He also held up his wallet. Only in NewYork.
I released him, climbing onto the seat.
“Hey, you can’t do that, lady!”
The couple in the cart. I’d almost forgottenthem.
I shot the man a hard look. He was in hisfifties, soft around the middle, with a bulbous nose, sitting nextto a woman who had the exact same face, only twenty yearsolder.
“You and your mom get out,” I said. “This isyour only warning.”
“You’re stealing this man’s bike! I’m callingthe cops!”
“Call them, Walter!” Mom chimed in. “And makea citizen’s arrest!”
Neither got out.
“Your choice.”
I drove the balls of my feet down on thepedals. Pedestrians in the crosswalk scurrying out of the way, Icut across Central Park West and skirted the edge of the circle andonto Broadway.
“Stop!” Walter yelled. “You’re underarrest!”
North of Columbus Circle, Broadway turnedinto a boulevard, traffic flowing both up and down town. The fauxMorrissey had headed uptown, I suspected on his way to theexpressway and maybe the Bronx or New Jersey.
I couldn’t let him make it out ofManhattan.
“Tell her to stop, Walter!”
“Stop!”
“Tell her again!”
“Stop!”
“She didn’t hear you! Tell her again!”
“I said stop!”
“My son said stop!”
Ahead, vehicles choked the street, barelymoving. Brake lights flared red. I cranked the bike to the rightand jumped the curb onto the sidewalk. The bike’s front tireshuddered, and it was all I could do to keep the handle barssteady. The back cart followed, jolting, and the couple let outsquawks of surprise.
“She won’t stop, Ma! I told her to stop, butshe won’t stop!”
Forcing pedestrians to dive out of the way, Iskirted two food carts and bounced off the edge of a trash can.
I regained my balance and thrust down on thepedals with all my strength, gaining speed. The cart rattled behindme. People shouted obscenities and threats in my wake. Heat pouredoff the concrete in waves, and sweat soon slicked my back and stungthe corners of my eyes. My breathing settled into a rhythm, in andout, in and out, in time with the pump of my legs.
“She’s going faster, Walter! Tell her to stopgoing faster!”
“Stop going faster!”
“Walter!”
“Stop going faster!”
I went faster.
Trump International Hotel and Tower flashedby on my right, the SUV I’d noticed earlier on my left, screamingfrom the cart behind me. I’d been trained to pick out details,focus on them, isolate them, and as I whipped past the SUV, I couldhear the men inside exclaiming excitedly in a language that soundedlike Farsi.
They were Iranian? That conjured up all sortsof new questions.
“Tell her again!”
“Stop going faster!”
“Tell her again!”
“Stop going faster! Ma! She’s still goingfaster!”
“Walter, I’m getting sick!”
“My mother is getting sick!”
I heard the sound of Walter’s mother gettingsick.
“My mother got sick all over me!”
I bet those two were a real hoot at home.
A bus shelter loomed ahead. I swerved to theright.
A group of slow walkers blocked thesidewalk.
“Move!” I ordered, but they ambled on,oblivious to the world around them.
Walter’s mother got sick again. From thesounds of it, she’d had a big lunch.
“Please stop! My mother got sick again!”
“On my new outfit!” Walter’s motherwailed.
“She got sick on her new outfit!”
I cut back toward the street. A phone boothcame up fast at the edge of the curb.
A phone booth? Who uses phone boothsanymore?
I veered hard to the left. Not fast enough.The cart hit the corner and bounced to one side. We careened offthe sidewalk and into the street. Car tires squealed. I countersteered. The cart whipped around and sideswiped a tow truck.Drivers shouted through open windows. Something that sounded likeweeping came from behind me, and the odor of Walter’s mother’slunch mixed with the scents of exhaust and hot pavement.
Regaining control of the pedicab, I swungback in the direction of the sidewalk and again jumped back ontothe curb. It seemed safer.
A whimper came from the back seat. “Pleaselet us out!”
“I tried.” I barely avoided a line ofnewspaper boxes.
“I’ll pay you!”
“Walter, I’m going to wet myself!”
“My mother is going to wet herself!”
“Walter, I just wet myself!”
“My mother just wet herself!”
“Walter, I’m going to be sick again!”
“My mother is going to be sick again!”
Walter’s mother got sick again.
“You have to turn around! My mother got sickand lost her dentures!”
I considered pulling my Ruger and killingthem both, but lucky for them my purse was out of reach.
I streaked past an electronics store and twooutdoor cafes. I couldn’t pick out the Town Car yet, but I had tobe gaining on it. Traffic crawled, traffic stopped, traffic crawledagain.
There it was.
With all the identical cars clogging thestreet, I didn’t know why I was so certain this was the one. But mygut reaction had been right so far. It was time I listened.
I stood on the brakes, leaping off the bikeand breaking into a sprint, listening to Walter yell behind me,“She stopped, Ma! I made her stop!”
I wove between cars. He probably wasn’texpecting me, and surprise was my best weapon. I ducked behind aproduce delivery truck and, grabbing the back door handle, rode itsbumper until it halted at the next light.
Then I made my move.
Circling the truck, I stayed in its lee aslong as I could. I only had seconds once I emerged. The man I’dknown as Morrissey was sharp. Even though I doubted he’d be lookingfor me, he would be alert, and since I had no weapon beyondsurprise, I had to make this count. I needed to get inside thatcar, and the best way to do that was to make sure his attention wasfocused front.
The light changed. The truck started inchingforward.
Now.
I swung around the truck and landed onpavement, knees flexed, legs already moving. It only took secondsfor me to make it to the driver’s door, and I pulled out my phoneas I ran.
My phone had been designed for a multitude offunctions, and on one corner, the titanium casing tapered to aconical, seemingly harmless nub. Reaching the car, I rapped thatnub against the driver’s window, the full force of my blowconcentrated on that small point.
The glass shattered, showering tinypebbles.
His eyes met mine, the first time I’d seenhim anything but calm.
I thrust my arm inside to the shoulder, goingfor his gun.
He grabbed my arm and held. The cars startedto move, and he hit
