Something Happens

The whipbeat of rotor blades getting suddenly very close and then this big crazy wind rushes down and everybody's grabbing for clothes, backpacks, purses, picnic baskets, loose kids who run whooping headlong through the chaos like it's their natural element because, what do you know, it is.

"Local TV," Harley yelled over the turbine scream. "These fuckers'll do anything for a story." He scooped up a stray softball and pitched it toward the hovering aircraft, a Jet Ranger belonging to Tara's own Channel 12. It was a good try but the chopper dodged.

"What's he trying to shoot?" Miles wondered, trying to extrapolate from the angle of the skycam mount.

But even in all the noise and confusion it soon became clear what the TV crew was after.