these two desks.”
It was tough to get down without his hands to help him. He dropped to his knees and was stuck, until hands came along to lower him more or less gently the rest of the way. He felt his ankles being tied, and then a new voice said, “Open your mouth, Jim.”
He opened his mouth. A piece of sponge was stuck into it and then a cloth tied around his head, covering his mouth, to keep the sponge in.
He couldn’t see anyone now. All he could see was desk legs and chair legs and the wall. But his ear was pressed against the floor, and he could loudly hear them walking around.
A new voice said, “All right, Fred, get back to the radio. You just sit there, and if a call comes in from anywhere, you handle it like it was a normal night. And don’t try anything else cute. I’ll know if you do.”
It was a familiar voice to Mason, the first familiar voice to come out from one of those black hoods. It was an arrogant voice, and an angry voice, and a familiar voice. Who? Who the hell was it?
All at once he knew, and his terror doubled. He heard the footsteps receding and then the familiar voice saying, “Now we’re alone, boys. Just you three and me. And this Tommy gun.
Edgars! It was Edgars!
2
Chambers felt all right now, all the nervousness gone, all the jumpiness out of his system. All he’d needed was to get started, get intothis thing. From the second he’d clubbed that smart-ass cop, every bit of jitters just washed right on out of him.
They’d left Edgars in there with the cops, and the other six went outside to stand on the lawn. Parker came over and said, “You got that out of your system now?”
“I guess I do. I feel a lot better.”
“Don’t do it any more.”
“Not if I don’t have to.”
“You don’t have to club anybody. Watch them if they behave, kill them if they cause trouble. Nothing in between.”
“All right by me.”
“Good. Everybody set?”
Everybody said they were set. Chambers felt a small irritation, at being chewed out by Parker right there where everybody could hear, but he shrugged it off. Minor irritations couldn’t bother him now. He felt good.
Parker had propped the Tommy against the outer wall of the police station, and had unlimbered the walkie- talkie. Chambers looked across the street at the fire department building, waiting, and behind him Parker said, “Salsa. You set up?” His voice had an echo, tinny and small, coming out of the walkie-talkie on Grofield’s back.
Then it was Salsa’s voice, coming over both of them: “Set. I’m in a car on Raymond Avenue, facing out, right side as you are going out of town, one block in from that welcome sign.”
“Anybody come in since us?”
“Not in or out.”
“All right. Wycza?”
“Here.”
“We got police headquarters. Going after the firehouse now. If you see the prowl car, don’t worry. I’ll be driving it.”
Wycza laughed, and said, “Want us to start now?”
“Wait till we’ve got the firehouse and the telephone company. I’ll let you know.”
“Right.”
Chambers had been fidgeting back and forth, standing in the darkness on the police station lawn. Now he said, “Come on, Parker, let’s roll it. We don’t got all night.”
“Don’t be so nervous.”
“Then let’s just roll, what do you say?”
“All right.”
The six of them walked over the lawn and the sidewalk and crossed the street, Chambers in the lead, the rifle held at a loose approximation of port arms. His face was sweating, making the hood stick to his flesh, but he didn’t really mind that. Just so they were moving.
Too bad Ernie wasn’t here.
Four big garage doors, painted red, across the front of the building in a row. To the right of them was the regular entrance, flanked by red lights. Like a cat house; Chambers grinned under the hood, feeling his skin stretch.
Chambers and Parker were in the lead when they went in. A hall went ahead and then turned right. After the turn, it ran straight and long, but only the nearest fluorescent light was lit, leaving the rest of the hall in darkness. The first door at the right was open, spilling more light into the hall.
Two men in dark blue uniforms had been sitting on opposite sides of a desk, playing cards. They stared, dropped their cards, and jumped clumsily to their feet. One of them kicked his chair over, getting up.
It was a room very similar to the Command Room in police headquarters, but a little smaller, with fewer desks,
