by Harlan Coben
Was this for real? Was I really going to run away from the police?
I didn't know. But when I reached the door, I risked a look behind me. One of the cops spotted me. He pointed and hurried toward me.
I pushed open the door and ran.
* * *
I couldn't believe this. I was running from the police.
The exit door banged into a dark street directly behind the clinic. The street was unfamiliar to me. That might sound strange, but this neighborhood was not mine. I came, I worked, I left. I stayed locked inside a windowless environment, sickened by the lack of sunshine like some dour owl. One parallel block from where I worked and I was in totally alien territory.
I veered right for no particular reason. Behind me I heard the door fling open.
"Stop! Police!"
They actually yelled that. I didn't let up. Would they shoot? I doubted it. Not with all the repercussions in shooting an unarmed man who was in the midst of fleeing. Not impossible ' not in this neighborhood anyway ' but unlikely.
There weren't many people on this block, but those who were there regarded me with little more than passing, channel-surfing interest. I kept running. The world passed by in a blur. I sprinted past a dangerous-looking man with a dangerous-looking rottweiler. Old men sat at the corner and whined about the day. Women carried too many bags. Kids who probably should have been in school leaned against whatever was available, one cooler than the next.
Me, I was running away from the police.
My mind was having difficulty wrapping itself around that one. My legs were already feeling tingly, but the image of Elizabeth looking into that camera kept shoving me forward, pumping me up.
I was breathing too fast.
You hear about adrenaline, how it spurs you on and gives you uncanny strength, but there's a flip side. The feeling is heady, out of control. It heightens your senses to the point of paralysis. You have to harness the power or it'll choke you down.
I dove down an alleyway ' that was what they always do on TV ' but it dead-ended into a group of the foulest Dumpsters on the planet. The stench made me draw up like a horse. At one time, maybe when LaGuardia was mayor, the Dumpsters might have been green. All that remained was rust. In many places the rust ate through the metal, facilitating the many rats that poured through like sludge through a pipe.
I looked for some outlet, a door or something, but there was nothing. No back exit at all. I considered smashing a window to gain access, but all the lower ones were barred.
The only way out was the way I'd come in ' where the police undoubtedly would see me.
I was trapped.
I looked left, right, and then, oddly enough, I looked up.
Fire escapes.
There were several above my head. Still mining my internal adrenaline drip, I leapt with all my might, stretched high with both hands, and fell flat on my ass. I tried again. Not even close. The ladders were far too high.
Now what?
Maybe I could somehow drag over a Dumpster, stand on it, and leap again. But the tops of the Dumpsters had been totally eaten away. Even if I could get footing on the piles of trash, it would still be too low.
I sucked in air and tried to think. The stench was getting to me; it crawled into my nose and seemed to nest there. I moved back toward the mouth of the alley.
Radio static. Like something you might hear coming from a police radio.
I threw my back against the wall and listened.
Hide. Had to hide.
The static grew louder. I heard voices. The cops were coming closer. I was totally exposed. I flattened myself closer to the wall, like that would help. Like they might turn the corner and mistake me for a mural.
Sirens shattered the still air.
Sirens for me.
Footsteps. They were definitely coming closer. There was only one place to hide.
I quickly discerned which Dumpster might be the least foul, closed my eyes, and dove in.
Sour milk. Very sour milk. That was the first smell that hit me. But it wasn't the only one. Something approaching vomit and worse. I was sitting in it. Something wet and putrid. It was sticking to me. My throat decided to do the gag reflex. My stomach heaved.
I heard someone run by the mouth of the alley. I stayed low.
A rat scrambled over my leg.
I almost screamed, but something in the subconscious kept it in the voice box. God, this was surreal. I held my breath. That lasted only so long. I tried to breathe through my mouth, but I started gagging again. I pressed my shirt against my nose and mouth. That helped, but not much.
The radio static was gone. So, too, were the footsteps. Did I fool them? If so, not for long. More police sirens joined in, harmonizing with the others, a true rhapsody in blue. The cops would have backup now. Someone would return soon. They would check the alley. Then what?
I grabbed hold of the Dumpster's edge to hoist myself out. The rust cut my palm. My hand flew toward my mouth. Bleeding. The pediatrician in me immediately scolded about the dangers of tetanus; the rest of me noted that tetanus would be the least of my worries.
I listened.
No footsteps. No blasts of radio static. Sirens wailed, but what had I expected? More backup. A murderer was on the loose in our fair city. The good guys would come out in force. They'd seal the area and throw a dragnet around it.
How far had I run?
I couldn't say. But I knew one thing. I had to keep moving. I had to put distance between the clinic and my person.
That meant getting out of this alley.
I crept toward the mouth again. Still no footsteps or radio. Good sign. I tried to think for a moment. Fleeing was a great plan, but a destination would make it even better. Keep heading east, I decided, even though it meant less safe neighborhoods. I remember seeing train tracks aboveground.
The subway.
That would get me out of here. All I had to do was get on a train, make a few sudden switches, and I could probably manage to disappear. But where was the closest entrance?
I was trying to conjure up my internal subway map, when a policeman turned into the alley.
He looked so young, so clean-cut and fresh-scrubbed and pink faced. His blue shirtsleeves were neatly rolled up, two tourniquets on his bloated biceps. He started when he saw me ' as surprised to see me as I was to see him.
We both froze. But he froze for a split second longer.
If I had approached him like a boxer or kung-fu expert, I'd probably have ended up picking my teeth out of my skull like so many splinters. But I didn't. I panicked. I worked on pure fear.
I launched myself straight at him.
With my chin tucked tight, I lowered my head and aimed for his center, rocketlike. Elizabeth played tennis. She told me once that when your opponent was at the net, it was often best to slam the ball right at their gut because he or she wouldn't know which way to move. You slow down their reaction time.
That was what happened here.
My body slammed into his. I grabbed hold of his shoulders like a monkey hanging on to a fence. We toppled over. I scrunched up my knees and dug them into his chest. My chin stayed tucked, the top of my head under the young cop's jaw.
We landed with an awful thud.
I heard a cracking noise. A shooting pain ricocheted down from where my skull had connected with his jaw. The young cop made a quiet "pluuu" noise. The air went out of his lungs. His jaw, I think, was broken. The flee panic took total control now. I scrambled off him as though he were a stun gun.
I had assaulted a police officer.
No time to dwell on it. I just wanted to be away from him. I managed to get to my feet and was about to turn and run, when I felt his hand on my ankle. I looked down and our eyes met.
He was in pain. Pain I had caused.
I kept my balance and unleashed a kick. It connected with his ribs. He made a wet "pluuu" sound this time. Blood trickled from his mouth. I couldn't believe what I was doing.
I kicked him again. Just hard enough to loosen his grip. I pulled free.
And then I ran.
Chapter 25
Hester and Shauna took a taxi to the clinic. Linda had taken the number 1 train down to their financial consultant at the World Financial Center to see about liquidating assets for bail.
A dozen police cars were angled in front of Beck's clinic, all pointing in various directions like darts thrown by a drunk. Their lights whirled at full red-blue alert. Sirens whined. More police cars pulled up.
"What the hell is going on?" Shauna asked.
Hester spotted Assistant District Attorney Lance Fein, but not before he spotted her. He stormed toward them. His face was scarlet and the vein in his forehead was pulsing.
"The son of a bitch ran," Fein spat out without preamble.
Hester took the hit and countered: "Your men must have spooked him."
Two more police cars pulled up. So did the Channel 7 news van. Fein cursed under his breath. "The press. Goddammit, Hester. You know how this is going to make me look?"
"Look, Lance'"
"Like a goddamn hack who gives special treatment to the rich, that's how. How could you do this to me, Hester? You know what the mayor is going to do to me? He's going to chew on my ass for jollies. And Tucker" ' Tucker was the Manhattan district attorney ' "Jesus Christ, can you imagine what he'll do?"
"Mr. Fein!"
One of the police officers was calling him. Fein eyed both of them one more time before turning away with a snap.
Hester quickly spun on Shauna. "Is Beck out of his mind?"
"He's scared," Shauna said.
"He's running away from the police," Hester shouted. "Do you get that? Do you get what that means?" She pointed toward the news van. "The media is here, for Chrissake. They're going to talk about the killer on the run. It's dangerous. It makes him look guilty. Taints the jury pool."
"Calm down," Shauna said.
"Calm down? Do you understand what he's done?"
"He's run away. That's all. Like OJ, right? Didn't seem to hurt him with the jury."
"We're not talking about OJ here, Shauna. We're talking about a rich white doctor."
"Beck's not rich."
"That's not the point, dammit. Everyone is going to want to nail his ass to a wall after this. Forget bail. Forget a fair trial." She took a breath, crossed her arms. "And Fein isn't the only one whose reputation is going to be compromised."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning me!" Hester shrieked. "In one bold stroke, Beck's destroyed my credibility with the D.A."s office. If I promise to deliver a guy, I have to deliver him."
"Hester?"
"What?"
"I don't give a rat's ass about your reputation right now."
A sudden eruption of noise jolted them both. They turned and saw an ambulance hurry down the block. Somebody cried out. Then another cry. Cops started bouncing around like too many balls released at the same time into a pinball machine.
The ambulance skidded to a stop. The EMTs ' one male, one female ' jumped out of the cab. Fast. Too fast. They unsnapped the back door and pulled out a stretcher.
"This way!" someone shouted. "He's over here!"
Shauna felt her heart skip a beat. She ran over to Lance Fein. Hester followed. "What's wrong?" Hester asked. "What's happened?"
Fein ignored her.
"Lance?"
He finally faced them. The muscles in his face quaked in rage. "Your client."
"What about him? Is he hurt?"
"He just assaulted a police officer."
This was nuts.
I had crossed a line by running, but attacking that young cop... No going back now. So I ran. I sprinted with all I had.
"Officer down!"
Someone actually shouted that. More shouts followed. More radio static. More sirens. They all swirled toward me. My heart leapt into my throat. I kept pumping my legs. They started feeling stiff and heavy, as though the muscles and ligaments were hardening to stone. I was out of shape. Mucus started flowing out of my nose. It mixed with whatever dirt I'd accumulated on my upper lip and snaked into my mouth.
I kept veering from block to block as though that would fool the police. I didn't turn around to see if they were following. I knew they were. The sirens and radio static told me so.
I had no chance.
I dashed through neighborhoods I wouldn't even drive through. I hopped a fence and sprinted through the high grass of what might have once been a playground. People talked about the rising price of Manhattan real estate. But here, not far from the Harlem River Drive, there were vacant lots littered with broken glass and rusted ruins of what might have once been swing sets and jungle gyms and probably cars.
In front of a cluster of low-income high-rises, a group of black teens, all with the gangsta strut and coordinated ensemble, eyed me like a tasty leftover. They were about to do something ' I didn't know what ' when they realized that the police were chasing me.
They started cheering me on.
"Go, white boy!"
I sort of nodded as I dashed past them, a marathoner grateful for the little boost from the crowd. One of them yelled out, "Diallo!" I kept running, but I knew, of course, who Amadou Diallo was. Everyone in New York did. He'd been shot forty-one times by police officers ' and he'd been unarmed. For a moment, I thought it was some kind of warning that the police might fire upon me.
But that wasn't it at all.
The defense in the Amadou Diallo trial claimed that when Diallo reached for his wallet, the officers thought it was a gun. Since then, people had been protesting by quickly reaching into their pockets, withdrawing their wallets, and yelling "Diallo!" Street officers reported that every time someone's hand went into their pockets like that, they still felt the thump of fear.
It happened now. My new allies ' allies built on the fact that they probably thought I was a murderer ' whipped out their wallets. The two cops on my tail hesitated. It was enough to increase my lead.
But so what?
My throat burned. I was sucking in way too much air. My high tops felt like lead boots. I got lazy. My toe dragged, tripping me up. I lost my balance, skidding across the pavement, scraping my palms and my face and my knees.
I managed to get back up, but my legs were trembling.
Closing in now.
Sweat pasted my shirt to my skin. My ears had that surf rush whooshing through them. I'd always hated running. Born again joggers described how they got addicted to the rapture of running, how they achieved a nirvana known as runner's high. Right. I'd always firmly believed that ' much like the high of auto asphyxiation ' the bliss came more from a lack of oxygen to the brain than any sort of endorphin rush.
Trust me, this was not blissful.
Tired. Too tired. I couldn't keep running forever. I glanced behind me. No cops. The street was abandoned. I tried a door. No go. I tried another. The radio crackle started up again. I ran. Toward the end of the block I spotted a street cellar door slightly ajar. Also rusted. Everything was rusted in this place.
I bent down and pulled at the metal handle. The door gave with an unhappy creak. I peered down into the blackness.
A cop shouted, "Cut him off the other side!"
I didn't bother looking back. I stepped down quickly into the hole. I reached the first step. Shaky. I put my foot out for the second step. But there was none.
I stayed suspended for a second, like Wile E. Coyote after running off a cliff, before I plunged helplessly into the dark pit.
The fall was probably no more than ten feet, but I seemed to take a long time to hit ground. I flailed my arms. It didn't help. My body landed on cement, the impact rattling my teeth.
I was on my back now, looking up. The door slammed closed above me. A good thing, I suppose, but the darkness was now pretty much total. I did a quick survey of my being, the doctor doing an internal exam. Everything hurt.
I heard the cops again. The sirens had not let up, or maybe now
the sound was just ringing in my ears. Lots of voices. Lots of radio static.
They were closing in on me.
I rolled onto my side. My right hand pressed down, stinging the cuts in my palms, and my body started to rise. I let the head trail; it screamed in protest when I got to my feet. I almost fell down again.
Now what?
Should I just hide here? No, that wouldn't work. Eventually, they'd start going house to house. I'd be caught. And even if they didn't, I hadn't run with the intention of hiding in a dank basement. I ran so that I could keep my appointment with Elizabeth in Washington Square.
Had to move.
But where?
My eyes started adjusting to the dark, enough to see shadowy shapes anyway. Boxes were stacked haphazardly. There were piles of rags, a few barstools, a broken mirror. I caught my reflection in the glass and almost jumped back at the sight. There was a gash on my forehead. My pants were ripped in both knees. My shirt was tattered like the Incredible Hulk's. I was smeared with enough soot to work as a chimney sweep.
Where to go?
A staircase. There had to be a staircase down here somewhere. I felt my way forward, moving in a sort of spastic dance, leading with my left leg as though it were a white cane. My foot crunched over some broken glass. I kept moving.
I heard what I thought was a mumbling noise, and a giant rag pile rose in my path. What could have been a hand reached out to me like something from a grave. I bit back a scream.
"Himmler likes tuna steaks!" he shouted at me.
The man ' yes, I could see now it was clearly a man ' started to stand. He was tall and black and he had a beard so white-gray and woolly it looked as though he might be eating a sheep.
"You hear me?" the man shouted. "You hear what I'm telling you?"
He stepped toward me. I shrunk back.
"Himmler! He likes tuna steaks!"
The bearded man was clearly displeased about something. He made a fist and aimed it at me. I stepped to the side without thought. His fist traveled past me with enough momentum ' or maybe enough drink ' to make him topple over. He fell on his face. I didn't bother to wait. I found the staircase and ran up.