Free Cowboy Girl Annie by Fay Risner Page B

only
protection.”
    “ I didn't give that man anything, and
I don't intend to,” Annie said stubbornly.
    “ Yeah, right! Need I remind you that
is what started this whole battle in the first place. That's why
we're sitting here like rats, waiting to be picked off by Big Ed,”
Jake told her.
    Right on cue, four policemen came
into sight at the end of the alley and scattered out. They had
their guns drawn.
    “ Throw the guns down. Do it now, and
put your hands in the air!” screamed the closest cop behind Big Ed
and his gang.
    As soon as Annie heard the soft
plunk of guns hit the ground in the vicinity of her gun, she said
softly, “We're home free now, Jake. Let me do all the
talking.”
    “ I don't have a choice now that you
have me in this mess. I don't have a clue what I should say. I sure
hope you know what you're doing since I sure don't,” he
griped.
    Annie stood up with her hands high.
Jake stood up behind her and raised his hands with a doughnut sack
in each hand.
    Annie called to the cops, “We're
coming out. Don't shoot us.”
    “ Come ahead,” the spokesman for the
cops ordered. He most likely was in his thirties and acted like a
cop with a decade of experience behind him.
    Annie and Jake edged slowly away
from the protection of the dumpster. Standing in plain sight of Big
Ed, his goons and the cops, Annie said, “I'm Annie. Me and my
friend, Skinny Jake, don't have a gun. We were the ones being shot
at by these roughnecks.”
    The cop came around Big Ed and his
men to stand in front of Annie and Jake. “What’s going on here? We
had reports by the bakery shop owner of shots fired in the alley.
Throw your sacks over there.” The officer demanded at Jake,
pointing toward the building foundation.
    “ Officer, it's just our doughnuts in
them sacks,” Annie explained.
    “ Could be a weapon in there. I'm not
trusting any of you until I hear what this fight is all about. I
don't trust a one of you any farther than I could throw you,” the
officer snapped, stepping sideways to bend over and pick up the
revolvers.
    The other three cops aimed their
guns at Big Ed and his guys as well as Jake and Annie.
    It wouldn't be a good idea to move
sudden like, Annie decided.
    She held her tongue as another
policeman’s shiny, black shoe came within an inch of flattening
their doughnut sacks when he circled around her and Jake. As he
turned to cover their backs with his gun, his toe connected with
the sacks, and a doughnut rolled out of one of them.
    Feelings of anger toward the cop
made Annie want to give him a tongue lashing as she eyed her
delicious doughnut laying in the dirt. The only reason she
hesitated was the fact if she made the cop mad, the head cop might
not listen to her.
    The officer in charge cradled the
guns in his arms, straightened up and moved toward them. “One of
you men pat these two down to make sure they don't have a gun
hidden out in all that garb they have on. You other two check Big
Ed and his men for hidden guns or knives.”
    A cop patted Annie and Jake down
their sides and back. “Sarge, they're unarmed.”
    Better start talking,” Sarge
snapped, trying to hold on to his arms full of guns.
    “ That big guy was fixing to shoot us.
I distracted him by talking to him, just praying you policemen
would show up before he and his men killed us,” Annie declared as
she pointed innocently at Big Ed.
    “ That’s a lie. One of those guns you
got there is hers, Man. She shot at us first,” screamed Big Ed,
shaking a finger at Annie.
    “ Jake, what do you say happened
here?” The sergeant asked.
    “ What Annie says,” Jake said, looking
at the ground.
     

Chapter 18
     
    Annie eyed this man she had become
so fond of. Great! No wonder Jake has been complaining so much
about me lying to him. He couldn't tell a lie and be convincing
even when his life depended on it. And here I thought it was only
George Washington who couldn't tell a lie.
    Annie figured she better take over
before the