“He don’t mean nothin’ personal,” said Lorenzo. “He’s just doin’ his job. Just like you and your friend here, and me. We’re all just looking to get along.”

Loomis, the rage gone out of him, lowered his voice to a mumble. “I got enough stress without this bull shit.”

“I heard that, ” said Lorenzo.

The BMW drove by them, Lee and the one called Rico smiling at Lorenzo as they passed. The rest of the cars began to pass them too. Loomis and the big man got into the Benz without further incident, the pit bull still barking itself crazy in the backseat, and left as well. Soon it was just Lorenzo and Mark standing in the alley, with only their Tahoe left in the clearing. A couple of elderly men had come out the back of their houses and were surveying the scene.

“We do anything here?” said Lorenzo.

“We hit the pause button,” said Mark, wiping sweat off his forehead with a damp sleeve. “Maybe stopped a couple of animals from getting torn up.”

“Today.”

A Seventh District cruiser came down the alley toward them. The driver was taking his time.

“Here comes the cavalry,” said Mark.

Lorenzo shook his head and smiled. “What you say to Twan to get him so riled?”

“I was just telling him about the dogfighting law we got in this city. It’s a felony now, you know?”

“For real?”

“I was enlightening him.”

“Looked like he was responding in a real positive way.”

“You hadn’t stepped in, I would have brought him around to my way of thinking. I mean, he was practically eating out of my hand.”

“Looked to me, way both of those boys were crowded around you, that the two of them was gettin’ ready to hand you your ass.”

“That was a group hug.”

Two officers, a black and a white, got out of the cruiser. They walked toward Mark and Lorenzo.