“That’s very interesting, too,” the blonde said, and turned back to where Carella and Meyer were still watching the lions. It was a frighteningly cold morning, but neither of the men was wearing a hat. Carella’s hair was brown, dancing on his head now in a brisk wind. Meyer was totally bald; his barren pate made him look colder than he actually was. The two detectives stood like bookends flanking Fat Ollie, whose little red watch cap was tilted at a rakish angle. Actually, Ollie thought he cut a fine figure of sartorial elegance.
“My name is Honey Blair,” the blonde told Carella, “I rove for the Five o’Clock News.”
“Hello, Honey,” Ollie said. “I rove for the Eighty-eighth Squad.”
Honey was thinking the two big detectives made a nice picture standing there watching the voracious lions. They were both tall and wide-shouldered, the bald guy looking solid and serious, the other one looking sexy as hell in a way she couldn’t quite understand, he wasn’t that good-looking. Something about the way his eyes slanted downward maybe, giving him a sort of Chinese appearance, though he certainly wasn’t Oriental. Something about thelook in the eyes, maybe. Dark and brooding. As if it pained him to see the woman out there being torn to shreds.
“You new in the job?” she asked him.
“New? Me?” he said, and smiled, and shook his head.
The smile got to her, too.
“Want me to take your picture?” she asked.
“Sure,” Ollie said.
“You and your partner,” Honey said. “Looking over at the lions.”
“I don’t think so, thanks,” Carella said.
“Why not?”
“Wouldn’t be professional,” he said.
“Make a nice shot, though,” Honey said, and beamed a dazzling smile at him.
Meyer raised his eyebrows.
“Thanks, no,” Carella said again.
“Think it over,” she said, and turned away and walked back toward her camera crew, flirty little skirt fluttering about her elegant long legs. Ollie watched her go. So did Meyer. Carella walked over to where Levine was still on the phone with the DI.
“We’re going to have to get on that island soon,” Levine was saying. “ Before the Five o ’ Clock News tells everybody we let wild animals eat ’ em for Christmas. ” He listened, and then said, “ You think so? ” He listened again. “ I ’ m not sure the CEO here is gonna buy that. ” He listened, nodded, said, “ Okay, Boss, whatever you say, ” and put the phone back on its bracket in the truck ’ s cab. He turned to Carella and said, “ Quote: ‘ If a dangerous animal is threatening human life, destroy it. ’ Period. Unquote. ”
“So what does he want?”
“A team of sharpshooters.”
“Mr. Hardy won’t like that.”
“Just what I told the DI.”
“Let me go talk to him. You call SWAT, tell them we need enough sharpshooters to take care of five healthy lions.”
Meyer walked over to the truck.
“What are we doing?” he asked.
“Shooting the lions,” Carella said.
“I’LL HAVE THEM OFF THAT ISLAND before your sharpshooters get here,” Hardy said. “What’s the sense in killing them? The woman is already dead. Besides, it isn’t as if they escaped confinement and wentlooking for prey. The woman found her own way onto the island somehow. These are wild animals. Carnivores. It was in theirnatureto attack her and devour her.”
“Sir, I’m merely telling you what we plan to do,” Carella said. He looked at his watch. “A SWAT team should be here in ten, twelve minutes. They’ll dispose of the animals at that time.”
“Meanwhile, I’ll have them off the island. You have your plan, I have mine.”
“What’syour plan, Mr. Hardy?”
“I’ll have my vets anesthetize the animals and carry them back here to the holding cages.”
“Back here” was a bunker-like building connected to the island by a ramp and a tunnel that ran under the moat. By now, a considerable number of zoo people had gathered here in the holding area. In addition to zookeepers of various grade levels, there were people from the Curation Department, and two animal behaviorists, and the three veterinarians who would be handling the anesthetizing of the animals out there.
The way Hardy explained it to Carella and Meyer—and to Ollie, who had now joined them—the forthcoming operation was really a simple one. The vets would use either dart guns or blowpipes to administer the anesthetic. The holding cages inside the bunker were flanked by keeper walkways. Guillotine doors opened from squeeze cages on the walkways into the larger holding cages. A five foot high concrete wall formed the back of each cage. The front of each cage was constructed of steel wire mesh. The keeper work area ran down the center of the building. There were access doors to the cages on either side of the work area. The anesthetized animals would be carried from the island to the ramp to the walkways and into the holding cages.
Considering that Carella had told Hardy the shooters would be here in ten to twelve minutes, he took his time debating with his staff the procedures they would use in safely anesthetizing and transporting the lions from the island to the holding area. Should they use an explosive projectile dart or a blowdart? Should they use a dissociative anesthetic, a tranquilizer, a non-narcotic sedative, or a narcotic drug?
