The bolt cutters bit easily through the plastic. It took two more snips to break a link of the chain.
Becker didn't look at what he was doing any more than he had to. His head whipped shoulder to shoulder, watching for cars and pedestrians and faces in windows. There weren't any nearby. A city bus rolled through an intersection two blocks up, Becker snapped to attention at the sound, then it was gone. The night was dead.
Pumping his elbows, he brought the cutter's jaws together and the chain fell away. The tall blue fixie was free. With a rattle of the frame, the combination lock clattered to the sidewalk, and Becker teetered onto the bike's high seat.
