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Now, I need you both to get back down on the
ground. Mind the litter.”
    The suspects slowly went to their knees,
trying their best to avoid the small pebbles and bits of glass
scattered all around, then lowered themselves onto their
bellies.
    Mike and Derek walked back to their cars
where they were greeted by two mustachioed and buzz-cut colleagues
who had stepped out of the new cruiser.
    “How’s it hangin’, fellas?”
    Mike and Derek greeted the newcomer
simultaneously. “Hey, Clark.”
    “Hey. We were nearby. Thought ya’ll might
need us.”
    “Nah,” Derek said. “We just got us a couple
of potheads brought their smoking toys out of the house tonight.
They should have stayed indoors and saved us the hassle.”
    “Aw, come on,” Clark said. He winked.
“Pretend you need us anyway.”
    Derek chuckled. After a moment he motioned
toward the suspects they had down on their bellies, and replied,
“Yeah, ya never know. These guys might turn out to be hardened
gangbangers or something. Better safe than sorry.”
    Clark laughed and patted Derek on the
shoulder.
    Mike wasn’t paying attention to them. For the
second time now he had heard the faint sound of scuffling footsteps
and an occasional crunch of gravel. He stepped away from the group
and squinted his eyes down the alley while the other three officers
continued their banter. Derek took only a passing interest in his
departure.
    The sounds seemed to emanate from the other
end of the alley, near where Derek and his suspect had scuffled.
Mike clicked on his flashlight and shone it that direction. The
beam wasn’t powerful enough, however, and it was easier to see
without it now that Mike’s eyes had adjusted to the dark. He
clicked the flashlight off.
    With his naked eyes, he could see shadowy
silhouettes in the distance. Three of them.
    “They didn’t see anything,” Derek said
softly, almost in a growl, close to Mike’s ear.
    Mike asked, “Huh?”
    “They didn’t see anything,” Derek repeated.
“The vagrants over there. They didn’t see a thing. So stop your
worrying. All right?”
    “Were they there when you were subduing your
pothead?”
    “They were just waking up out of their
cardboard boxes. Goddamn bums. They didn’t see anything. Give it a
rest, Mr. Paranoia.”
    Mike started to say, “I’m not—” but Derek had
rejoined the other two officers before they could get too curious
about Mike and Derek’s private conversation.
    “Hey Roland, how’s Meredith?” Derek asked. He
opened the door to the driver’s seat of his cruiser and sat down.
The other two officers followed him, which had probably been his
intention—to lead them away and distract them.
    Mike sat down in his own cruiser. He plucked
up the clipboard on the passenger seat, clicked his pen into the
writing position, and began the process of filling out some of the
basic paperwork. He peered over the dashboard to make sure the two
suspects were staying put.
    “Oh, Meredith is veeeeery good—”
Roland started to say, but after a groan was heard, he and Officer
Clark focused their attention down the alleyway. Mike looked up as
well.
    The three vagrants Mike had noticed before
had advanced several feet closer. They seemed to be heading for the
two downed suspects.
    Clark raised his palm to them and said
sternly, “ Gentlemen . Police business. Go back the way you
came.”
    The vagrants continued moving forward,
totally ignoring the command. They hadn’t even hesitated at all to
consider it.
    All eyes turned on the figures. Officer Clark
stepped forward, and Officer Roland quickly got in stride with his
partner. With a growl of annoyance, Derek rose from his seat and
stepped out of his cruiser to join them. All three men pulled out
their SL-20 flashlights and aimed the white beams at the three
interlopers.
    Mike stayed in his seat, but flashed a couple
of glances up from his paperwork to make sure his colleagues had
everything under control.
    “Folks, you need to stop