Lucas shrugged and grinned at him. ''You da man.''

''Yeah, right,'' the plainclothes cop said sourly. Then, ''Fuck it. He's a firearms dealer, so he could have all kinds of shit in there… If we go bustin' in, we could have a fight. If we call ahead, what can they do? Can't get out.''

He was thinking out loud. One of the Hennepin cops said,''He can't flush the evidence down the toilet.''

''Huh. All right. Let's call.''

FRANK WINTER CAME OUT OF THE HOUSE WITH HIS hands over his head, and stood that way in the driveway, until an armored cop directed him down the middle of the street to a blocking car. Winter said on the phone that LaChaise, Martin and

Darling had been there-had left only fifteen minutes earlier-but the house was now empty. When he got to the blocking car, where Lucas and Del were waiting with a group of uniformed cops, one of the uniforms turned Winter around and patted him down.

''He's wearing a vest,'' one of the cops said.

''Why the vest?'' Del asked.

''In case one of you officers decided to shoot me,'' Winter said simply. ''The woman called you in, didn't she?''

''What woman?''

''The one with Martin and his friend,'' Winter said. Then, ''Do I need a lawyer?''

''Better give him his rights,'' Lucas said, and one of the cops recited the code. ''You want one?''

''Yeah, I better,'' Winter said. ''I was sitting there, thinking about calling you, when you called me.''

''Why didn't you?'' Lucas asked.

''Because I figured Martin would kill me, or LaChaise.''

''What'd they get from you?'' Del asked.

''A couple of pistols, an accurized seven-mil-Magnum Model 70 and a box of handloads and a whole bunch of AR-15 ammo. Martin's an Armalite freak: he's always reworking them. I'd be careful. I'd bet they've got modified with them.''

''This Model 70,'' Lucas said. ''Got a scope?''

''Yeah. A Leupold Vari-X III in 3.5 10.''

''A sniper rifle.''

''A varminter,'' said Winter.

''Yeah, if elk are varmints,'' Lucas said.

AN ENTRY TEAM SWEPT THE HOUSE. THE BASEMENT WAS an arsenal, but, as one of the cops said cheerfully, ''Nothin' illegal about that.''

Lucas was looking at a Model 70, a gray synthetic-stocked Winchester. 300 Magnum with a Pentax scope. He turned the eyepiece down to two-power and sighted across the basement at a crosshairs target. Winter had opened the gun safes so the weapons could be inventoried, and they'd found fifty handguns, two dozen rifles and as many shotguns. Del was playing with a derringer, snapping it at a wall target, and Lucas was looking at the butt of the Model 70, when a plainclothes cop came halfway down the stairs and said, ''We're sending Winter downtown. You got anything else you want to ask him?''

''Naw. I kind of think he's telling the truth,'' Lucas said.

''So do I, but he should have called us,'' the cop said. He grinned and said,

''Now he claims he tried to call out, but his phone was screwed up and he was afraid to go out. Says he didn't know the phone was off the hook down here, just that it didn't work.''

''Not bad, if he sticks to it,'' Lucas said.

The cop said, ''We got guys walking the neighborhood, checking about the car.''

Winter had said LaChaise, Martin and Darling were in a big brown car, but he didn't notice what kind because he wasn't thinking about it. Maybe a Lincoln or a Buick. The cop went on, ''The media are swarming in.''

''Jesus, that was quick,'' Del said.

''They're monitoring everything…''

''Can't let them know that there was a tip,'' Lucas said. ''LaChaise'll know where it came from and he'll kill the woman.''

''What'll I tell them? They'll want to know.''

Lucas scratched his head, formulating the lie: ''Tell them that Winter called us. Tell them that we used an entry team because we were concerned it might be some kind of ambush, and Winter was known to be a gun dealer with heavy weapons

… Get that word out quick, so we don't get anybody speculating about tips. .. I'll get my chief to back us up, and we'll talk to Winter's lawyer about keeping Winter's mouth shut.''

''All right.'' The cop nodded, and hurried back up the stairs.

Lucas turned to Del and said, ''Look at this.''

Del came over and Lucas knelt by the gun safe and said, ''See the dust?''

There was a faint patina of dust on the floor of the middle safe, where Winter said he'd kept the stolen guns.

Del nodded. ''Yeah?''

''Three guns were taken out of here. See? You can just barely see the outlines. ..'' Lucas traced the dust outlines in the air, his finger a half-inch above them.

''Yeah?''

''Watch this…'' He put the Model 70 in a rack-slot on the opposite end of the gun safe, and wiggled it in place. When he picked it up, he'd left in the dust an almost imperceptible outline of the gun butt.

''Doesn't look the same,'' Del said. ''Too fat.''

''But he said a Model 70 and this is a Model 70.'' He turned to the Minnetonka cop doing the inventory. ''Give me one of those ARs, would you?''

The cop handed him an AR, a legal, unmodified rifle, and Lucas printed the butt in the dust next to the Model 70 imprint. The two prints were distinctly different-but the AR's print matched the dust shadows of the three stolen guns.

''They took the ARs out of here,'' Del said.

''And they're modified,'' Lucas said. ''That's why he laid that rap on us about

Martin modifying guns. He wanted us to know that they're running around with machine guns, but he didn't want to say they came from him.''

''I'm getting pretty fuckin' tired of this machine gun shit,'' Del said.

''Let's get a photographer down here and see if we can get some shots of this,''

Lucas said, tapping the edge of the safe. ''I don't know if we can get Winter or not. He's a smart guy. But maybe we can fuck with him a little.''

''Why'd they come out for more guns? They've got guns.''

''Because of Franklin,'' Lucas said. ''If they'd shot Franklin with an AR, it would've gone through that vest like it was cheese.'' He took a slow turn around the basement, looking up at the ceiling: the ceiling was neat, just the way the rest of the basement was. Lucas's basement joists were full of cobwebs, which he had every intention of leaving alone.

''Say they took three ARs off Winter. And he says they took three vests. I'd say they're gonna make a suicide run.''

''On what? The hotel?''

''Maybe,'' Lucas said, but then shook his head. ''I really think it's gonna come somewhere else. They gotta figure that none of us are hanging around home, not after Franklin. They can't get at the hotel, we've made that pretty clear.''

''They're gonna hit the hospital,'' Del said, suddenly white-faced. ''They're going back in after Cheryl and Franklin, and Franklin's old lady's been over there… Shit, where's the telephone?''

STADIC HEARD ABOUT THE SCRAMBLE OUT TO MINNETONKA, and called LaChaise, while

LaChaise, Martin and Sandy were still driving back downtown.

''They're out there now,'' he said, with thin satisfaction. ''They were about five minutes off your ass.''

''What happened to Winter?'' LaChaise asked, prompted by Martin.

''They're talking to him. The way I heard it, he's cooperating.''

''Fucker must've called them the minute we were gone,'' LaChaise said. ''They got the car?''

''I don't know,'' Stadic said.

''We better get out of sight.''

''Yeah: and one more thing. Me and a half-dozen other guys are supposed to be on the way to Hennepin General. They think you might be on the way there.''

''What? Why?''

''I don't know, but we're on the way over there. They talked to Winter, and he must've said something.''

''I gotta think,'' LaChaise said. ''Something's screwy.''

STADIC SAT BEHIND A DESK IN THE EMERGENCY ROOM, a shotgun by his feet, while