A low, shifting murmur is broken by a cell phone ringing to Parker’s left. It’s the theme from Rocky.

People back away from a big man in a green down jacket who is about ten feet from the security gate. His hand frantically roots around inside one of his coat pockets as he struggles to silence his phone.

Mole and Lips swing their rifles in his direction, but instead of lifting his own AK, Wolf reaches into the back of his waistband. He pulls out a pistol with a silencer screwed onto it. Calmly, he steps to the gate and then fires a single shot to the man’s chest. Despite the silencer, the sound is still a muffled clap. People stifle their cries with their hands. The man’s eyes widen and he stays on his feet for several long seconds. The sound of his breathing, rapid and bubbling, fills the hall. Finally he drops to his knees and then slowly crumples until he is facedown on the floor.

Wolf’s voice is as unemotional as if he had just swatted a mosquito. “Any more phones out there?”

Three more cell phones suddenly go sliding along the floor.

Businessman is the one who zip ties Parker’s wrists in front of him. He leaves a little slack. Parker can’t tell if it’s on purpose. Still, it doesn’t seem like a good idea to try to slip out of them. Not right now. But he feels a pulse of hope.

While they work in silence punctuated by low sobs and distant sirens, Wolf walks out into the food court. It lies at the intersection of four hallways. He goes to the hall opposite theirs, the one that leads to Nordstrom, lifts his megaphone to his lips, and says, “If you’re still in the mall, you can leave now and we’ll let you go. But this is your only chance. If we catch you hiding later, we’ll kill you.”

Nordstrom’s security shutter is down. It’s made of thin metal slats set an inch apart, partially revealing the store’s darkened, deserted depths. Most of the other stores just look empty. But then a woman in a gray dress appears in the doorway of a Sunglass Hut. She freezes at the sight of Wolf, but he simply says, “Go on. Get out of here. While you still can.”

She cuts through the food court and runs down the hall to Parker’s right, so fast that it’s more like a controlled fall. She sprints past kiosks selling phone cases and remote-control cars, and Parker waits for Wolf or Mole to shoot her in the back. But they let her go. Others must have been watching and listening, because four more people dart out of various stores and go scrambling after her.