Surrounded

as he was about to follow her through the gray door, and he said, "Hey, I left my satchel back up there at the bank. It's got the wire in it. What do I use to tie her up?"
        "There ought to be some wire on the workshop shelves," Tucker said. "Look around in there."
        "Oh," Bates said distractedly, as if he were half in a trance. "Yeah. Sure. I should have realized…" He went into the warehouse after the woman.
        "He isn't going to be much good if the situation gets any worse than it is now," Meyers said, looking after the older man.
        "I have stronger doubts about you," Tucker said pointedly, staring at the big man.
        Meyers's face reddened. His blue eyes couldn't hold Tucker's darker ones. "Look, I admit I fouled up. I should have known as much about Keski's office as I knew about the rest of the mall. I should have known about that alarm pedal, and-"
        "Save it for later," Tucker said shortly. "I've got to call the cops before they do anything stupid." He looked past Meyers, out at the two squad cars, the revolving red dome lights, and the very cautious movements of the four policemen hovering around the cars. "You keep a close watch on them. But don't start any shooting."
        "Of course not."
        "I mean it."
        "You can count on me," Meyers said.
        Tucker smiled ruefully. Sure I can, he thought. Oh, I can really trust old Frank Meyers. He wished he didn't have to turn his back on the big man in order to walk up to the mall lounge.
        
        He closed the telephone-booth door, shutting out the worst of the fountain's roar. Though he was rewarded with relative quiet, he now had to endure the clinging odor of a strong perfume that permeated the booth, an almost tangible spirit shed by the last customer. Wrinkling his nose and trying to breathe shallowly, he put a dime in the box and dialed the operator.
        "Operator," she said, as if he might not have remembered whom he was calling.
        "I'm at the Oceanview Plaza shopping mall," Tucker said. "I need to contact the police. Do you know which station covers this area? Would you dial them for me, please? It's an emergency."
        "You want Directory Assistance, sir," she said, sounding as if she had quite accidentally plugged one of her wires into her nostril.
        "Forget Directory Assistance," he said.
        "Sir, I cannot help-"
        "I told you this was an emergency," Tucker said. "There is a robbery in progress here. Get me the police now."
        She hesitated. "Just a moment, sir."
        "I don't have a moment."
        Several seconds passed. Relays clicked in his ear. He could hear a distant conversation between two old women on another crossing line. Relays clicked again. A phone rang at the other end.
        "Police," a gruff male voice said.
        "To whom am I speaking?"
        "Sergeant Brice," the cop said, not pleased that any caller should want to know. People reporting crimes usually didn't want to know the deskman's name. It was the crackpots who liked that touch of familiarity.
        Tucker took a deep breath. "Listen carefully to what I'm going to tell you, Sergeant. I won't go over it again. There is a robbery in progress at the Oceanview Plaza shopping mall. You've already got several patrol cars out here." He paused. Then: "I'm one of the thieves who's involved in this thing. I-"
        "What is this?" Brice demanded.
        "Are you listening to me?"
        "What do you mean you're one of the thieves?"
        "I'm calling you from a public telephone in the mall's lounge," Tucker said.
        "In the mall?"
        "That's it. You've got it," Tucker said sarcastically. "I want you to pass on some information to whoever is heading up the police detail out here."
        "Wait a minute," Brice interrupted.
        "I'm not going to wait at all," Tucker said. "I'm going to say this quickly, and then I'm going to hang up. If you don't act on it properly, a lot of people are going to die unnecessarily."
        "You're inside the mall," Brice said. "You're a thief." He was talking mainly to himself, wonderingly.
        Tucker said, "There are only six ways to get into this mall. We've got every one of them sealed up tight. We have a fortress here. Your people can't force their way in unless they're prepared to die in the process."
        "You're in real trouble," Brice said threateningly. He was being theatrical now,