combinations fired away. The men crawled, got up, broke into short runs, dropped down again. The Chinese pistols boomed individual heavy dots in the pattern of lines that the Attack Team's superior weapons were drawing. Turram. Voom. Tack-tack-tack. There were other heavy sounds caused by cars hitting each other and tires shrieking on the dike's tarmac. Surprised highway traffic, which had been moving along at easy speeds, clumped together, accompanied by the ragged blowing of horns.
The Arrest Team members reported to their chief. 'They're all dead, sir, will that be all right?'
'Very nice,' the commander bellowed. 'You and you, guard corpses, the others, see what you can do about rearranging the traffic. Hello? Not you. Get back to your car and radio for ambulances.'
A silver Citroen parked on the shoulder. 'Drive on,' a military policeman barked. He strengthened his order with a sweep of his weapon. A small gentleman left the Citroen.
'Back to your car and remove yourself, sir.'
'Police,' the little gentleman said. 'What's going on here?'
'Chinese, sir. Six of them. All taken care of.'
'Your chief?'
The military policeman pointed.
'Get the hell out of here,' the commander shouted.
'Police,' the commissaris said. 'You didn't happen to hit a tousle-headed compatriot, I trust?'
The commander didn't think so. They went over together to look. The commander suddenly felt sick, and the commissaris didn't feel well either. One corpse showed a partly blown-away head; another had lost half an arm, and blood was pumping out of the stump; Wo Hop's mate observed the commander and the commissaris from one staring eye and one hole.
'Captain,' a military policeman shouted. 'Over there.'
Two pink hands waved from a tuft of weeds.
'Arrest him.'
Cardozo was arrested from six sides simultaneously.
'He's mine,' the commissaris said. 'I want him, Captain.'
Cardozo was handed over.
'What happened?' Cardozo asked, laughing.
'Poor boy,' the commissaris said. 'Come with me, Simon, we'll sit down over there.'
'An apple,' sobbed Cardozo. 'I was just going to peel it.'
'Yes, dear boy.'
'And they were all killing each other, all of a sudden.'
'Care for a cigar?' the commissaris asked. Cardozo preferred to roll his own cigarette, but his hands were shaking uncontrollably. The commissaris lit a cigar and stuck it between Cardozo's lips.
'There are too many Chinese,' Cardozo stuttered. 'I had them in the Red Quarter too. Last night. Wo Hop and his mate, tied up. I released them, and two others too, and now this lot again.'
'The same Chinese?' the commissaris asked.
'Lots of them, sir.'
'Are you doing better now?'
'Because I wanted to eat an apple.'
'It won't be an appetizing sight,' the commissaris said, 'but maybe you should take a look.'
Ambulances climbed the dike crying plaintively with their sirens. A motorcycle cop rode slowly along the path reserved for cyclists. 'Hey!' Cardozo shouted. 'Watch it! Officer, that ambulance has flattened Samuel's bike. Oh, no. Officer, do something. I've got to bring that bike back, it belongs to my brother.'
The cop took off his helmet. 'Hello, Hylkje,' the commissaris said. He introduced Cardozo.
'Will you be writing a report?' Cardozo asked. 'I'll need it for the insurance.'
Hylkje staggered off.
'Too many dead Chinese,' the commissaris said. 'Do you recognize any, Cardozo?'
'Here,' Cardozo said. 'Wo Hop's mate. This man who's missing an eye.' Cardozo staggered off too.
Cardozo turned, grabbing hold of afencepost. 'What are the commandos doing here, sir? Paratroopers? Is there a war? I haven't been reading the paper for a few days.'
The commander of the Arrest Team reported to the commissaris. 'Do you know what was going on here, sir? We were on our way to Leeuwarden, when we came upon these cyclists gunning each other down.'
'I'm going to Leeuwarden too,' the commissaris said. 'I'll construct a theory on my way up. You'll be hearing from me.'
'Chinese, all of them,' the commander said.
'I was just going to eat an apple,' Cardozo said. 'I jumped off my bike. And suddenly, from nowhere, slaughter all over.'
'You're on our side, right?' the commander asked. 'And your chief was looking for you? He seemed to know that something was amiss.'
'I'll reconstruct an acceptable situation,' the commissaris said. 'You'll be the first to know. You'll be securing the cattle market against predicted trouble?'
'You know about that too?'
'I heard rumors.'
The commander took his helmet off and put it on again. 'The Chinese are cattle dealers?'
'I hardly think so,' the commissaris said.
A State Police Land Rover climbed the dike. A sergeant and a corporal got out. 'What is going on here?'
'I was going to eat an apple,' Cardozo said. 'But I had to peel it first.'
'Cycling Chinese,' the commander said.
Hylkje came closer, holding a ballpoint pen and a notepad. 'Who owned the bicycle that has just been totaled?'
'Any witnesses?' the state cops asked. 'Why is everybody dead? Is the army involved?'
'Can we pick up the corpses now?' an ambulance attendant asked.
'I'll come up with a suitable hypothesis,' the commissaris said.
'Did we manage to hit anyone?' the commander asked. 'Hey. You and you. Did you get anyone?'
'This is where I jumped off my bike,' Cardozo said. 'They were all coming at me. Three from the rear and three from ahead.'
'Not the army,' the commander said, 'although technically we might be, of course. An Arrest Team, trained in the south. I'm in charge.'
'I got one, Captain, the man over there. I was spraying low, and as he fell I must have hit him in the head,' a military policeman said.
'We're not authorized to pronounce them dead,' the ambulance attendant said, 'but they are, they're ripped to pieces.'
'I'm going to call everybody in here,' the State Police sergeant said. 'Anyone I can think of. This is not for me. I can't even look at this mess. What could have done it?'
'I'll pass my solution to your Colonel Kopinie,' the commissaris said, 'and he'll pass it on to you.'
'A battle,' the State Police corporal was yelling into his microphone. 'Maybe an attempted invasion. Come here, I say. The Chinese are losing.'
'Come along, Cardozo,' the commissaris said. 'This is no place for us.'
'I'll guide the way,' Hylkje said. 'There's cattle plague around again, and the north exit of the dike is clogged because of checks. I'll get you through them.'
'I'm going to Dingjum,' the commissaris said. 'Put your bike in my car.'
'Are you in a hurry?' Hylkje asked.
'Yes,' the commissaris said. 'No time to lose.'
'Siren?'
'If you please.'
'Two hundred kilometers an hour,' the commissaris said. 'Hylkje certainly knows her job.'
'Are you sure we're in a hurry?' Cardozo asked.
'I think better at high speeds,' the commissaris said. 'Tell me now, what were you doing with the Chinese
