Page 156 of Long Way Down

“Stop! Police!” Contreras shouted out on the sidewalk.

Ben threw a wild, pink-faced look over his shoulder and barreled through a couple walking hand-in-hand. The woman was knocked into the side of the building, and the man wheeled on Ben, yelling.

“Police!” Contreras hollered again. “Out of the way! Police!” He lifted his hand, and the streetlight glinted off his badge as he ran past the affronted man.

“What the hell?” Pongo shouted, as they broke into a run.

“You’ll see,” Kat said.

They were both younger, fitter, and faster than Contreras and the man he pursued, and so they caught up to them easily – just as Ben ducked down an alley and Contreras veered after him. Light from the street puddled a half-dozen steps down the alley, then petered out into a smudged yellow haze, not bright enough to read by, the dark encroaching and cloaking.

Ben had run up against a section of high chain link fence, and was attempting, poorly, to climb it. Behind him, Contreras said, “Get down on the ground! Get down! You’re under arrest!”

Pongo still didn’t know what Kat’s plan was when, after they’d skidded around the corner and arrived beside the detective, he said, “Gimme a hand,” and then lunged forward and gripped Ben by the arm and the back of his jacket.

“Shit,” Pongo muttered, but jumped in to grab his other arm. Together, they hauled him off the fence and, after they’d each hooked a foot behind one of his ankles, tripped him down to land flat on his back on the concrete. They heard thewhooshof the breath getting knocked out of him.

“Whoa!” Contreras barked. “Guys, what the – no, no, get off, this is–”

Insane, is what it was, but Pongo had guessed Kat’s play at this point. It was insane, and absolutely not the sort of risk he’d expected from the guy, but, then again, he’d proved nothing but full of surprises since Pongo met him.

Ben was thrashing and bellowing like a bull, but Pongo and Kat managed to heave him onto his stomach, fingertips digging into the right pressure points, muscles flooded with the thrill of violence, working at their maximum. Pongo caught his swinging fists and twisted them together at the small of his back; sat down hard on top of them, thighs tight at his hips. Working alone, Ben was large enough to have bucked him off, after enough struggle. But he wasn’t alone. Kat gripped the collar of his jacket, there was a softsnick, and a wink of metal. Ben fell silent when the knife was pressed to his throat, though his big, squashy body heaved as he fought for breath.

“What the hell?” Contreras sounded shocked. “Guys, what the–”

“You’re in it, now,” Kat said, voice like smoke in the dark. “This arrest has gone to shit, and you can’t call for backup or tell your captain what happened, ‘cause you’d have to admit you were letting us question a suspect while you sat on the side taking notes.”

Pongo adjusted his grip, fingertips pinching at a nerve so Ben’s arm spasmed. “You’re nuts, man,” he said with a wild laugh.

“Since we’re already here,” Kat continued, “you might as well get some answers out of him.”

There wasn’t enough light to see Contreras’s face clearly, but Pongo could see the way he reached to wipe the rain and sweat from his forehead; could hear his quiet curse, and the shaky way he exhaled. The fact that he was hesitating, rather than arresting them all on the spot, was a good sign.

All around them, the rain fell in a soft, irregular drizzle; the sort that would take hours to soak through a person’s outer layers of clothes. Droplets plinked off the top of the dumpster; one landed on Pongo’s lashes, sharply cold before he blinked it away.

Contreras swore again, and then his coat whispered as he crouched down in front of Ben, who still lay still and panting beneath their combined weight. In a tired voice, he said, “Who raped the girls, Ben?”

“I don’t–” Ben started, and Pongo dug into nerves with his thumb again. Kat must have done something with the knife, because Ben gasped.

“We’ve already got you here in a dark alley,” Contreras said. “You’re going to be arrested, and put in a cell, and questioned. Denial isn’t going to get you anywhere. Tell me what you know, and if you aren’t directly involved with the rapes, I’ll talk to the DA about dropping any potential conspiracy or negligence charges.”

Voice strained, Ben said, “I have a lawyer. A good one. He’ll get me out of this.”

“He gonna get my knife out of your throat?” Kat said. “Start talking.”

~*~

Who the fuck?was Melissa’s first thought. And then:they have a key, though.

Toly reached for his gun, and she held out a hand; shockingly, it worked.

The door swung inward. “Babe?” a man’s voice called, and a figure entered the hallway.

Dana let out a relieved sound and moved to go to him, but Melissa flung out an arm.

“Wait.”

“It’s my boyfriend, Ben,” Dana said. “I called him after I called you.”