Opening Moves

string of cars already there by the curb. It would make his van less conspicuous.

He parked and crawled into the back. “Okay, I’m taking off the gag. But don’t cry out or I’ll have to hit you again, and I really don’t want to do that.”

Lionel, if he understood, did not respond. Just lay still and submissive.

Using the shears again, Vincent cut off the tape, tugged it free, and removed the gag. Then he opened the door to the van. “Go,” he commanded Lionel. “Get out.”

At last Lionel looked at him.

“Go on.” He swung Lionel’s feet around so they were sticking out the door. “Get out of the van.”

Lionel tried to leave on his own, but collapsed onto the sidewalk with a low moan.

Get away, Vincent. You have to get away. This is close enough.

But then the reality: No! They need to find him in the alley. Or else-

He hadn’t wanted to do this, but now he got out and, supporting Lionel, led him fifty feet into the alley, left him standing unsteadily, but on his own, then hustled back to the vehicle.

But he didn’t leave yet.

Once inside the van, he tried to calm himself. He looked around. Saw nothing suspicious. No pedestrians. No movement on the street. Because of the vacant lot beside the alley, Lionel was still clearly visible from the road.

Nervously gripping the keys that he’d left in the ignition, Vincent took a few seconds to catch his breath.

The brisk air seemed to be bringing Lionel out of the drug-induced stupor. He stumbled across the alley, eventually leaning for support against a telephone pole by the fence encircling the lot.

Vincent was about to pull into the street when he saw a police cruiser round the corner and come prowling toward him. Heart hammering, he glanced toward Lionel one last time and saw him drop heavily to the ground beside the telephone pole.

From there he would be visible to the cops if they looked down the alley.

Vincent ducked his head down and leaned across the front seat so he’d be out of sight. An anonymous, empty minivan on a quiet, anonymous street. Well, maybe not an anonymous street, but-

He didn’t think the cops had seen him, but it was possible-

No, no, no. You cannot get caught!

The squad’s headlights swept across the road, through the windshield of Vincent’s van, then toward the alley, toward Lionel.

They see him. They have to see him by now!

The movement of the headlights stopped and Vincent heard one of the police car doors slam shut. Then the other.

Get out of here. If you’re caught, everything will fall apart. You can’t let that happen. There’s too much-

“Hey!” one of the cops yelled to Lionel. “Are you alright?”

Vincent’s heart slammed, hammered in his chest.

There was no indication yet that they’d taken note of his van.

They’re going to check on him. You can get out of here when they do. You need to go.

Drive.

No, they would follow him. He knew they would. At least one of them would.

Run. You need to run.

Maybe. Yes, leave the van here.

His head was still low, but he heard more shouting from the cops and pictured them hurrying toward Lionel. If they hadn’t already started to, in a few seconds they would scan the area. Then they would search the nearest vehicles one at a time. They would catch him if he stayed where he was and follow him if he tried to drive away.

Now. It has to be now. On foot.

Slowly, Vincent edged his head up, gazed toward the alley, and saw both cops leaning over Lionel.

This was it. In a moment they would start looking for anything suspicious. Vincent silently opened his door and slipped onto the street, keeping the minivan between him and the cops. Afraid the door might alert them, he didn’t click it shut all the way. No noise.

A dog barked in a yard a few houses away, on the other side of the alley. The cops turned their attention to the sound: “Check it out,” one of them said to his partner. While the officers were momentarily distracted, Vincent scurried fifteen feet farther down the road and crouched behind another car.

It would be easier from here. The angle was wrong for the cops to see him. The one who knelt beside Lionel was talking into his radio now, calling for backup.

Go.

Swiftly and without a sound, Vincent went for the next car.

Beyond that there weren’t any more vehicles close enough to hide behind, and just as he was wondering if he should try waiting it out here for a few minutes, he heard the sirens. More cops were already on the way.

No, if he stayed here, they’d find him. He either needed to get behind the nearest apartment, which was about twenty-five feet away-but that meant traversing the lawn in plain sight-or make it to the other side of the road and hope the parked cars would block the view as he crossed the street. Then he could disappear into the neighborhood on the next block over.

Which was better?

Hard to say.

Hard to say.

Maybe crossing the road. If he stayed low enough, the cars would at least partially block the view. Less chance of being seen.

Yes, that would work, he could make it. He had to.

The vague sound of distant traffic floated through the chilly night. Nearby, more dogs were joining in barking, but Vincent tried to block all that out.

He took a breath and went for it, dashing across the road as swiftly as he could, but just as he reached the far curb, he heard one of the cops yell, “Stop! Police!”

Go!

As fast as he could, Vincent sprinted into the dark channel between the two houses in front of him.

A quick glance back told him that the cop was in pursuit. Looking forward again, Vincent managed to duck just in time to avoid a clothesline strung up in someone’s backyard. He came to a waist-high wooden fence, scrambled over it, and bolted past a driveway and through the night, weaving between the houses to try to lose the cop.

“Stop right there!” the officer yelled. Amazingly, he sounded like he was gaining on him. He wasn’t out of breath and it was the voice of a guy who knew he was going to take you down.

But Vincent didn’t stop running, there was too much at stake. He rounded another house. If he could just stay out of sight, just-he dodged an abandoned tricycle and barely missed slamming into a jon boat stationed on its rusted trailer beside the home-just get to the next street-

Though he was already almost two blocks from the alley where he’d left Lionel, he could see the flicker dance of the blue-red-blue lights of more squads driving toward the scene.

Vincent angled left and flew past a tumbledown duplex. He didn’t see the cop anymore and figured he must have lost him somewhere between the last two houses. He kept running.

By now, some of the porch lights in the neighborhood were snapping on as more people woke up from the shouting, the yelping dogs, the police sirens.

Vincent whipped around the corner of a house.

And almost ran into the cop, a tall scruffy guy, who stood in front of him with his gun raised. “Do not move.”

How did he get-?

“Hands up!”

Vincent raised his hands. He needed to get away, there was no other option. “Officer, I’m not-”