“I’m going to divert him,” she said as Bledsoe stared at her as if he’d never seen a woman in uniform. “The minute he takes his hand off the door, you guys grab him,” she made sure they understood.

She got closer to the open back of the ambulance and made a face, waving a hand before her eyes.

“Who used pepper spray?” she called out.

“Even that didn’t stop him,” one of the cops let her know.

Next thing Brazil knew, West had climbed inside the ambulance and picked up an aluminum stretcher to use as a shield. She did this easily, and her lips moved. Swan didn’t like whatever it was she was communicating to him. His eyes were on hers, arteries bulging in his neck as he twitched and challenged her with looks and utterances. She was halfway inside when he lunged. Swan was sucked out as if he opened the door of an airplane. Brazil went around to check and found him facedown on the street being cuffed by all those men with a plan. City Councilman Bledsoe watched, hands in his pockets. His eyes followed West as she walked back to her car. Then he stared at Brazil.

“Come here,” Bledsoe said to him.

Brazil cast a furtive glance in West’s direction, certain he might get left alone out on this dark, unfriendly road. He was mindful that West had ordered him not to talk to anyone.

“You’re the ride-along,” Bledsoe stated as he got closer.

“I don’t know if I’m the ride-along,” Brazil answered.

He was just trying to be modest, but the councilman took it the wrong way. He thought the kid was being a smartass.

“Guess Superwoman there just gave you a good story, huh?” The councilman nodded his head toward West, who was getting back into her car.

Brazil was beginning to panic. “I’ve got to go,” he said.

Bledsoe had a goatee and liked gloss gel. He was the minister of the Baptist church on Jeremiah Avenue. Strobing police lights flashed in his glasses as he stared at Brazil and mopped his neck with a handkerchief.

“Let me just tell you one thing,” he went on, getting unctuous. “The city of Charlotte doesn’t need people coming out here and being insensitive to humanity and poverty and crime. Even this man here is not to be ridiculed or laughed at.”

Swan was being led away, dazed. He had been minding his own business in the nip joint one minute and was sucked up by aliens the next. Bledsoe swept a hand over the lighted skyline in the distance, rising and sparkling like a kingdom.

“Why don’t you write about that?” The councilman said it as if he wanted Brazil to start taking notes, so he did. “Look at all the good, the accomplishments. Look at how we’ve grown. Voted the most attractive city to live in nationwide, third largest banking center in the country, with an appreciation of the arts. People are in line to move here. But no. Oh no.” He tapped Brazil’s shoulder. “I’ll wake up in the morning to another depressing story. An ambulance hijacked by a man with a knife. News intended to strike fear in the hearts of citizens.”