, but somehow I doubt that.”