Eve checked the time. “Do that. I’m going to drop you off there, work some of this from home. Pull Roarke in as soon as I can. She’s going to be part of this. I want to—”
She broke off when she felt the punch in the back. If he hadn’t brushed past her, hadn’t glanced back, then started to run, she might’ve put it down to a street bump, even a quick pickpocket attempt.
But as he ran, she saw him retract the switchblade in his right hand.
“Son of a bitch. Record on!”
She took off after him.
“Male, mid-twenties, brown hair,” she shouted back to Peabody. “Five-ten, one-seventy. He’s got a blade, and he just tried to stab me with it.”
“Holy shit!”
“Call it in, call it in!”
She had to dodge a group of four who decided they owned the sidewalk, then the table and its contents from a pop-up vendor the man she pursued heaved over.
She could hear people scream as he shoved or knocked them out of his way, and into hers.
But she started gaining, dodging cars through the intersection as he did.
“Police!” she shouted, and jumped over a kid who’d taken a spill on his airboard.
By the middle of the next block she was ten feet back and reaching for her weapon.
He veered for the street in the middle of the block. He looked back, and she could see he was winded. And looking back, he tripped, lost his footing. Arms pinwheeling, he fell into the street.
The oncoming Rapid Cab hit the brakes, but not soon enough.
More screams now as the wheels ran right over him.
“Police! Stay back, stay back!”
As she rushed over, the cabbie leaped out of the cab. “He came outta nowhere. I swear to God!”
“Call for medicals. Stay by your cab. Call for medical assistance.”
“I tried to stop, I tried. Oh my God. Is he dead?”
She got down, couldn’t find a pulse. And though she could see it wouldn’t matter, started CPR.
“Dallas!”
“Control the crowd, call it in. I want medicals, I want uniforms. Talk to the cabbie.”
She finally sat back on her heels beside the mangled mess. Swiped some of the blood on her hands onto her pants. “Shit. Shit. He’s gone.
“Peabody, get a field kit from the car as soon as we have crowd control.”
“Beat droids two minutes out, ambulance one.”
“He needs the morgue.”
“Did he cut you? Dallas, I can’t tell.”
She shook her head. “No.”
She stayed where she was, listening to the approaching sirens.
