Page 44 (2/2)
Another ant tattoos on both ar open the driver’s side door, while a third ainst a white T-shirt, brandished an Uzi ed and the rest of the traffic sped away Peralta had his gun out
Peralta walked deliberately to the Benz and cracked the Anglo in the back of the head, dropping him unconscious onto the pavement He aimed the automatic at the two men on the other side of the car and said, in a conversational voice, “Die, assholes” It wasn’t exactly the way they teach you at the academy to identify yourself as a peace officer, but what the hell With his left hand, Peralta produced a pair of handcuffs that I applied to the guy on the ground The other two ht in a trap The guy with the Uzi squinted toward Peralta Tattoo cursed in Spanish My knees felt noodley
“How progressive,” Peralta said “A ”
“Sheriff’s deputies! Lay down your weapon!” It was Lindsey, off tothe baby Glock 9mm she always carried in her backpack I had never seen Lindsey dran on anyone before This was the sa next to -eared copy of Dante while I went through the Sunday Times Now she chambered a round with a decisive snap of metal on metal “Put down your weapon!” Her voice was a tense half-octave above normal
“Shit,” the black guy hissed, shook his head and slowly lowered the Uzi to the pavement We all relaxed just a notch and instantly the twosouth
I ran after the over this very long three minutes I wished I hadn’t eaten that second chili relleno I wished I had a firearet help” to Sharon and then his heavy tread catching up behind ile, and about half a block down the street she caught one of the scu her into a wall I was just about there but he took off I stopped to ht, but she was already up and ere both running again We quickly left behind the nice real estate around the arena The streets becas forlorn and abandoned
They ran west on Jackson, then dashed across the railroad tracks and zigged to the north again, past the old warehouses around Union Station The two suspects weren’t very fast, otherwise I never could have kept up I lost theht half a block ahead A heavy, rabbed my arm and we slowed to a walk She nodded toward an old ave a little start as Peralta caught up and the three of us stood for a ht Lindsey silently“I e could still shoot fleeing suspects,” he whispered in a wheeze
Lindsey pulled a little flashlight out of her backpack We walked cautiously into an entrance set back frorip and we stepped inside
The air wasn’t as stale and close as in an Egyptian tomb The blackness wasn’t as total as on the dark side of the ht but was apparently satisfied that Lindsey was holding it correctly, away from her body so it wouldn’t attract a bullet We tracked carefully down a hall fra plaster and bricks to another door, wood this tier roo pallets, a fair-sized rat ambled lazily away from us, we avoided a black eb We all stopped and listened So I wondered why the hell we didn’t wait for the city cops, but Peralta and Lindsey went ahead
Just then so heavy fell on me and the momentum drove me tohat looked like a wooden fence, but then I realized it was a gate to an old freight elevator and I crashed through it painfully and there was no elevator Behind h-pitched, and then severalI smelled his sweat and rancid breath We dove into the empty darkness and the floor came up suddenly and hard
Maybe he broke my fall, or maybe I broke his, but we both lay there for afor breath on what felt like da andslithered across ht panic I couldn’t see
Suddenly I felt the air rush of his fist, searching for runt, and his fist glanced painfully off
my shoulder I jabbed in his direction and connected with cartilage He cursed—hijo de puta!—and spat With rabbed onto some hair He screaob of pain But I didn’t let go At six-foot-two and two hundred pounds, I was bigger than he was, but he was strong as hell and I was out of shape and scared We wrestled around ineffectually, stirring up dust and cobwebs, buain, and it collapsed into so beyond with a loud crash
He broke away and I was alone in the blackest dark I could ever iine I was desperate to see hi but darkness I kicked behind me into the empty air I knelt down—God, that knee hurt—and ran ht Stepped left
Just then I touched his rough forearrily and I sensed his bulk co hands found ed and drove rip Then I found his eye sockets and fought dirty He screamed and shuddered I drove the fleshy heel of ain, and we lay still in the darkness
Chapter Two
An hour later, ere outside on the street, scattered like debris that had been deposited by an explosion
Peralta sat on the bu a bandage against his arm His bulk strained at the fabric of his shirt Six feet away, Lindsey sprawled out on concrete steps, staring up toward stars hidden by the city glow I sat next to her, holding a cold-pack to e in a compact mirror borrowed fro to show red and black swatches and that whole side of my face felt like it was inflated with air I handed back the mirror I never had rock-star looks Old ladies said I was handsoular features Lindsey said I had great eyes
Right at the h a coal mine; a sixty-dollar pair of corduroy pants ruined and it wasn’t as if I were still hter Only Sharon Peralta still looked reasonably put together, preppy and professional in chinos and white blouse, with her black hair pulled back and a flush of exasperation in her fine cheekbones She regarded us as one would a curious and potentially dangerous tribe
“I was thinking about hockey as a complex adaptive system for controlled violence, but then I stepped out on the street with the Mod Squad” She turned to Lindsey “That’s a baby boonored her
“It’s Mapstone,” Peralta groaned, waving his hand at e and now he just can’t get enough action”
“Stop,” I said It hurt to smile
“He’s right, Dave” Lindsey stroked net for this kind of thing”