Nemo eased the van back onto the road and continued forward as the darkness deepened. Over the next mile or so they spotted two more shapes that, when illuminated by the headlights, proved to be rocks. Then the road turned to the left and headed downhill.

“We’re moving away from the border now,” said Jean. “I think we must have passed it. It has to be on that stretch before we turned downhill.” Nemo turned the van around and they drove the mile-long stretch of the Austrian border again with no luck. When he turned around again the darkness had deepened to the point that they had no hope of spotting any structures more than a few feet off the road.

“It’s pointless,” said Ruthie. “We’ll never find it in the dark.”

“Too bad we can’t drive the van sideways so we can use the headlights,” said Jean.

“It’s only a mile-long stretch of road,” said Nemo. “I’ll park the van in the middle and we’ll split up into two teams, one walking each way. I’ve got a pretty powerful flashlight in my bag; the other team will just have to use phones.” Minutes later they all emerged from the van into the cool Alpine night. Patton took a deep breath of the fresh air and realized that, unlike Ruthie, she would be happy to spend the night out here.

“Patton, you come with me,” said Nemo. “We’ll go forward, you two go back the way we just came.” It took only a few minutes for the bouncing lights of Ruthie’s and Jean’s phones to disappear into the night.

“Should I be worried about this thing between you and Ruthie?” said Nemo to Patton.

She thought for a moment before answering. “No. I mean, Ruthie might be taking it seriously, but I’m not. Still, it’s useful for . . . being sure she’s loyal.” It was the first time she had really lied to Nemo.

“And what about your PTSD,” said Nemo. “Should I be worried about that?”

“Not out here,” said Patton. “There’s a reason I retired to the mountains back home. Being on top of a hill like this makes me feel safe.”

“You know I have it, too,” said Nemo. “PTSD. I mean, no one ever called it that, but I read things.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” said Patton.

“Not now,” said Nemo. “But maybe if we get out of this. I never talked to anyone about it before. It might be nice.”

Throughout their conversation Nemo had been playing the flashlight beam across the landscape, but it died away mere yards from the road. “We’re going to have to get off this road and go down the hill a little bit,” he said, and just then they heard Jean’s cry.

Minutes later, Nemo and Patton arrived breathless where Jean and Ruthie stood on the road.