The list sat on a stainless steel desk, the paper plain and white. The edges were beginning to curl slightly. The list had grown over the years, and shrunk as well, he thought with an edgy laugh that was more of a bark. The overhead lights were reminiscent of an operating room. The temperature was optimal. All conditions monitored and precisely controlled. He looked at the list, went to scratch a line through one name with a stainless steel fountain pen and stopped. He looked up and saw the impossible. An ambulance. A rescue…