aWhatad he say?a Carella asked.

aExit 17, park there and wait for his next call.a The cell phone in Carellaas pocket rang. He yanked it out, hit the TALK b.u.t.ton.

ah.e.l.lo?a he said.

aCarella? This is Lieutenant Corcoran.a aYes, sir,a Carella said.

Back at the Academy, it used to be aStevea and aCorky.a Now it was aCarellaa and aLieutenant Corcoran.a aHave you heard anything yet?a Corcoran asked.

aYes, sir, he just called.a aWhatad he say?a aHe wants us toaa aWhat are you doing?a Loomis asked at once.

Carella turned to look at him, puzzled.

aWhat theh.e.l.l are you doing?a Loomis shouted.

aHold it a second,a Carella said into the phone, and turned to Loomis again. aCorcoran wants to knowaa aGive me that phone!a Loomis snapped and held out his right hand.

aWants to talk to you, Lieutenant,a Carella said, and pa.s.sed the phone to him.

aLieutenant Corcoran?a Loomis said. aYou listen to me,Lieutenant Corcoran. Are you f.u.c.kingcrazy? These people told us theyare going to kill Tamar if we try any tricks. I consider telling you where weare goinga"and Christ knows what else youave got planned for the next few minutesa"is.e.xactly what they warned us about, itas playing tricks. I donat want you trying to find our location, I donat want you sending in the f.u.c.king Marines, I just want to drop off the money and await further instructions, have you got that, Lieutenant Corcoran?a Loomis listened. aYes, Lieutenant,a he said, aI am perfectly willing to take responsibility for whatever may happen to Tamar. So donat call this number again, and donat call the number in the car, and I hope to G.o.d you havenat got anyone following us right this minute,a he said, glancing in the rear view mirror. aBecause if anything happens to that girl, I will personally cut off your b.a.l.l.s. Is that clear, Lieutenant Corcoran?a Loomis listened again. aGood. No more G.o.dd.a.m.ntricks! a he said, and nodded curtly, and handed the phone back to Carella.

ah.e.l.lo?a Carella said. aYes, I heard.a He listened. aOkay,a he said, awe play it his way. See you later,a he said, and hit the END b.u.t.ton, and tossed the phone over his shoulder onto the back seat.

aI donat like that man,a Loomis said. aI donat likeany of them up there, you want the truth, Corcoran least of all. Heas too full of his own perfume.a Carella said nothing.

aNone of them on that task force has any concept that weare dealing with a human life here,a Loomis said.

aWell, I think they know that, Mr. Loomis.a aThis is all one big game to them. The good guys and the bad guys. Never mind that the kidnappers spelled it all out, exposed their hole card, told us exactly what was at stake. Itas still all cops and robbers to them, isnat it?a aI donat think so, Mr. Loomis. But weall play it your way,a Carella said. aAnd hope for the best.a They were approaching Exit 15 now. Loomis kept looking on and off into the rear view mirror, checking to see if anyone was following. Carella was wondering if maybe it wasnat really all cops and robbers, after all.

That day long ago, it had been cops and robbers, all right, three real cops and three real robbers. The robbers were coming out of a bank on Twelfth and Culver, which was on Carellaas beat, and not too far from the station house. At the same time, a patrolman named Oscar Jackson was taking a five-minute break to run into the bank to cash his paycheck from last Friday while his partner, Patrolman Jimmy Ryan, sat at the wheel of their idling cruiser, which head just pulled into the curb outside the bank.

Police officers were still called patrolmen back then because there werenat too many female uniforms on the force and there werenat any real problems with gender ident.i.ty. There werenat many black patrolmen back then, either, but Oscar Jackson was indeed black, and he was just taking his wallet out of his pocket to remove the paycheck from it when these three guys wearing ski masks and carrying sawed-off shotguns came running down the bank steps. Nowadays, theyad be carrying Uzis or AK-47s, but this was back then, when you and I were young, Maggie.

Carella had just turned the corner when he saw Jacksona"whom head noticed around the station house but whose name he didnat yet knowa"look up and into the masked faces of the three armed men barreling down the wide front steps of the bank. Jackson didnat need a program to tell him this was a robbery in progress. Neither did Carella. And neither did Patrolman Jimmy Ryan at the wheel of Charlie Two.

All three men unholstered their weapons, Jackson stepping to one side and immediately a.s.suming a shooteras crouch, Ryan coming out of the car and hunkering down behind the hood with his elbows on it and his gun in firing position, Carella fearlessly (but he was young) rushing toward the bank with his .38 in his right hand. All three fired in almost the same instant.

Only one of the robbers returned fire, and he directed his shotgun blast at the cop closest to him, who happened to be Oscar Jackson. Jackson fell to the pavement, bleeding from a devastating wound in his chest. The man whoad shot him dropped at the same moment, felled by three rounds from Ryanas pistol. Carella had to empty his revolver before he dropped both of the other robbers. But the holdup attempt had been foiled and the only casualty was Oscar Jackson, who was dead even before Ryan and Carella knelt over him. His uncashed paycheck lay on the sidewalk beside him, in the widening pool of his own blood.

That day had been cops and robbers, all right, and maybe every day after that had been cops and robbers, too. But that day hadnat been aone big game,a as Barney Loomis would have it, and neither was today a game, not when a twenty-year-old girlas life was at stake. Theyad been ready to proceed according to procedure, but Barney Loomis had called off the dogs. Carella just hoped n.o.body got hurt today.

aExit 17 coming up,a Loomis said.

THEY HAD MOVEDthe girl into the smaller of the two bedrooms, where theyad fastened to the door a hasp and lock similar to the one on the closet door. There was a single window in that bedroom, but it opened onto the beach, and there was n.o.body on that beach but us seagulls, boss. Besides, the girl was handcuffed to the radiator and couldnat get to the window even if shead tried. Avery had warned her that there was no sense yelling for help because then they would have to kill her on the spot instead of delivering her to her benefactors at Bison this very night.

Avery had patiently explained to the girl everything they hoped to accomplish today, had laid it all out in detail, the way he had done so far with Barney Loomis and would continue to do throughout the day as events unfolded. This way, theread be no surprises and no mistakes. After they picked up the cash, theyad deliver the girl tonight as promised, and waltz off with a bit more than $83,000 each, though Cal had already begun complaining that their sharea"Averyas and Kellieas, since they were a couplea"would come to twice what he was getting for the same amount of work and risk.

Avery had explained to him, as patiently as head explained everything to the girl, that theyad have had to pay the same amount to whichever third party theyad engaged for the gig. So what difference did it make if Kellie was that person? Kellie knew how to handle a boat, and Avery had taught her how to use the a.s.sault rifle, more or less, though frankly she wasnat too sure how she felt about maybe having to shoot the girl if she raised any kind of fuss while they were out there picking up the loot.

She was alone in the house with her now.

It was almost four-thirty. Kellie hadnat heard a peep from the bedroom since the boys had left the house. She hoped the girl was okay, they were supposed to drop her off tonight in the same condition as when theyad s.n.a.t.c.hed her. She went to the bedroom door, knocked on it, and yelled, aYou okay, Tamar?a She felt sort of a thrill calling a rock star by her first name.

aIam thirsty,a Tamar called from behind the locked door.

aWould you like some iced tea? Thereas some iced tea in the fridge.a aPlease,a Tamar said.

aNo funny stuff when I unlock the door, right?a aWhat funny stuff did you have in mind?a Tamar asked.

Kellie smiled.

aIall bring you the tea,a she said to the door, and went down the hall and into the master bedroom. Cal had complained about this, too, the fact that the pair of them got to sleep in a big double bed in the big bedroom while he had to sleep on the living room couch. Cal complained about a lot of things. Shead be glad when this giga"listen to me, she thought, it must be contagious.

The three masks were on a shelf in the closet. Avery had ordered them from the Internet at forty-five bucks a pop, for all three of them to wear on the job itself, and in the house whenever they were around the girl. Actually, Kellie thought it was idiotic to be wearing a mask after the girl had already seen her face, something like locking the barn door after the horse had run off.

This still bothered her.

The fact that the girl had taken a good long look at her facea"well, just a short glimpse, really. Even so, shead undoubtedly seen the red hair and the green eyes, Kellieas best features, actually, and maybe memorable, though she hated to sound conceited. Not to mention the freckles all over her Irish phiz, wouldnat Tamar remember those? Wouldnat she be able to describe her once they let her go free?

This really bothered her a lot.

Avery had chosen the Yasir Arafat mask for himself and the Saddam Hussein mask for Cal, probably because the two men were all over television these daysa"though not as often as Tamar Valparaiso. Kellie wished head ordered her at least a female mask, but certainlyany mask other than the one he finally chose for her, which was a George W. Bush mask that bore an uncanny resemblance to Alfred E. Neumann. Which, come to think of it, so did the actual President.

Kellie took the rubber mask down from the shelf now, and pulled it over her head, covering her face and her short red hair. Maybe Tamar had forgotten what she looked like, after all. Theread been only that few seconds of exposure before she slammed the closet door shut again. Shrugging (but it still bothered her), Kellie went into the kitchen, took a bottle of Snapple from the shelf, unscrewed the lid, and poured most of the contents into a gla.s.s. She drank the rest of the tea herself, straight from the bottle. Then she picked up the gla.s.s shead poured for Tamar, and lifted the AK-47 from where it was resting on the kitchen table.

With the gla.s.s of tea in one hand and the a.s.sault rifle in the other, she went down the hall again, and unlocked the door to the bedroom.

She sure hoped Tamar wouldnat try anything funny.

THEYaD BEEN PARKEDin the drop-off area at the top of the ramp no longer than three minutes when the car phone rang again. This time, Loomis himself picked up.

ah.e.l.lo,a he said.

aMr. Loomis?a aYes?a aDrive west on Hawkes,a Avery said. aMake a right turn on Norman and proceed to the intersection of Norman and a Huna Eighty-fifth. Park there. Repeat, please.a aIam driving to Norman and a Hundred Eighty-fifth,a Loomis said.

aMore later,a Avery said, and hung up.

aThe Wasteland,a Carella said.

THERE WERE SOMEsections of this city that were completely forsaken, lost to rehabilitation, utterly resigned to rot and decay. The area that ran for some ten blocks west-to-east from 181st to 191st and another ten blocks north-to-south from Norman to Jewel was one such desolate location.

Appropriately nicknamed aThe Wastelanda long before its buildings were abandoned by landlords loath to spend another nickel keeping them in repair, the area was later renounced even by the squatters who had taken up residence in its empty dwellings. The city finally condemned everything within the square half-mile The Wasteland encompa.s.sed. Windows and doors were boarded over, once stately living quarters left to crumble into dust.

Today, even in the waning daylight hours, the area resembled nothing more than a war zone. Rats had chewed away the wooden barriers on windows and doors; they now scampered freely from building to building, foraging in the garbage residents from neighboring areas came here to dump whenever the Department of Sanitation neglected its scheduled pickups. Like eyeless sockets in forgotten faces, The Wastelandas empty windows stared out at only rubble-strewn lots.

Occasionally a patrol car from the Nine-Six swept through these potholed streets.

Occasionally, a dead body was discovered here before the rats left nothing but clean, picked-over bones.

When Carella was a college student, he used to call girls he was trying to impress and read to them pa.s.sages from T. S. Eliotas collected poems. He read mostly from aPrufrock,a which impressed nineteen-year-old co-eds with how deeply romantic and sensitive and experienced he was, especially when he came to the line aAnd I have known the eyes already.a But he also read fromThe Waste Land a"well not much of it, just the very beginning of the first poem, before it got so morbid and preoccupied with burying the dead. He would say into the phone, aI was just reading this poem a few minutes ago, and I thought, aGee, Iall bet Margie (or Alice or Mary or Jeannie) would love to hear it, so I hope you donat mind my calling you,a a such baloney, such a line, but he was only twenty years old. He would then read the section beginning with the words aApril is the cruellest month,a and keep reading through the stuff about being surprised by a sudden summer shower, and drinking coffee and talking in an outdoor German garden, it must have been, or perhaps Austrian because there was a cousin who was an archduke. Carella would pause dramatically before reading the line aI read, much of the night, and go south in the winter,a which was before the poem turned so serious, and which always evoked a sigh from Margie (or Alice or Mary or Jeannie).

He was so young then.

Handsome, too, he guessed.

Or maybe not.

He had graduated from high school at the age of seventeen, had attended college for a year before he was drafted to fight in one of Americaas far too many wars. Transported to a foreign land, he saw for the first time in his life (and grew old all at once) a wasteland that was a far cry from Eliotas poignant mix of memory and desire. Wounded in battle and shipped back to America when he was still only nineteen, head returned to college for a year and a half, and then, abruptly, decided to join the police force.

The Wasteland through which he and Barney Loomis drove on this fading May afternoon was not very much different from that devastated landscape in which Carella had fought all those years ago. Not so very different at all.

aChrist, whatis this place?a Loomis asked, appalled, and parked on the corner of Norman and 185th.

aDONaT PULL NOTHINGfunny now,a Kellie said, and hefted the rifle onto her hip to show she meant business.

Tamar pulled a face. Her left hand was handcuffed to the radiator, what the h.e.l.l could she try to pull?

Kellie set the gla.s.s of tea on the floor, within reach of Tamaras right hand. She picked up the gla.s.s and took a sip of tea.

aWho are you supposed to be?a she asked.

aPresident Bush.a aAfter next year, that mask may be dated.a aWhat do you mean?a aHe might not be elected again.a aWho cares?a Kellie said, and shrugged.

aYou wear that mask, people will ask who youare supposed to be.a aYoualready asked that. Anyway, I wonat have to wear it after tonight.a aWhy? What happens tonight?a aWe drop you off. Goodbye, Tamar Valparaiso.a aYou mean that?a aThatas the plan.a aWhose plan?a aOurs. Me and the guys.a aArafat and Hussein?a aYeah,a Kellie said, and grinned behind her own mask. aThose are good masks, ainat they?a aVery good.a aBetter than this one. I wanted Queen Elizabeth. Or Hillary Clinton. Instead, he gets methis jacka.s.s.a aHow do you know thatas the plan?a aCause weare partners, the three of us. Theyare out right this minute, picking up the ransom money.a aHow much are you supposed to get?a aNone of your business.a aI hope itas a lot of money.a aOh, itas plenty all right.a aHow much?a aNever mind.a aI just want to know how much you guys think Iam worth.a aYouare worth plenty, honey. Especially now.a aWhy now?a aYouave been all over television. You donat sell ten million copies of aBanders.n.a.t.c.h,a Ialleat this friggin mask!a aSo how much did you ask for?a aHowas the tea?a aFine. Did you make it?a aNo, itas Snapple.a aWhoas paying the ransom?a aBarney Loomis, who do you think? You know him, right?a aOf course I know him.a aYou know everybody in the business, Iall bet.a aNo, but heas the CEO of my label.a aYou know Mariah Carey?a aNever met her. How much ransom is Loomis paying for me?a aEnough to make it worth our while. J. Lo? Do you know her?a aHow much is that?a aHow much do youthink youare worth?a aTen million records, you said? How about a million bucks?a aOh, sure, heas just about to pay a million.a aHow muchis he about to pay?a aEnough.a aHow much is enough?a aA quarter of a mil, okay?a aNice payday,a Tamar said, and drained her gla.s.s.

Kellie looked at her watch.

aIn fact,a she said, athey should be picking it up just about now.a LOOMISpicked up the ringing telephone.

ah.e.l.lo?a aMr. Loomis?a aYes.a aI want you to make a right turn on a Huna Eighty-fifth. Drive south for five and a half blocks. On the lefthand side of the street, youall see a wrecked automobile in front of a red brick building with no address numbers on it. Park behind that car. Weall be watching you from that minute on. Weare in telephone contact with our partner. Any tricks and the girl dies. Repeat.a aFive and a half blocks south on a Hundred Eighty-fifth. Park behind the wrecked car on the left.a aAnd about tricks?a aTamar dies.a aI think youave got it. By George, heas got it!a Avery said playfully, and hung up.

aYou heard,a Loomis told Carella.

aI heard. I should be giving all this to our people. Youare making a mistake here, Mr. Looaa aThen youdidnat hear. Any tricks, and she dies. You want that onyour head, Detective Carella?a Carella guessed he didnat want that on his head.

aWRECKED CARa had to be a euphemism for the rusted automobile skeleton that had been stripped, torched, and then abandoned in front of a building whose probably-bra.s.s address numerals had been similarly desecrated. Only the ghostly images of an 8, a 3, and a 7 remained on the wall to the right of the entrance door, brighter in absence than the surrounding soot-covered bricks. Carella was thinking he could have phoned in an address. 837 South 185th. Get the Feds to throw a net over the surrounding five blocks. Follow whoever picked up the cash. But no.

Loomis parked the limo behind the skeletal wreck. The black Lincoln basked in bright sunshine like a sleek black cat. In front of it, the rusted Whatever-It-Once-Had-Been crouched like a starving hyena, its ribs showing. The two men sat in silence, waiting. The caller had told them theyad be watched from this moment on. Carella scoped the area. Any one of five deserted tenements could be a sniperas observation post. A rifleman could be kneeling behind any one of a hundred windows that looked down at the street.

aWhy here, for G.o.das sake?a Loomis asked.

aDeserted area, number one,a Carella said. aClear sight lines. From any one of these buildings, they can see for blocks around.a The car phone rang.

He reached for it at once, but Loomis said, aIall take it,a and lifted the receiver.

ah.e.l.lo?a aMr. Loomis?a aYes?a aPut Steve on, could you please?a aHe wants you,a Loomis said, and handed him the phone.

aCarella,a he said.

aAre you armed, Steve?a aI am.a aWhat kind of weapon?a aA Glock nine.a aDo you have the money?a aYes.a aIs it in a dispatch case?a aYes.a aStep out of the car, Steve. Just you. Tell Mr. Loomis to stay in the car. Take the case with you. The phone, too. Donat forget the phone, Steve. Wouldnat want to lose touch, now would we? When youare out of the car, talk to me, Steve. Weare not through here yet.a Carella reached over for the dispatch case on the back seat. aHe wants you to stay in the car,a he told Loomis.

aWhy?a Carella gave him a look, and then opened the door on his side, and stepped out onto the curb, the dispatch case in his left hand, the phone in his right. He closed the door behind him. He brought the phone to his mouth.

aIam out,a he said.

aGo to the back of the car,a Avery said.

Carella went around to the back of the car.

aLook at the license plate.a aIam looking.a aI want you to believe weave got binocs on you right this minute,a Avery said. aIs the license plate number BR-2100?a aIt is,a Carella said.

aDo something with your hands.a aWhat do you mean?a aPerform some sort of action.a Carella put the dispatch case flat on the roof of the car, and then raised his left hand over his head.

aYou put the dispatch case on the roof and raised your left hand, is that correct?a Avery asked.

aYes,a Carella said.

aAnd the case is black, is that also correct?a aYes, itas black.a aI want you to believe that we can see you and that a rifle with a telescopic sight is trained on your head. Do you believe that?a aI believe it.a aGood. Ask Mr. Loomis to come out of the car, please.a Carella went around to the driveras side of the limo, rapped on the gla.s.s there. The window slid down.

aThey want you to get out of the car,a Carella said.

aWhy?a Loomis asked again.

Carella looked at him.

Loomis got out and slammed the door behind him.

aWe see him,a Avery said. aGive him the dispatch case.a Carella handed it to him.

aTell him weave got rifles trained on both of you.a aTheyave got us covered from somewhere around here,a Carella told Loomis, looking up at the surrounding buildings. aRifles with telescopic sights.a aOkay,a Loomis said, and looked up, too, and nodded.

aSteve?a aYes?a aHereas what I want you to do, Steve. Unholster your weapon. Remember, weare watching you.a Carella transferred the phone to his left hand. He reached down into his holster, yanked the Glock up and into his hand.

aItas out,a he said.

aThis is a bad neighborhood,a Avery said. aI guess you noticed that.a aI noticed it.a aWe donat want anything to happen to that money. Keep the piece in your hand, Steve. Make sure itas visible in case any stray squatters get any brilliant ideas.a aOkay.a aNow I want you and Mr. Loomis to walk that money right into the red brick building there. Remember, weare watching you.a aHe wants us to go inside that building,a Carella told Loomis.

aWhy?a Loomis asked, and again Carella looked at him.

Together the men walked toward the building where the absent 8-3-7 numerals left stark reminders on the entrance wall. The barricade was gone from the front door, fragments of wood still clinging to the door frame where the boards had been torn free. Carella walked into the building first, gun hand leading him. He heard a frenzied scurrying and squealing up ahead, and stopped dead in his tracks.

He did not appreciate rats.

When he and Teddy had been living in their Riverhead house for just a week, head opened the bas.e.m.e.nt door and was heading downstairs when he spotted a rat the size of an alley cat sitting on the steps, staring up at him with his beady little eyes and twitching whiskers. Head slammed the door shut at once, whirled on Teddy, and frantically signed,Weare selling the house!

He definitely did not appreciate rats.

aWhat the h.e.l.l isthat? a Loomis asked behind him, and then saw one of the rats and let out a short sharp shriek.