Gunther took his mouth away from the hole and nodded yes.

I coughed again. “All right, so that’s my plan.”

Gail said, “And you, Ray, what’ll happen to you?”

I coughed and smiled. “That’s part of God’s plan.”

Gail made what little protesting noise she could make, but I ignored her. “Both of you, take your last air and go to the back of the truck, in case I explode the tanks. Gunther, you first.”

I was feeling dizzy, and I was afraid I might pass out before I could try my pathetic ruse. I would try to make it work, but the best I could likely hope for was that Gail would drift off into a sleep of death at the back of the truck, with the belief in her brain, as it shut down, that any minute I would save her. It would be much like Linney’s death, but at least Gail was not as alone, and would slip under with a little more hope. That was probably the best I could do for her now.

In a way, life had been kind to me at the end after all. Yes, I was going to die now, one way or another, but having learned that Gail was no more my daughter than any other girl on earth, I knew it was all right for me to kiss her good-bye the way I’d wanted to kiss her when we’d first met.

We kissed, trying to put into it everyone we’d ever loved, ever wanted to love, ever loved who hadn’t loved us. This kiss would have to cover all of that. It wouldn’t be enough, not nearly, but it was all we were going to have.

Then we were done.

I pulled Gunther away from the airhole with my left hand and told Gail to take a last ration of oxygen.

Finally, I said, “Now get back there.”

She looked at me.

I choked out, “Get back or you’ll ruin my plan!” I told Gunther to take her, and he remembered my earlier threat. Together, they crawled to the rear of the truck.

I shot at the hole once, from a foot away, holding the gun with both hands. The recoil hurt my right wrist indescribably. I fired again . . . and found I was now able to force the barrel through the widened hole and twist it straight and forward.

I looked back at Gail. Her knees were up against her chin.

The damage to my wrist had made it impossible for me to pull the trigger with my right hand any longer, but this worked out all right, because I actually had a better angle using my left. “Thank you, Linney,” I murmured.