Cowboy Girl Annie (8 page)

A delivery truck roared down the
street and braked with a loud screech to a stop in front of the
bakery.

Annie flinched as she looked at
Jake. “I hate loud noises right now. Don't you?”

“
You have a right to be jumpy. I am,
too. I feel like Big Ed has eyes everywhere,” Jake whispered,
talking through the last bite of his doughnut. He chewed as he
peered both ways. So far so good. They had the alley to
themselves.

“
That's because he does have eyes
everywhere, and the money to pay the hombres the eyes belong to
when he wants someone plugged,” snapped Annie softly as she watched
four rough looking men, with large guns, darkened the entrance to
the alley.

Right off Annie spotted the one in
the lead was Big Ed. Even in dim light he was easy to pick out. She
swallowed the last of her doughnut as she grabbed Jake's arm and
pointed at the world of hurt headed toward them. “Speak of the
devil, and here he comes with his goons.”

Annie stood up and ducked a shot
that whizzed past her head. The bullet chipped pieces of brick from
the building and showered both of them. “Jake, we need to split up.
I'll meet you back at the drainage tube.”

She pushed Jake behind the dumpster
and squatted down.

“
I can't go off and leave you here
with these men,” Jake growled.

“
This is no time to grow a backbone.
I'm not sticking around here either, you fool. Get going. I'm
running as fast as I can in the opposite direction,” Anne said.
“That way those goons will have to split up.”

“
You'll run, huh? You won't be fast
enough to out distance them as weak as you are,” worried Jake. He
eyed the men coming at them. “Not nearly fast enough Cowboy Girl
Annie. No matter what we do one or both of us is
screwed.”

The four roughnecks footsteps
sounded like elephants, echoing on the packed alley dirt. The
tromping became louder as the men marched closer.

“
Don't worry about me. I'm the one
with the gun. Remember? Just get ready to run,” Annie hissed. “Big
Ed, you and your men better stay back. I'm a good shot and heeled
as you well know,” she threatened from behind the
dumpster.

“
Do tell?” Big Ed snorted. “So are
we, and we have four guns to your one.”

A gun fired. The bullet bit into the
dumpster wall, sending a ringing sound through Annie and Skinny
Jake's ears.

“
Jake, see ya later, ya hear?” Annie
said urgently. “I'll be all right. Just get moving.” She turned her
attention to Big Ed and his gang. “Cut that shooting out before you
really make me mad,” she blustered. To show she meant business,
Annie fired over the dumpster at them.

That made a believer out of the men.
They flattened to the ground.

Annie said, “Get going, Skinny Jake
now. I'll see you later.”

Jake did as he was told this time
and raced for the end of the alley.

Police car sirens screamed, and
strobe lights swirled against the alley wall. It hadn't taken
someone in the bakery long to call the cops when they heard shots
fired. Annie and Jake took off, knowing Big Ed wouldn't risk
another shot with cops coming down on them.

Big Ed snapped, “Stevie, you go
after that dame and off her while we keep the cops
occupied.”

Annie heard Big Ed bark the order,
but she didn't think that Jake did. At least, she hoped he didn't.
If he thought she was in danger, he might be dumb enough to try to
defend her. She was relieved when she saw him run across the street
headed for the park, going back the way they had come.

Annie headed the opposite direction,
keeping her right hand on the pistol butt in her pocket. At the end
of the block, she turned around. A man came out of the alley,
walking fast in her direction. Great! He was going to corner her
sooner or later.

Chapter 15

Annie darted into the next alley she
came to. She climbed into one of the four dumpsters lined up along
the wall, hoping the guy would go on by her.

Luckily, she'd picked a recycling
dumpster so it was half full of flatten cardboard boxes from the
appliance store. Right now as weak as she felt she was thankful to
be hiding and resting in a clean dumpster.

Annie heard fast footsteps and
panting. The man had run catch up to her when he thought he was far
enough away from the cops. He rushed past her dumpster and the
other three to the far end of the alley.

Annie lifted the lid and stuck a
finger in the crack to peek out. The guy looked both directions. He
decided she couldn't have gotten out of sight that fast. He turned
and looked to see where she could hide in the alley.

That goon was smarter than he
looked. He came back to the four dumpsters in a row. He stopped at
the one nearest him. As he took his gun out of the shoulder
holster, he slowly lifted the lid. He pointed the gun inside,
looked around and eased the lid shut.

He repeated the same procedure with
the next dumpster. As he looked in dumpster number three next to
the one she was in, Annie prepare herself for what was coming next.
She lowered the dumpster lid.

Her mind raced, already knowing
where this was leading. Her shooting at men was becoming a habit.
She didn't like being forced to do it, but the man sure meant to
kill her. That eased her conscious some as Annie resigned herself
to the fact she wouldn't be shooting to miss this time.

She squeezed herself into the corner
and eased her breathing down as she listened to the steps coming
closer. With both hands on her pistol, she pointed the gun and
waited for the lid to squeak open.

The guy eased the lid up slower than
the other three, because this was his last choice. He had it
figured this was where Annie was hiding. The gun barrel poked in
the opening. He intended to fire without looking coward that he
was.

Annie hoped because of what she was
about to do that the cops didn't come around until she was
gone.

The thug's gun barrel pointed down
into the layers of cardboard she was sitting on. His aim was a few
feet from her cowboy boots. The blast from the gun was deafening in
the close metal quarters. She had a ringing in her ears she bet
would last a month.

The guy got curious enough to see if
he hit her. That was his mistake. He slowly lifted the lid to look
inside. She eased her gun in his direction and shot him between the
eyes. He sank to the ground, never knowing what hit him.

She climbed out of the dumpster,
being careful not to step on the body or in the pool of blood
forming under his head. She raced to the end of the alley and
glanced both ways. She took a deep breath as she quickly walked
away. No cops yet.

Annie made her way back to Jake
surely but slowly. She wanted to make sure she wasn't followed
which would give away their safe place. Besides, she was about out
of energy to stay on her feet.

Annie felt a surge of sheer relief
when she spotted the tangle of bushes ahead of her. She slipped up
to the branches and looked around her as she spoke softly, “Jake,
it's me.”

Jake grunted. “Come
ahead.”

Annie crawled into the drainage
tube. Jake lay on his belly, his head resting on his hands as he
watched her. He grinned, looking relieved to see her. “It's seems
like forever since we parted. I was just thinking I should go back
out and find you. I figured I might have to carry you back here if
you gave out and had to stop to rest. You're lucky if you didn't
bust open that wound and start bleeding again. What
happened?”

Annie shrugged. “Coming out in the
open would have been a stupid thing for you to do. I told you I can
take care of myself. I always have and always will.”

“
Aw, now who is forgetting we are
supposed to watch each other's backs,” Jake
chided.

The fact that Annie killed a human
being was just sinking in. She put her hands over her
face.

“
Something bad happened, huh?” Jake
surmised.

Annie shook her head and wiped the
moisture out of her eyes with her jacket sleeve. “Jake, Big Ed sent
one of his goons after me while he talked to the cops. The guy
stayed on my tail so I hid in the appliance store
dumpster.

He figured out that's where I
disappeared to and started looking in the dumpsters with his gun
drawn. The dumpster I was in was the last of the four. The coward
stuck his pistol in first and shot without looking.”

“
Oh no, did he hit you?” Jake asked,
looking her up and down.

“
No, not even close. I was doubled up
in a corner so he missed me by a mile. He was curious enough to
peek which was his mistake. When he did, I let him have it between
the eyes. He dropped without a sound, and I got out of there before
the gunfire was reported to the cops again,” Annie
said.

“
Well, don't feel too bad for the
guy. It was either you or him going to bite the bullet. I'm just
glad it was Big Ed's man that went down for the count and not
you.

What are we going to do now? We
can't stay in this storm drain forever with winter coming on,” Jake
groaned.

“
No, we can't. We need to trap Big Ed
and get him jailed permanently before he kills one of us,” Annie
said frankly.

To Jake that seemed like an
impossible plan. “Oh, sure. Sounds like you're getting one of your
cockamamie ideas to me. Now just how are we going to trap Big
Ed?”

Chapter 16

“
I think I know a way,” Annie said,
grinning at him. “It involves you buying me another
doughnut.”

“
Oh, come on. Quit your joking. That
bakery is the last store we need to be seen near. Big Ed is sure to
have it figured out by now that the two of us can only afford
doughnuts. He already knows we hang out in that alley a lot so he's
sure to have one of his goon's keeping an eye out for us,”
complained Jake.

“
Exactly, so he knows where to find
us if we get another doughnut and eat it in the alley,” Annie
agreed. She checked her pockets. “I've got enough change to buy two
more. After that, I better go back to work,
rummaging.”

“
Hey, awhile back you told me you
only had enough money for one doughnut we'd have to split,” Jake
groused.

Annie chuckled. “So I
lied.”

“
That wasn't a bit nice of you to
make me feel sorry for you and spend my hard earned money on
doughnuts for us both when you had money to buy your own. I thought
you said you weren't going to lie to me anymore,” Jake
said.

“
I'm sorry. Old habits are hard to
break,” Annie apologized.

“
Well, my being cautious is an old
habit that is hard for me to break. For your information, your plan
don't sound like a great one to me. I don't feel like being bait
for Big Ed and maybe getting myself and you killed. Not even for an
iced doughnut you bought me,” Jake complained.

“
I don't either, but we haven't got a
choice. Sooner or later, we won't be able to out run that mean
hombre. He'll get us for sure if it's on his own terms. We got to
set a trap and catch him before that happens,” she
reasoned.

So Cowboy Girl Annie, bold as Annie
Oakley, and Skinny Jake, reluctant as always since he didn't expect
them to come out of Annie's plan alive (what ever it was), walked
in broad daylight in plain sight to the bakery. Any of Big Ed's
stooges watching for them couldn't miss spotting the pair out in
the open.

“
There just ain't anything smart
about what we're doing if you ask me,” griped Jake as they made
their way through the park full of people during a tennis
match.

Cowboy Girl Annie grinned at him.
“That's why I didn't ask you.”

“
I'd feel a whole lot better if I
knew exactly what you have up your sleeve,” Jake
declared.

“
No you wouldn't,” Annie said as they
crossed the street.

Jake stopped in front of the bakery.
“Just so you know if you get me killed. I'll never forgive
you.”

“
That sounds right enough. I wouldn't
forgive me either if you end up dead,” Annie said, patting Jake on
the back.

As they entered the bakery, Jake
whispered in her ear, “Somehow that sentiment is not very
reassuring.”

This time Annie ordered the
doughnuts and paid for them. Jake braced himself nervously on one
foot then the other as he watched out the large plate glass window
for Big Ed and his men to show up.