The rain came down in curtains, turning the city streets into rivers and the towering buildings into canyon walls.

Lightning flashed occasionally through the darkness, reflecting off windows, and briefly eliminating the city scape and sickly hues.

The thunder claps that followed shook the ground under my feet as I trudged back to my unmarked squad car.

As I walked, my baseball cap keeping the rain out of my eyes, I paid close attention to the storm drains.

They were struggling to funnel all the rain down off the streets, given the immensity of the downpour.

I don't know what drew my attention to the alley as I passed.

Maybe it was the flash of lightning at the perfect moment.

Maybe it was a flash of movement I saw out of the corner of my eye.

Whatever it was, I found myself peering at a huge figure cloaked in black.

He was hunched over, a petite woman held in his hands, her feet a full foot off the ground.

She was limb, head, lulling.

It was as if she weighed nothing at all.

The man wore a hood, and his eyes seemed to glow as they stared at me from that dark oval.

The rest of his face obscured by rain and darkness.

I froze in mid-step as the gears groaned in my overworked mind.

Don't move! I shouted.

The man dropped the woman and bolted away from me down the alley.

I was running before the woman's body came to rest on the soaking alley floor.

As I ran after him, I pulled my pistol out from my hip holster, shouting again for him to stop.

Police!

I yelled as he turned the corner on the next block.

He moved with a natural fluidity that reminded me of a talented athlete.

...