"I do," said Dan, fervently wishing he were somewhere else.
The man with the case was beaming as he snapped the little rod inside. He said genially, "I always know an honest fight when I see it. And these days it's a real pleasure to—"
Just then, he clapped the case shut.
The case gave out a clang like the general alarm on a space cruiser under surprise attack.
The crowd gave a shout. "Unauthorized kill!"
The three men beside Dan jumped forward.
Dan's left hand lashed out to smash the nearest of the three men in the midsection. The flat edge of his right hand struck the second man just below the nose; then Dan had thrown the first man back against the third, had whirled around and seen the crowd start to surge across the sidewalk to block his escape. He sprinted directly past this crowd, so that when it completely blocked the sidewalk an instant later, he was cut off from the view of the three men he had just knocked down.