Chapter 31


   In complete frustration, Tony flung the binoculars down on the seat, “why do they have to cover all the windows with all those posters? I can’t see anything going on inside!”

The loud cracks that followed made Amy jerk in her seat. She quickly reached over and unfastened her seat belt, “I don’t think we need to see anything now. I’d say whatever is happening just went south.”

Tony looked at the girl like she was crazy, “you really want to go in there?”

“No but,” Amy blurted out with a little of her own frustration, “I think that’s kind of our job?”

“We don’t have any orders,” Tony replied.

Amy crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, “and that’s stopped you when?”

Tony was very gruff when he told her, “we’re out numbered and we’re out gunned Amy. We don’t even know the situation in there. We can’t see crap.”

Amy pulled out her gun and opened her car door as she told him, “I’m going with or without you. Somebody needs our help.”

Tony growled in frustration and got out of the car too. He pulled his weapon, flipped off the safety, and met Amy at the front of the vehicle. He then looked to her and said, “your call. What’s the plan?”

“This,” Amy told him. Then she leaned over and gave him a quick kiss, “you really are a stand up guy. You know that?”

It was not that Tony minded the kiss. He just had other things on his mind right now. One of those things was slowly forming in the back of his head and was very different from the rest. Tony just had to wonder how it was this girl could be so calm at a time like this.
Then Amy asked, “front or back?”

Tony blinked, “what?”

Amy grumbled and pushed him, “I’ll take the back. You come in the front door.”

Tony was not all right with this plan but, she did not leave him with much choice in the matter. Amy ran off, in a hard sprint, even before she finished telling him what her plan was. It did not sound like much of one but, as Tony reflected, there were not too many plans they could make here. Now he just hoped that this store actually had a back door.

There was a row of plastered concrete in between store windows and, for what little of it there was, it was about the only cover that Tony could find. It would have given him a partial view of the inside of the shop had the door not been plastered with posters like the rest of the store front. Past wondering what was right behind that door, Tony had an even more important question bouncing around in his head. How did he always wind up like this?

After a couple of deep breaths he silently told himself, “got to go. Got to go. Got to go.”

The shooting from behind the building made his mind up for him. Amy had apparently found the bad guys and the crack of automatic weapons reminded Tony that she probably needed his help. Tony gritted his teeth and put his shoulder into the door. He was met with a burst of extremely hot air that was pushing in the opposite direction. Tony’s momentum carried him in and put him on the floor. It was right about where he needed to be given it was the coolest place in the room.

Fire was streaking across the room and up the walls. The place was filled with cardboard boxes and they were perfect kindling. Tony was about to make a hasty exit on his belly when he heard something quite different from the roar of the ever growing fire. They were muffled shrieks and the tell tale sign of someone else inside the store.

The smoke had made visibility almost impossible. The first person that Tony came too was not making the sounds. Tony rolled the body over and recognized the face from the picture on his phone. “Guess you didn’t start this.” He mumbled as he saw a break in the smoke and the person behind it. Some girl was behind the counter, very alive, and tied to a chair. “I’m coming!”

Tony pulled the girl and the chair out of the back door. He never actually saw the door until he was out of it. Tony had felt the cool breeze that was being sucked in by the fire and he followed that. He would have thanked his luck had he not found himself jumping out of the fire and right back into the frying pan. As Tony gasped for clean air he looked up and saw the barrel of a sub-machinegun pointed right at him. Tony closed his eyes and heard the crack of a weapon.

Shots cracked off in repeated succession and Tony flinched every time he heard one. When he opened his eyes again he saw the man with the machinegun laying on the ground in a pool of his own blood. The car, that the man was standing next too, was still there and another body was laying inside. A second car was speeding off down the alley and headed for the street. Tony had no clue what to do now.

The girl, still tied to the chair, made up his mind for him. Tony pulled the gag out of her mouth and asked “you ok?”

She was not, “of course I’m not you idiot! They just burned my damn store down!”

Tony let out a deep breath and said, “and you’re welcome while you’re at it.” The sound of a person stepping up got Tony on his feet with his weapon raised and ready. He found himself looking down his sights at someone that was a complete surprise, “Leslie? What the hell…” Tony saw the weapon in her hand and it was pointed right at him, “drop it Leslie! Now! You’re under arrest!”

Leslie lowered her weapon but she did not drop it, “and you’re welcome too you big idiot.”

Tony did not lower his weapon one little bit, “what are you doing here? Where’s Amy?”

Leslie flipped on the safety of her weapon and shoved it in the small of her back as she noted, “you got some gratitude for somebody who just saved your ass.”

Shelly Rothman, still tied to the chair, laying on her back, looked up and asked, “can I please get untied? Um, you know, if you guys aren’t busy or anything?”

Tony hesitated but he finally, cautiously, lowered his weapon. He pretty much ignored the girl he had just saved and kept his attention on Leslie, “why are you here? Did you have anything to do with this?”

“Of course I did you moron,” Leslie exploded, “Norm asked me to find those two ass holes, Barry and China Bass.”

“What?” Tony was ever more confused now, “wait a minute. I don’t…”

Leslie walked up to him and said, “call Norm. I’m afraid the guys in that other car have got your girlfriend.” Leslie rolled her eyes and pointed to her hair, “and they say blonds are stupid? We got nothing on red heads, let me tell you.”

Tony finally put his gun up, “ok I’ve gone from a little to really confused now.”

Shelly asked once more, “um guys?”