were conferring, not in a hurry, getting their plan straight before heading in. Poole walked past them, head down, and through the front door. He took the stairs three at a time up to Enrique’s floor, heart racing. His mind was getting ahead of him, thinking about where they could lose themselves in this neighborhood. The obvious places were out, since that was where the ASU would look first.
He pounded on Enrique’s door with his elbow. No one answered at first and he yelled, “It’s Poole.” Footsteps sounded in the apartment, and the door opened to Enrique, wearing slacks, a white shirt, and an anxious look.
“Enrique, is Carla here?”
Enrique nodded.
“Where?” Poole nearly shouted.
Carla emerged from a back room looking unkempt, her hair askew, her face flushed. “Ethan?”
Poole closed his eyes briefly in relief. He looked to Enrique. “Where’s your wife?”
“She’s at her mother’s,” he said carefully.
Poole nodded, understanding. He closed his eyes for a moment, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Listen, the ASU are here for you. Orders direct from the mayor. A group of them’s down on the street. We need to get out of here.”
Enrique and Carla exchanged a glance. Some of the tension seemed to drain from Enrique as his shoulders relaxed.
“It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been brought in.”
“It’s different this time. Any means possible.”
Carla spoke. “What does that mean, Ethan?”
Ethan shrugged impatiently. There wasn’t time for this conversation. “Dead or alive.”
Enrique looked at Poole. “You still have my gun?”
“No. I was picked up by the ASU. They kept it.”
Enrique nodded. Poole was impressed with the man’s nerve.
Enrique said, “There are three ways out. The front door.”
“Too many men out there.”
“Fire escape.”
“Too visible. They’d be waiting for us before we got down.”
“Then the service entrance out back.”
“Let’s go.”
Carla said, “You don’t think they’ll have that covered?”
“Of course they will,” Poole said. “But there’s nothing else.”
They took the back stairs, Poole in front and Enrique last. At the ground floor they found the service entrance and Poole put his ear to it. He couldn’t hear anything, but that wasn’t surprising. He looked back at the other two. “You ready?”
Carla and Enrique nodded. Poole grabbed Carla’s hand and gave it a squeeze. He pushed open the door to a landing three concrete steps above an alley. Dirty light shone in from the street. Two ASU men, hands on their holstered guns, leaned against the far wall. Poole thought about turning back into the building, but this alley remained their best hope. The three of them walked down the stairs as the ASU officers walked toward them, guns out.
One, a tall, thin kid, walked up to Enrique. “You Dotel?”
Poole watched, wondering how Enrique would play it; looking for an opening.
Enrique nodded. “I’m Dotel.”
The officer lowered his voice. “My brother, Victor, is in the union. We need to get you out of here. I don’t think you’ll make it back to the station alive.”
Enrique looked over at the other officer.
“Kevin’s okay,” the kid said. “He owes me.”
“How does this work?” Poole asked the kid, but watched the other officer. Something wasn’t right.
“Just go. Quickly. Down that alley and then right. Get lost. They’ll do a search, find nothing, go to the next place. You just need to get out of here now, before they send more men.”
Poole shifted his gaze to the kid, calm while pulling off this bit of subterfuge. Enrique was already walking down the alley. Why wasn’t the other officer watching for ASU reinforcements? Surely they’d be—
Carla tugged at Poole’s sleeve. “Come on.” Poole allowed Carla to pull him down the alley, but kept his eyes on the officers, who exchanged glances. This wasn’t going down right. He wrenched his arm free from Carla’s grasp. “Keep going,” he whispered.
“What?” She looked at him, startled.
“Go,” he said louder, and pushed her down the alley. Enrique was thirty feet or so farther along. Poole turned back toward the officers. They had their guns drawn, aiming down the alley.
Over the top of the trench. Poole had less than a dozen yards to cover to reach the officers. He moved fast, but their guns were ready. He took a shot in the shoulder and one in the groin and stumbled, the pain overwhelming him. Thoughts started to become hazy but he focused on one thing: Keep them busy for a couple seconds more. Let Carla and Enrique get around the corner.
He pushed with his hands and feet toward where he saw the two officers’ legs. Behind their legs he