Chapter 29

“So who the hell is this clod?” Leslie asked as the guy in the suit walked up. So far, these two idiots, China and Barry, had done nothing but waste her time. Their “big job” consisted of little more than childish pranks at any number of small businesses that were spread out all over town. There was no rhyme or reason to what they did and, as far as Leslie could see, no connection from one business to the next. Despite this fact, it was very obvious that the two idiots had not picked the places at random. All but one of the businesses had been on a piece of paper that China kept in her jacket. The one not on the paper, well, Leslie got the impression that they smashed the place’s front window simply because they thought it was fun.

Barry was still laughing about it when they stopped and filled up several spare gas cans at a station. He was even chuckling about it as they stood around this parking lot waiting, for god only knew. Leslie was glad he found it amusing because, she was getting bored. Then the man in the suit showed up.

China Bass did not seem all too happy with the guy, “bout damn time. Where have you been?”

“Hey,” the suit replied, “I took care of the gangsters didn’t I? I had something else to do while you two were crapping around some place else. You’re the one who’s late.” Then the man pointed to Leslie, “who the hell is this?”

Leslie did the answering by sneering at the man and repaying the favor, “who the hell are you?” Then Leslie looked at China and, with no small amount of frustration, she noted, “this is not where our person of interest is. I’m growing a little a weary of all the kids stuff.”

“Relax will you,” China replied with a twinkle in her eye, “I think you’re actually going to like this one. It’s more your speed.” Then China walked up to the suit and poked him with her unusually long nail, “and we were late because we were doing what you paid us to do.”
As Barry pulled the gas cans out of the trunk he added, “and exactly how did you take care of those Canadians, anyway? How do you know they won’t come back?”

The suit was quite put off by having to answer that question, “the same way our problem did it. I paid them off. Now can we please just get this over with?”

China had a big smile as she turned to walk towards the nearly empty strip mall, “surprised you want to get your little hand’s dirty, Greg.”
It did not seem to Leslie as if this Greg was all too enthused about having to do this. It sure did not sound that way but, he rationalized it as, “she’s going to be dead so who cares.”

When Leslie pulled her phone out of a cargo pocket, it quickly drew the notice and scorn of China. Leslie blew the girl off, “I’m checking the time. You guys have already wasted most of my day.”

China acted if she were mildly amused by that. She kept right on walking and brazenly led the little pack right into the strangest of storefronts. Of course, given how devoid this place was of actual businesses, Leslie reflected, it being here was strange enough all by itself.

The inside of the place proved to be something of a surprise. Leslie had guessed this was a head shop but, it turned out to be nothing more than a comic book store. The only person in the shop, a little pale looking girl with multi colored hair, ran for the back door as soon as she saw the party walking in. China, still at the lead, had no problem drawing a particularly large handgun and putting a hole in the back wall. It was very close to the young girls head and, she quickly got the message. The girl froze and said in a panic, “just take what you want, well, I mean except for the Costa Man number fourteen!”

China never broke her stride as she put away her gun and promptly marched right up to the girl and grabbed her by the hair. As China pulled the girl back towards the middle of the store, Leslie complained, “are you stupid? This is going a little bit further than breaking some glass!”

Barry was guarding the front door. He had put down the two cans of gasoline and now he was pulling something out of the bag he brought in. China stopped with her captive in the center of the store and slammed her face down on the carpet. With a foot on the little girls back, China snatched the coil of rope that Barry tossed her from his bag.

Leslie stepped up and squared off with the large blond, “this is not what we discussed. This is not April May and…”
That was when the suit, Greg, suddenly looked a bit more interested in what was going on. Up till now he seemed almost squeamish. April’s name changed that to one of serious concern, “what the hell does April have to do with this?”

That amused China to no end. She pulled her weapon back out and nodded to Barry as she did it. He then pulled out his own gun and stepped behind Greg where he shoved the barrel in the suit’s neck. Leslie got the definitive feeling that things were now getting out of hand. She put her hands out and tried to calm things down, “look, nobody has to get killed here? We can all just walk away? Come on China! Do you honestly think you can pull a double homicide and get away with it?”

China still seemed to be having fun. She pointed her weapon at Leslie and said, “you’re right. I don’t plan on pulling a double. I’m going for a triple here. You see, with killing it gets easier the more bodies you leave behind. The cops just kind of assume one did the other, you know?”

Now Greg was quite indignant, even with a barrel at his throat, “what do you mean China? Triple? April? What the hell is going on here?”
China rolled her eyes at the man, “oh give me a break Greg. You hired us to do this little girl,” she pointed to the one on the floor, “and somebody else hired us to do you.”

“Oh,” Greg was unusually calm for a man with a gun to his head, “so that’s how it is.”

“Yeah,” China told him. She then nodded to Leslie, “you always leave a patsy at a murder. So the way I figure it, you hired numb nuts here to burn out our little Madame Toulon only, you two argued over the money and shot each other.” China then stepped off Toulon and tossed Leslie the rope, “you tie her up.”

“Fuck you,” Leslie replied as she threw the rope back.

China let the rope hit the ground. She was too busy pointing her weapon at Leslie’s head, “well ok, doesn’t matter if you go first.”
It was Greg who got China’s attention, away from Leslie, when he said, “you were right about one thing China. You always leave behind a patsy.”

“What’s that sup…” China’s attention was quickly drawn to the back door where three men came rushing in with machineguns drawn. The first round they fired caught Barry Bass right between the eyes. He fell without ever firing a shot. China began diving for cover and did manage to get off one shot before several bursts of automatic fire ripped up her torso. She was dead before she hit the ground.

Greg Beckett got up off the floor, brushing himself off as he went. He then turned his attention on Leslie who had never moved and had her hands held high. Beckett walked up to her and grabbed her violently by the shirt, “what does this have to do with April!”
Despite the shaking, Leslie smiled at the guy, “somebody hired your two losers here to whack her. Fortunately for her they fucked it up.”

“Who,” demanded Greg as he shook Leslie even more violently.

Leslie pushed the guy off of her and, with a red face, she growled back, “I don’t have a clue so just back off.”

Greg snapped his fingers at one of is well armed, tie wearing, goons and said, “check her for weapons and then bring her with us. I’m going to get to the bottom of this.”

One of the other goons, who was covering Madame Toulon, aka Shelly, asked his boss, “what about her?”
Greg shrugged, “do what we came here to do. Burn her out.”

Shelly jumped up from the floor and tried to run for the door but, the man with the gun easily grabbed her by one hand and then slung her down in a metal fold out chair. He shoved the weapon right in her face, “don’t move bitch!”

Greg took Leslie’s phone from the man who handed it to him and began looked over the various open screens as he said to the shop owner,

“you know Miss Rothman, if your mother wasn’t such a pain in the ass we wouldn’t have to do this.”

Leslie watched as one of the thugs slid her gun into his belt line. He then held down the shop owner as the other guy began tying her to the chair. Then Leslie’s eyes drifted towards the open back door. She did not figure she had enough time to make the front. If the third goon would just move out the way or shift his attention then she could make a break for it. Unfortunately, the guy was being alert.
Then Leslie had her attention shifted by Greg Beckett as he surprisingly said, “you’re a Colonial Ranger?”

The third goon became surprised, “I thought those were just on TV?”

Leslie snickered, “kind of a sub contractor actually.”

“They paid me a visit this morning,” Greg said. “They told me somebody was out to kill April but, I didn’t believe them. I mean, are we talking about the same April May? Who would want to kill her?”

Leslie just shrugged, with her hands still held high, and then said, “oh gee, I don’t know. Maybe if you left Mutt and Jeff here alive you could have found out, huh, lover boy?”

“Those two were hired because they were expendable,” Greg sneered, “you on the other hand.” He then looked Leslie dead in the eye,

“well, after I beat everything out of you, you’re going to be less than expendable. I’m going to make sure you die painfully.”

Leslie, in a very smart ass tone, replied, “oh you just know how to make a girl feel special.”

The goons were not as thorough as they seemed to believe. There were still two loose guns laying on the floor. One belonged to Barry and the other to China. Leslie kept glancing down at the one that China had dropped on impact with the bullets and the ground. It was the closest and if she had a diversion she thought it might be reachable. She watched the bad guys very closely and looked for her chance.
It did not come when they finished tying up the little girl. That only put two guns on Leslie instead of the one. The other guy, the one with Leslie’s weapon, began the task of slinging gasoline over comic books. It still did not help Leslie’s case one little bit.

Meanwhile, Greg kept on reading Leslie’s phone. He finally could no longer ignore Shelly’s constant pleading and, so, Greg snapped at one of his guys, “would you please shut her up!” As the man gagged the little girl, with a rag he found under the counter, Greg then looked back to Leslie and said, “so you’re some kind of bounty hunter? What does April have to do with all this?”

“Why Greg,” Leslie said with a big smile, “don’t you know? She’s been spying on you guys, for the Rangers. They think you’re trying to kill her.”

That actually got his attention for a second. He looked down at the bodies and considered the information. Then it was obvious he changed his mind, “that’s bullshit. April couldn’t keep a secret if her life depended on it. She could have never gotten away with that without me finding out.”

Leslie gave a cute little shrug and told him, “boy she had you fooled.”

Greg looked down at the phone and got the name he was looking for, “ok Miss Tatersall, who is Norm?”

Leslie thought about it and then came back with, “oh he’s my new pimp! You know, I never can keep their names straight.”

Greg snarled and then told his men, “take her to your car and secure her. You,” he pointed to one in particular, “as soon as I’m out the back door, light this place up.”

Shelly Rothman screamed under her gag as loud as she could.