Northern Lights

We're about to go."
    "We're going to walk back down aways," Nate said as they climbed into the buggy. "Things seem under control here. I want to make sure the Mackies are behaving themselves."
    "Stealing balloons." Hopp cast her eyes to heaven."I heard about that."
    Nate took Meg's hand and strolled away. "Does he know?" she asked him.
    "I'm worried. Too many people around, Meg. Too many kids."
    "I know." She gave his hands a squeeze as the marching band's boots began to click on the pavement. "It'll be over soon. Doesn't take that long to get from one end of town to the other and back again."
    It would be interminable, he knew. With the crowds, the shouts and cheers, the blaring music. An hour, he told himself. An hour tops and he could take him without anyone getting hurt. No need to run into an alley this time, no need to risk the dark.
    He kept his stride steady but unrushed as he passed the fringes of the crowd and made his way to the heart of town.
    The trio of majorettes danced by waving and tossing their batons to enthusiastic applause. The one who'd nearly beaned him shot Nate a big, toothy smile.
    The drum major strutted in his high hat, and the band cut loose with "We Will Rock You."
    He spotted Peter at the first intersection and turned his head to press his lips to Meg's ear. "Let's keep walking, down there to the balloon guy. I'll buy you a balloon. They'll pass us, and we'll keep them in sight a little longer."
    "A red one."
    "Naturally."
    End of town circle around, he thought. The hockey team would already be done and moving back into town to see their friends, mix with the crowd. The band would head into the school to change out of their uniforms.
    Out of the way. Most everyone out of the way. And Peter there to move any lingerers along.
    He stopped by the clown with the orange mop of hair and a fistful of balloons. "Jeez, Harry, is that you in there?"
    "Deb's idea."
    "Well, you look real cute." Nate angled himself to see the buggy, the crowd. "My girl wants a red one."
    Nate reached for his wallet, listening with half an ear as Harry and Meg debated which shape would do. He watched Peter move down the opposite sidewalk, and as the band marched by, taking the sound with them, he heard the clip-clop of the horses.
    Kids squealed and dashed out as Hopp and Ed tossed handfuls of candy. He passed bills to Harry and continued to turn as if watching the spectacle.
    And spotted Coben, with his white-blond hair catching the sunlight, in the crowd. So, he saw instantly, did Ed.
    "Damn it, damn it, why didn't he wait?"
    Panic streaked across Ed's face. Seeing it, Nate began to fight his way through the crowd that was massed into a wall along curbside. He couldn't get there, not in time. He heard the cheers and shouts of the crowd like a tidal wave rushing around him. They applauded when Ed leaped out of the buggy, even when he pulled a gun from under his suit jacket.
    As if anticipating a show, they started to part for him as he dashed for the opposite side of the street. Then there were screams and shouts as he knocked people aside, trampled over them when they fell.
    Nate heard gunfire as he shoved his way to the street.
    "Down! Everybody down!"
    He sprinted across the street, leaped over shocked pedestrians. And saw Ed backing down the empty sidewalk behind the barricades, holding a gun to a woman's head.
    "Back away!" he shouted. "You just toss your gun down and back away. I'll kill her. You know I will."
    "I know you will." He could hear the shouts behind him and the fad ing music as the band marched on without a clue. There were cars and trucks parked at the curb here, and buildings had side doors that would almost certainly be unlocked.
    He needed to keep Ed's focus on him, before the man could use his panicked brain enough to think about dragging his hostage into a building.
    "Where are you going to go, Ed?"
    "Don't you worry about that. You worry about her." He jerked the woman so that the heels of her jogging shoes bumped the sidewalk. "I'll put a bullet in her brain."
    "Like you did Max."
    "Did what I had to do. That's how you survive here."
    "Maybe." There was sweat on Ed's face. Nate could see it glinting in the sunlight. "But you won't walk away from this one. I'll drop you where you stand. You know I will."
    "You don't throw that gun down, you'll have killed her." Ed dragged the weeping woman back another three feet. "Just like you killed your partner. You're a bleeding heart, Burke. You can't