The naked edge

8

They got out at Times Square and went into a store that had CAMERA in its title but sold almost everything. They came out with two over-the-shoulder travel bags, went into a nearby drug store, bought the toiletries they needed, and put them in the bags. They went into a clothing store and used some of the cash from the Gulfstream's bug-out bag to buy a few more clothes, including underwear and socks.

They walked east on Forty-Second Street.

"Having fun yet?" Cavanaugh asked.

"Loving every minute. God help me, I've been with you so long I can't tell the difference between being scared and feeling an adrenaline surge."

"Did I ever tell you about the rule of five?"

"No." Jamie made her way along the congested sidewalk. The time was almost six o'clock. Car horns blared amid stalled traffic. "But I've got nothing better to do, so why don't you tell me?"

"You're sure?"

"Can't wait."

"In the Second World War, instructors training American fighter pilots couldn't help noticing how many students died on their early missions. No matter how hard the instructors tried to teach the pilots the way to spot traps and get out of tough places, a large percentage of each class got shot down. So the instructors researched files that dated all the way back to the First World War, and what they discovered was a mathematical pattern. The majority of novice pilots were shot down within their first five missions."

Jamie looked at him.

"The same pattern showed up in the Korean war and in Vietnam. Five was the magic number. After that, their chances of surviving combat flights increased dramatically. During the first five missions, the tension of combat was so unfamiliar that the students had trouble using what they'd learned. They were too busy adjusting. It was only after five missions that they started to know the difference between fear and adrenaline. Once the pilots understood that adrenaline primed their reflexes and made them better able to track a target and pull the trigger in the split second when it mattered, they were on their way to being professionals. The pilots who survived five missions tended to survive thirty and forty missions. If you consider everything that happened to us… I'm not talking about the training I gave you since we got married. Training's only half of what it takes. The real thing, adjusting to fear-that's the other half. You graduated. You passed your five missions."

"Is that supposed to give me confidence that I… that we have a better chance of surviving?"

"We got this far, didn't we?"

As the evening became dimmer and cooler, they stared up at the imposing entrance to Grand Central Station.