Sudden prey

Then Creek lit up and A

Bring the pig this way… Bring the pig.'' The man saw them coming and walked toward them, and she had the Nagra's mike pointed at the squealing pig and Jason lit up.

The security guards saw the camera lights and the first one turned to the man trailing, yelled something to the other, who ran back up the hill. The first one continued down and shouted at Creek, ''Hey, no cameras here, no cameras.''

A group of masked women headed toward him, walled him off from the rest of the milling crowd, pushed him toward theramp. Frustrated, he climbed up the loading dock and hurried to the open door. Just as he was about to go through the door, he jumped back, and a young man in a blue oxford cloth shirt and jeans ran out of the building and headed toward the lights.

A

Creek back-pedaled. When A

''They were go

The patio was chaos, with the cameras and the pig-man, the women with cages, all swirling around: Blue shirt arrived and A

''Give me that pig,'' the kid screamed, and he ran at the pig-man. ''Gimme that.'' The animal women blocked him out, not hitting him, just body-blocking.

Both Creek and Jason tracked the twirling scrum while A

The Bee caught A

The women with the blue garbage cans were waiting their turn with the lights, and A

As Jason came up, the women with the garbage can, who'd been waiting, popped the lid and tipped it, and two or three hundred mice, some black, some white, some tan, scurried down the sides and ran out onto the patio, looked around, and headed for the nearest piece of cover.

Jason hung close and then the kid in the blue shirt went that way, screaming,

''Gimme those,'' and sobbing, tried to corral the mice. They were everywhere, ru

Jeez: this was almost too good, A

As Creek tracked him, the Bee was back with her nagging voice: ''Do you want an on-camera statement?''

And A

A

The man with the pig turned toward her. ''I'm the Rat,'' he said. His teeth were bared, his face spotted with what looked like mud but could be pig shit.

''We're go

''No problem,'' he said. He handed the struggling pig to awoman. ''What exactly do you want?'' The Rat had a deep, smooth voice, a singer's baritone, and showed square white teeth and a California surfer-boy cleft chin beneath the black mask.

''Just tell us why you did it,'' A

He leaned forward and stage-whispered, ''For the publicity.''

A

Jason yelled, ''Hey, Rat: You wa

Creek hung back a couple of steps so the camera wouldn't be right in the kid's face. A

The kid looked up, dazed, a pale teenage child with brown eyes behind his gold-rimmed glasses. ''What?''

''Are you okay?'' A

''They're go

''How'd you get the bloody nose?'' A

''I tried to hold the door, but they kicked through. Then about four of them held me and I couldn't get to the phone, and they tipped everything over in the lab, all the animal cages, everything.'' He touched his face. ''I think the door hit me…''

''Look, there's go

Creek, and said, ''Creek.''

Creek stepped away, spotted a mouse looking at him from the top of the loading dock and closed in on it. Behind him, the Bee and the Rat were still talking to

Jason's camera; thepig was still struggling with the woman who'd taken it, but the squealing had stopped, and the scene was almost quiet.

A

She patted his thigh. ''Now, go like this. From your nose.'' She made an upward rubbing gesture with her hand, on her own face.

The kid gulped. ''Why?''

''Want to keep your job?'' A

''I need the job,'' the kid said tentatively.

''Smear a little blood and stand up… what's your name?''

The kid was no dummy: He'd been born in front of a TV set. He wiped blood up his cheek and said, ''Charles McKinley… How do I look?'' His cheek looked like a raw sirloin.

''Great.''

Her cell phone rang. She unclipped it and stepped away. ''Yeah.''

Louis, calling from the truck seventy-five feet away, excited: ''Jesus, A

''Where?'' A basic rule: everything happened at once. A

''I don't know, somewhere on Wilshire, close, I think. I'm getting the address up.''

''Get it now,'' A

''I'm getting it…''

''How're we doing on the cops here?''

''You got a couple-three minutes, I just heard the call.''

''Get the address, Louis.''

''I'm hurrying.''

A

And to the kid, ''Cops'll be here to help, minute or two.'' Louis came back on the phone: ''Jesus, A