Shadow Prey

shedon’t drive a couple thousand miles a year. The tires are probably originals. What’s she done?”
    “Maybe nothing,” Lucas said. “Thanks for your help. I’d appreciate it if you’d keep this to yourself.”
    As Lucas started back to the car, the man said, “Those other people . . . they left about five minutes ago. Somebody drove up in her car and somebody else opened the garage door, and one minute later, they left.”
     
    Lucas called Anderson: “I got something,” he said. “I’m not sure what, but the Crows may be on the street.”
    “Sonofabitch. You think they’re hitting somebody?”
    “I don’t know. Don’t let those squads get away, though. I don’t care what happens. And get me Del’s man.”
    “I got Del. He was maybe a mile away, he oughta be there anytime.”
    “All right. Tell him I’ll wait at Twenty-fourth and Bloomington, right by Deaconess Hospital.”
    Del was waiting when Lucas arrived. The street was empty, and Lucas crossed into the left lane until their cars were door to door. Both men rolled their windows down.
    “Got something?”
    “Could be heavy,” Lucas said. “I think I got the Crows’ hideout, but they’re on the street.”
    “What do you want from me?”
    “I was gonna ask for some surveillance help, but if the Crows are on the street . . . I’m going in. I need some backup.”
    Del nodded. “Let’s do it.”
     
    “Let me introduce you to Lucy,” Drake said. He turned toward the back and called, “Lucy? Darling?”
    They were standing in front of the fireplace, glasses in their hands. A moment after he called, Lucy appeared from the back. She was tiny, blonde, shy, and wore a pink kimono.
    “Come over here, darling, and meet a friend of mine,” Drake said.
    • • •
    “Cop,” Leo said.
    “Shit. He’s going in,” Sam said.
    Drake’s house was on a long loop road, to the left. The cop had just turned into the loop, then stayed to the right. If he continued along the loop, he’d pass Drake’s house on the way back out.
    “We gotta wait,” Sam said. He pointed at a supermarket parking lot. “Pull in there. We can watch for him to come out.”
    “What if Clay leaves?”
    Aaron looked at his watch. “He’s only been there a half-hour. He usually stays two or three. This is not something you do quick. Not if you can help it.”
     
    Lucas and Del left their cars just down the block, and Lucas led the way to the porch. Del took a short black automatic out of a hip holster and stood to one side of the door as Lucas knocked.
    He knocked once, then again.
    A woman’s voice: “Who is it?”
    Before Lucas could answer, Del piped up, in a childish falsetto, “Star Tribune.”
    There was a moment’s hesitation and then the door started to open. As it opened, Lucas realized that it was on a chain. A woman’s eye appeared in the crack. Lucas said, “Police,” and the woman screamed, “No,” and tried to push the door shut. She was small and dark and not young, and Lucas knew for sure. As she tried to push the door shut he rocked back and kicked it; the chain ripped off and they were inside, the woman running awkwardly toward the back. Lucas was on her, punching her between the shoulder blades, and she went down on her face in the hallway. Del was braced in the entrance to the living room, his gun in front of him, scanning.
    “You don’t fuckin’ move,” Lucas snarled at the woman. “You don’t fuckin’ move, you hear?”
    Lucas and Del went through the house in thirty seconds, rotating down the hallway, clearing out the two bedrooms, then taking the stairs, cautiously, ready . . . Nothing.
    At the top, Lucas heard the woman on her feet, and asDel held the stairs, Lucas shouted, “Wait here,” and ran back down. Gow was headed for the front door when Lucas hit her again. She yelped and went down, and he dragged her to a radiator and cuffed her to it. Del was still waiting at the top of the stairs; Lucas came and they cleaned out the second floor. Nobody.
    Downstairs they checked the bedrooms again, this time for any sign of the Crows. It was all there: a stack of unmailed press releases, letters, two different sets of men’s clothing.
    “I’m gonna talk to this woman,” Lucas told Del. “You shut the front door and call Anderson, tell him what we’ve got. Get a warrant down here, maybe we can finesse things later. And tell him we may want an ERU team for when the Crows come back.”
    While Del went to call,