To Catch a Copperhead (4 page)

Authors: Pro Se Press

Tags: #pulp fiction, #pulp heroes, #new pulp

BOOK: To Catch a Copperhead

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When we walked into Ryan’s,
all eyes turned to us. A dozen men sat around the bar and at the
few tables. Their eyes danced from her to me and back. Emma’s cheek
glowed red from the monster’s backhanded blow and my face couldn’t
have looked any better, given the beating I’d taken. Strangely, the
fact that I was so heavily armed didn’t seem to register with
them.

“
Daddy?” Emma said, and I
followed her gaze to a well dressed man in the back.

He sat at a table, a deck of
cards in his hand with several cards laid out in front of him. He
scrunched his face up and looked at us. His eyes opened wide in
surprise when he realized that his daughter stood beside
me.

Emma stormed up to the table
and glared at him. As I approached to stand beside her, I saw his
hand move as if he meant to slide it inside his jacket. My hand
moved quickly to the butt of my rifle and hesitated. He knew he’d
never draw his weapon in time, and pulled his hand back to the
table.

“
Daddy… You’re a part of
this,” she whispered and I could hear the heartbreak in her voice.
“You? You’re the leader of this… this group of…” her words trailed
off and she lifted a hand to wipe a tear from her cheek.

“
You weren’t supposed to be
there,” he whispered and looked around at the other patrons who
looked away from us. “I did what I did for the greater good. You’re
just a girl. You don’t know what this war is really costing
us.”

She nodded, “Yes, Daddy… I
think I know what this war has cost me.”

***

The midday sun fell on the
small café that I loved. The wrought iron tables that sat along the
sidewalk were full but Emma had already claimed one for herself.
After parting ways the night before, I’d agreed to meet for
tea.

“
Good Lord, I didn’t
recognize you,” she said as I approached her.

She looked me up and down,
surprised at my fashion choice for the day. The dark green dress
was a favorite because it matched my eyes. That and also because I
could carry a pair of knives strapped on each thigh without anyone
noticing. I took a seat and asked a passing waiter for
coffee.

“
And your face… I can’t tell
that you were even hit,” she said and I noticed the slight bruise
along her right cheekbone.

“
In my line of work, you
have to know how to cover up all the marks and bruises,” I quipped
and then turned the topic to a more serious one. “How did your
mother take the news? After all, your father was arrested as part
of this conspiracy.”

Her smile faded. “She had
suspected that he was up to something nefarious. So, it didn’t come
as much of a shock. Still, it’ll be hard for her, hard for both of
us.”

The waiter placed my coffee
on the table and I quickly added a measure of sugar and cream. As
my hand idly stirred the mixture, I looked at her for the first
time in the daylight.

“
What will you do? Continue
to work for the boarding house?”

She smiled. “Yes, of course.
No reason for me to give up good employment.” She snickered and
added, “And I’ll be adding a night job to my routine.”

I eyed her suspiciously.
“What kind of night job?”

“
I think that Assassin Anne
should have a partner.” When she saw my expression, she revised the
idea, “Alright, a sidekick perhaps.”

I said nothing and lifted
the cup to my mouth. Before I could take a sip she said, “What
about Battling Betty? Sounds like a good team, Assassin Anne and
Battling Betty.” I lowered the cup as she began to ramble. “Of
course, I’ll need you to teach me how to shoot and I’ll need to
purchase a gun or two. Can you recommend a good type? Maybe
something smaller than what you carry. And I’ll need an outfit but
maybe a little more stylish and, dare I say, more girlie than the
one you wear. No offense, but you look like a common soldier in
that get-up.”

I smacked my lips and said,
“Great.”

Considering that she
continued to ramble on about her wardrobe and weaponry choices, the
amount of sarcasm in my single word hadn’t been sufficient to let
her know what I really thought. Still, it might be nice to have
some company for a change.

You have just finished
reading

TO CATCH A COPPERHEAD

by D. Alan Lewis

This story was originally presented
in
High Adventure History
, available at Amazon and
Smashwords.

Edited by Mark Beaulieu and Tommy
Hancock

Editor in Chief, Pro Se
Productions-Tommy Hancock

Submissions Editor-Barry
Reese

Director of Corporate
Operations-Morgan Minor

Publisher & Pro Se Productions,
LLC-Chief Executive Officer-Fuller Bumpers

Cover Art by David L.
Russell

Cover Design by Jeff
Hayes

E-book Design by Russ
Anderson