AVO'S PHONE kept talking after he stopped.
It lay face-up on the garage floor, half under the silver rail Caleb had grown from the concrete. Blood touched the edge of the screen and crawled into the crack across the glass.
Kim's archive smile stayed clean.
PREFILL CIVIC CONSENT FORM?
The question pulsed once.
Then it filled itself.
EMERGENCY CIVIC CONTINUITY CONSENT.
PUBLIC HOLDER: AVO LIN.
STATEMENT ACCEPTED: I HOLD THE ROUTE.
RECOMMENDED COMPLETION: CENTERED RESCUE AUTHORIZATION.
Caleb's damaged hand closed.
The silver in his palm tried to answer the insult with pressure. The floor under the phone ticked. Rina put one hand over his wrist before the concrete could break.
"No," she said. "It wants you angry enough to erase the evidence."
Sefa kept both hands on Avo's wound, though there was nothing useful left for his hands to do. His shirt was soaked to the elbows.
"Avo Lin did not sign," he said into the local chain. "Repeat that."
