The northernmost car suddenly stopped. A moment later, so did the others. The squad leader of the foot patrol was in the front of the dozen-or-so officers. She called for the others to stop.

The car crept ahead. The rim of its spotlight had picked out the saber-tooth. As the car moved forward, more and more of the cat fell into the brilliant glow of the light. The saber-tooth's shaggy silver-white fur seemed to shine in the light. Grand, who was standing behind the palm tree and the mastodon replicas, was not visible to the police.

The saber-tooth turned and pawed at the light, roared at the intruders. The long, fierce cry was different from the one it had uttered moments before. This one made the water on the tar pit ripple.

"Shut off the light!" Grand yelled.

Through the two trees the scientist saw the police step back and lower their rifles. He couldn't hear what they were saying but he didn't have to. The rifles were aimed through the mesh of the fence.

Grand ran back along the curving side of the dark pit. "Dammit, don't shoot."

The squad leader saw the scientist. "Hold fire!" she shouted.

The saber-tooth roared again.

"The light!" Grand shouted. "Kill it!"

The leader told the drivers to shut off the spotlights but it was too late. The cat suddenly hunkered back on its haunches and leaped onto the plaster elephant in the tar pit. It landed on the elephant's sloping back, just beyond its head. The gray plaster cracked, revealing the mastodon's iron frame. The saber-tooth crouched again.

"Comin' at us!" the squad leader yelled. "Ready!"

The officers turned on the flashlights attached to the barrels of their rifles. The cat bellowed.

There was a wooden footbridge that crossed the southern end of the pit just before Wilshire Boulevard. The saber-tooth roared and launched itself toward the bridge.

The squad leader gave the order to fire. Over a half-dozen rifles spat at the animal.

"No!" Grand screamed.

The saber-tooth seemed to freeze as it jumped from the elephant. Spots of red appeared on its underbelly and then the giant toppled from the live-size statue. The cat landed with a dull splash on the side of the pit away from the shore. Ripples of tar rolled toward the sides as the cat's head came down near the hindquarters of the mastodon.

It would take a few minutes for the saber-tooth to sink. Dropping the particles of bark, Grand threw one of the oars up between the tusks of the mastodon. With a bit of maneuvering he was able to lock it between the upraised tusks. Grand waded into the tar and pulled himself out. Even here, with the tar just up to his shins, the suction was extraordinary. Grand climbed up to the elephant's head, slid down to its shoulders, and looked down at the cat. The silverback was lying on its side, struggling ferociously. Blood streamed across the surface of the tar. The more the cat pulled, the deeper it went, its hindquarters lowering first.

Grand removed the oar from the tusks. He untied the rope and made a noose, then held onto the exposed metal framework at the top. He tossed one oar back to shore and used the other to break open the side of the mastodon, exposing more of the support structure. Then he dropped the oar and climbed down the frame until his feet were in the tar. Hooking his arm around one of the struts, he held the rope and opened the noose to its fullest extent a little over a yard across. He lowered it toward the cat. If he could get the rope over the cat's head he felt he could maneuver it over the forelegs and secure the creature. Then they could secure the animal to the elephant and hopefully get a vet here to deal with the wounds.

Hannah and the Wall had gotten through the relaxed police barricade. They stood behind the police onshore.

The saber-tooth swatted at the rope, and then at Grand. The scientist ignored the raking paw as he struggled to work the rope closer. All he needed was to capture the head and one foreleg.

The animal howled and scratched its free left foreleg at the air. As the saber-tooth struggled, its hindquarters suddenly went under, momentarily pulling the cat upright As it stood there, Grand quickly tugged the noose from the pit and dropped it toward the cat. But the animal ducked and surged forward. It twisted so that it was facing the mastodon. Both forepaws were free of the pit though one of them was soaked with tar. The cat latched onto the frame and tried to pull itself up. The mastodon began to creak.

"Jim!" Hannah cried.

Using wire cutters, two police officers made a hole in the wire fence surrounding the tar pit. Hannah immediately shouldered around them and rushed through the opening. The Wall stayed protectively close to make sure she didn't wade into the tar to try and reach Grand. Back on Wilshire, a police emergency-services truck had arrived. The officers quickly unloaded a fifty-foot life line and life ring. They also took out a pole-mounted animal noose in case the cat needed to be restrained and a sixteen-foot extension ladder that was long enough to reach from the shore to the mastodon.

The cat was thrashing about the base of the elephant. Grand spoke to the saber-tooth as quietly as possible. But the noose, and his careful maneuvering of it, only seemed to infuriate the cat. Every time he came close to slipping it over the some part of the cat it would swat and howl and sink a little lower.

Grand knew the animal was lost.

The saber-tooth's enormous paws smacked at the plaster skin, forcing Grand to jump higher. The cat roared and threw itself at the frame, furiously trying to latch onto the metal with its front claws and submerged back claws. Any time the saber-tooth managed to get a hold, the tar refused to release it. And as the cat continued to struggle, the elephant began to list. The metal frame bent near the base and the upper struts started to fold inward, outward, and around.

Grand took a last look at the cat, which was hissing and rolling its head, trying to rise. There was nothing Grand could do.

The mastodon shuddered. Quickly reeling in the rope. Grand turned toward the shore and threw the tar-blackened lariat toward the smaller of the two palms. He lassoed one of the lower branches and jumped free of the elephant just as it collapsed. He pulled himself up the rope as he swung across the pit to keep from being caught in the tar. Grand remained on his feet as he reached the shore. Hannah ran over and put her arms around him. He looked back.

The cat clawed at the wreckage but wasn't able to pull itself free. The animal sunk to its forelegs, then to its shoulders. Its struggles slowed. Grand watched, helpless, as the police came in. Two men held the animal noose but it wasn't long enough to reach the saber-tooth; they didn't even try. The animal shook its head in a last, violent dispute with the tar. It tried to raise its forelegs but there was nothing for it to push from.

In a moment they would be gone again, this time forever.

It was a monstrous joke. He'd always blamed himself for not being with Rebecca when she died. Yet he was here when the cats died and he hadn't been able to save them. Not one. As Tumamait had told him after Rebecca's funeral, "Fate works inconsiderate of our needs and designs."

The police squad leader looked at Grand, who turned his back to the pit. The scientist hugged Hannah.

"I'm so sorry," she said.

The leader gave the order to fire. There was a short volley and then the slashing stopped.

Grand wept into Hannah's neck. She held him tightly.