tlefield. Wounded and groaning cops were lying all
over. The room was a shambles; the walking wounded--which comprised
the rest of the force--were stumbling around in a slow, hopeless sort
of fashion.

Lynch was standing next to him. "Malone," he said, "I'm sorry. I hit
you, didn't I?"

"Uh-huh," Malone said. "You seemed to be hitting every body."

"I was _trying_ for the kids," Lynch said.

"So was I," Malone said. "I got the cuffs on one and yanked him along,
but he disappeared and left me with the cuffs."

"Great," Lynch said. "Hell of a raid."

"Very jolly," Malone agreed. "Fun and games were had by all."

A cop stumbled up, handed Lynch his cap and disappeared without a
word. Lynch stared mournfully at it. The emblem was crushed, and the
cap looked rather worn and useless. He put it on his head, where it
assumed the rakish tilt of a hobo's favorite tam-o'-shanter, and said,
"I hope you're not thinking of blaming _me_ for this fiasco."

"Not at all," Malone said nobly. He hurt all over, but on reflection
he thought that he would probably live. "It was nobody's fault."
Except, he thought, his own. If he'd only told Lynch to come in when
called for--and under no other circumstances--this wouldn't have
happened. He looked around at the remains of New York's Finest, and
felt guilty.

The lieutenant from the local precinct limped up, rubbing a
well-kicked shin and trying to disentangle pieces of floor lamp from
his hair. "Listen, Lynch," he said, "What's with these kids? What's
going on here? Look at my men."

"Some days," Lynch said, "it just doesn't pay to get up."

"Sure," the local man said. "But what do I do now?"

"Make your reports."

"But--"

"To the Commissioner," Lynch said, "and to nobody else. If this gets
into the papers, heads will roll."

"My head is rolling right now," the local man said. "Know what one of
those kids did? Stood in front of a floor lamp. I swung at him and he
vanished. Vanished! I hit the lamp, and then the lamp hit me."

"Just see that this doesn't get out," Lynch said.

"It can't," the local man said. "Anybody who mentioned this to a
reporter would just be laughed out of town. It's not possible." He
paused thoughtfully, and added, "We'd all be laughed out of town."

"And probably replaced with the FBI," Lynch said morosely. He looked
at Malone. "Nothing personal, you understand," he said.

"Of course," Malone said. "We can't do any more here, can we?"

"I don't