Easy Prey

JESUS GO BACK. NO, GO BACK. JESUS GET EMS DOWN HERE. GET EMS"

Lucas was runningaround the house, into his car.

Every step of the way, he could hear people screaming on the radio. In one minute he was on Mendota Road, in two minutes on Robert Street, then on 110, and lie was moving as fast as he could without killing anyone, flashing past cars, weaving through traffic, praying that he wouldn't run into a highway patrolman, running, and all the time the traffic on the radio became more shrill: "goddamnit, we're

Lucas made I-35 and headed north, and called, "I'm coming up. If you've got a runner, tell me which way."

Then a cop, coming back: "We don't know. We don't know.",.;.

"I thought you said you were losing him."

"Spooner, Spooner, we're losing Spooner."

"Where's the shooter, where's the shooter?"

"I don't know, man, I don't know, we never saw him. Dave, where are you? Dave, did you get west?" Then Dave: "I got west, man, but I don't see anything, nothing moving. Lucas, if you're coming in, get up on the Seventh Street ramp and put on your flashers and see if anybody shies away."

Lucas thought: He's gone. If they were down to blocking ramps, the shooter was gone.

And he was.

Spooner died on his front lawn with his wife screaming over him, and two cops trying to stop the blood with their hands. He took a. 44 Magnum slug four inches to the left of his sternum; he took a couple of minutes to die, but he didn't know it. Except for technical purposes, he was dead when the slug hit.