If Decker had been alone, he would have given him chase. But he dared not leave Rina in case there was more than one bad guy. She suddenly emerged from her prone position under the bed. Decker barked at her. “Get down!”

“Oh my God! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Stay down, Rina.” Decker heard a car screech down the street. His heart was now beating at allegro tempo. He flicked on the lights, grabbed his landline phone on his nightstand, and then realized the connection had been cut. Stupidly, he kept his cell plugged into an outlet in the kitchen. “Where’s your cell?”

“In the closet. What’s going on?”

Decker didn’t answer. He grabbed her cell and called 911. He started to relate the information to the emergency operator when he heard Rina’s voice say, “Peter, what about Tyler?”

“Oh shit!” He spoke into the phone. “I need patrol cars sent immediately to . . . what the fuck is his address?” Decker was pacing now as he spoke. “Send out cars to Detective Tyler McAdams’s house immediately. It’s on Hamilton Drive . . . no, I don’t know the address! If I knew it, I’d give it to you!” He grabbed Rina while talking in the phone. “Just send someone out there now!”

Decker clutched the phone in his right hand while pulling Rina with his left. Running through his living room, he found Rina’s car keys, grabbed them, and sprinted out the front door.

“I know his house,” he said to her. “It’s quicker this way.” They jumped into Rina’s Volvo, which mercifully started right away He put on his seat belt, gunned the engine, and then jammed the gear into reverse. He peeled out of the driveway and skidded down the street.

“Be careful, for God’s sake!” Rina snapped on her seat belt. “No sense getting us both killed.”

Decker wasn’t listening. He tore down the street. “Keep your head down.” He pushed her head. “Down, dammit!”

“It’s down, it’s down!”

No moon out. Just a black sky except for the sporadic streetlamp.

There was also no traffic.

Decker sped through the traffic stops as well as the traffic lights.

Rina was crouched down in the front seat. “Give me my phone. I’ll call him. What’s the number?”

He gave her the phone. “God, I can’t think straight.”

Then it came to him. Not only were Rina’s hands shaking, her entire body was convulsing. It was adrenaline, it was the cold, and it was pure fear. Still, she managed to punch in the right digits.

“He’s not answering.”

It didn’t matter much. They were already outside the house. No car outside. Decker gave Rina a crowbar and then cocked his gun. “C’mon.”