Sudden prey

TWENTY-SEVEN

LUCAS YELLED, ''GOT HIM,'' STEPPED OUT AND WAVED, and a line of cops broke toward him. He stepped through the snow and down the steps to the body. Most of the top of Martin's head was gone, but his face looked almost placid, his eyes closed, his lips turned up in a not-quite smile.

There was little point to it-he was dead-but out of reflex Lucas patted the body, felt the solidity of the body armor under the coat. And something else. A pistol, Lucas thought, but when he touched it, it was rectangular and he slipped it out of Martin's pocket just as Stadic arrived at the top of the stairs.

''He's dead?''

Lucas said, ''Yeah,'' and stood up, a cell phone in his hand. Where'd they get it? Probably a street buy. He frowned at the phone, then stepped up the stairs toward Stadic: ''Watch the muzzle,'' he said. Stadic's shotgun muzzle had drifted toward him as Stadic peered down the stairwell to Martin. ''One down, one to go.''

''One?'' Stadic asked. ''What about the woman?''

''She's been talking to us. We're not sure about her status,'' Lucas said.

''Okay.'' Stadic nodded, and he thought: Shit. They're gonna talk with her.

Lucas brushed past him on the way up the stairs and said, ''So let's find them.''

The line of cops arrived and Lucas shouted, ''There're two more. They're headed up the street toward the dome…''

A PATROL LIEUTENANT TROTTED OVER AND THEY BEGAN talking search techniques, and whether they should put it off until light: Lucas wanted to keep the pressure on. Stadic watched them as they talked. Lucas still had the phone in his hand, then unconsciously stuck it in his coat pocket. Had to get it. Stadic stared at the pocket. Had to get it, had to get it, had to get it… the chant rang through his mind like a mantra.

''Come on,'' Lucas called to him. Stadic, jolted back to the present, said,

''I'm here,'' and Lucas clapped him on the back and led the way back behind the building. He was six feet ahead, unsuspecting. Stadic had the shotgun: and there were more cops everywhere. But the temptation… an accident.

Nobody would believe it.

Had to get him alone. He had a piece-of-shit Davis. 380 in his pocket. A piece of shit but it'd do the job, but he had to have him alone. Alone with either

LaChaise or the woman would be best… But Christ, who knew what would happen in that chase?

Davenport was electric, animated, and if you didn't know what was going on, you might think Happy. Stadic thought about the arrows coming out of the snow, silent razors in the dark, the whack in the chest. If it'd been eight inches higher, it'd have carved a hole right through his throat and he'd belying in the street with a plastic bag over his face. He shuddered, and followed Davenport.

THE SEARCH GOT UNDER WAY. GROUPS OF COPS SWEPT the streets, parking lots and yards inside a perimeter thrown up in the first few minutes after finding

LaChaise's location. Any house that showed fresh tracks was approached, the door banged on, the occupants asked and warned. But there were few of them this early in the day.

Lucas stayed along Eleventh, the billowing top of the dome a few blocks straight ahead, like the Pillsbury Doughboy's butt. Then a uniformed cop who'd lost his hat and gloves, his blond hair soaked with snow, his hands white as ice, ran up and said, ''We've f-f-f-found a line of t-t-t-tracks. Small tracks, a woman or a kid, and whoever it was kept stopping behind b-bushes and around c-corners.. .''

''That's her,'' Lucas said. ''Show me the way.''

They ran off together, Stadic a few steps behind. Four uniformed guys with flashlights and shotguns were leapfrogging up the track, which wandered through the maze of old houses, apartments, small brick businesses and parking lots.

They were moving quickly, but nervously: everybody'd heard about the arrows.

They were staying out of the trail, and Lucas stopped, just a moment, to look at it. ''Looks the same,'' he said to Stadic.

''Yeah, gotta be her,'' Stadic said.

They ran harder, caught up with the uniforms. Lucas said, ''Listen up, guys, this woman has been talking to us. She actually called in and left the phone off the hook so we could follow it in to the apartment. We gotta be a little careful, but I don't think she's dangerous.''

''G-g-g-good,'' chattered the bareheaded cop. ''I'm fffuckin' freezing.''

''Well, Jesus, go get some clothes on,'' Lucas said. And to the others, ''Come on…''

They ran along the track, and as they approached a cross street, saw cops ahead.

A spotlight beam broke down toward them, and the uniforms waved their flashlights.

''She broke the perimeter before we set up,'' Lucas said. ''That means LaChaise probably did, too.''

He fumbled in his pocket, pulled out first the cell phone, then his handset, and said into the handset, ''The woman's outside the perimeter… we've got to spread it. The woman's outside for sure, LaChaise probably.''

He thrust the phone and handset back in his pocket and they ran along again, the cop cars behind them squealing in circles and then heading out to new positions.

The larger the square got, the thinner the cops would be: but cops were pouring in from everywhere, from Hennepin County, from St. Paul. No ordinary dog hunt.

As they followed on the trail, Lucas said, ''You know what? She's going to the dome.''

''You think?'' Stadic asked.

''She's trying to find a phone,'' Lucas said. He took the handset out again, and relayed the idea to Dispatch. ''Get her through to me if she calls.''

The streets were getting wider as they got closer to downtown, and then they lost the track: she'd turned into a clearedoff street.

''Still bet it's the dome,'' Lucas said. ''Tell you what,'' he said to Stadic and two of the uniforms, ''you guys go that way, we'll go this way, push both sides of that apartment. But I bet she headed for the dome. I'll see you on the other side and we'll go on over.''

''All right.''

They split up, and Lucas and the other uniform headed off to the left. As they approached the apartment, Lucas thoughtof the cellular phone, took it out, then the handset and called Dispatch. ''Get somebody at the phone company. I need a number I can call where they can trace a cell phone. I'll call them on the cell phone, and I want them to figure out the number, and then give me a list of calls billed from the phone… who's at the numbers. Got that?''

''Got it.''

They pushed around the apartment, found nothing but pristine snow. Stadic was waiting on the other side, and they all looked over at the dome.

''Let's go,'' Lucas said, but as he was about to step off the curb, Dispatch called. ''That was fast,'' he said.

''Lucas, Lucas…''

''Yeah?''

''LaChaise…'' The dispatcher was sputtering. ''LaChaise is at the

University Hospitals.''

''Oh, shit.''

Lucas look around wildly, spotted a cop car, waved at it, started running toward it, barely heard the dispatcher, ''Got your wife…''

''What?'' he yelled into the handset. And to Stadic: ''Stay with her, stay with

Darling.''

He ran toward the squad car, and as the car stopped and the window came down,

Lucas shouted, ''Pop the back door, pop the back.''

The driver popped the back door and Lucas dove inside and shouted, ''University

Hospitals, go, go…'' And to the handset, ''What about Weather? What about

Weather?''

''They think he might… have her.''