Straw House, Wood House, Brick House, Blow by Daniel Nayeri

Author:Daniel Nayeri [Nayeri, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781536223439
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Published: 2022-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

The suspect was approaching the premises in brown sweats three sizes too small, unwashed. Dark hair. Caucasian. He was bare up to his ankles and elbows, no shoes. The cold didn’t seem to bother him. If he was breathing, it didn’t show. Except for a vertical scar running down his left eyebrow, he was a match.

“What’s the play?” said Mack.

“You take point,” said Saul, stuffing Ari back into his coat pocket. “I’ll close around the side.”

Mack mounted her bike, put on her helmet, and flipped up the visor. It suited her just fine to take lead, but maybe it would’ve been better for her to go around the back, since she had the bike. But when she turned to suggest it to Saul, he was already gone.

She put her hand to the comm unit in her ear and said, “Central post, this is DT Five-Leaf, proceeding toward suspect on vehicle. Detectives Ji-Ji and the Fisher Prince are proceeding on foot around back.”

Static crackled in her ear, then the high-pitched monotone: “This is the Wishing Post. Five-Leaf, you’re all clear at Central. Mission is go. Repeat. You are a go.”

Mack said, “Aye-aye,” and hit the light. The suspect stood on the stoop of the Bieman residence. He whipped around when the spotlight hit him. It didn’t blind him — Mack could tell because he was looking right at her.

She turned the ignition. The boy nodded, then he puckered at her, a sick kiss, and a weird sneer. The boy whipped around, hurdled the iron gate, and ran out of the spotlight so fast he blurred in Mack’s vision.

Mack clenched the handlebars and revved so hard the car alarms blared next to her. The suspect sprinted halfway down the block. Mack peeled out, a wake of fallen leaves trailing behind her. As she closed ground on the fleeing kid, Mack barked into her unit, “In pursuit, need backup! Saul, what is your location? I’m westbound on —”

As the kid approached the end of the block, Saul appeared ahead of him at the corner, hands still in his coat pockets. The suspect almost stumbled over his own feet, then veered off the curb. He darted between two parked cars and into the street, but Mack was right there. She slammed her forearm into the kid’s rib cage and flung his body over the steering column. She pulled up to Saul at the corner. Saul got on the back of the bike, and Mack turned down the street before anyone looked out the window to see what all the rumpus was about.

“Check that backup, Angie,” said Saul into his comm. “Suspect in custody. We’re coming in.”

Crackle. Then, “Thanks, Saul. Tell your new partner to turn the volume down next time she takes point.”

“Will do, Angie.”

Saul didn’t need to repeat what both of them had heard in their earbuds. Mack said, “You could have told me your location. And what, you flirt up every old lady at Central Post?”

“I said I’d close around the block.”

“You might not have made it —”

The static crackled in their ears again.

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