Free Eye for an Eye by Bev Robitai

ammunition. Eyes
glued to the sidewalk, she hunted until she spotted a dog turd that
was just slightly dry but would do the job. Swiftly she bent and
dipped the end of the peashooter in it and walked on. Then she
moved closer to Colwyn again, closing in until she was within
range. She carefully aimed for a spot on the back of his collar,
and fired. The brown speck stuck fast. After a few moments, she saw
him look around, sniffing disdainfully. Then he checked the bottom
of his shoes. He walked on but she could see that every time he
passed someone the eddy of air brought the smell to his nose again.
It was a pity that it was relatively late in the day, she thought.
Having an unidentifiable and unlocatable smell hanging round for
the whole day would have been so much more annoying for him.
    She dropped the
peashooter into a rubbish bin and tried to keep the grin off her
face. Score now two to nil. But perhaps she should allow Colwyn one
point since she’d fallen into the lake while chasing him. OK, say
two to one - she was still in the lead.
     
    When she looked
up she saw that Colwyn was getting ahead of her so she closed the
gap, while still allowing several people to walk between them in
case he looked round and saw her. Then, peering between the
shoulders of a pair of American tourists, she saw him run up a
short flight of steps and enter the sliding glass doors of a tall,
marble-faced apartment building.
    Robyn was
momentarily stumped. She couldn’t follow him straight in because
he’d see her, and she suspected from the look of the place there
might be a doorman who would prevent her from walking in on her
own. She paused outside for a moment, giving Colwyn time to go
through the lobby, then opened the outer door herself.
    ‘Hi there, can
I help you?’ The doorman looked up from his console.
    ‘Hi, isn’t it a
great day?’ She smiled widely and exuded as much charm and
confidence as she could muster. ‘I’m with Colwyn Symons, the guy
that just came in. I stopped out there to tie my shoe and he didn’t
even notice! Walked right on without me. Great guy, huh?’
    She started to
walk towards the elevator to see which floor it had stopped at.
There was no guarantee that he lived here, he might just be
visiting, but if she could get close enough at least she’d see
which floor he was on.
    ‘Would you like
to give him a call?’ asked the doorman. ‘Or if you’ll wait one
moment, ma’am, I’ll page him for you.’
    ‘Oh, would you?
Thank you.’
    Aha! So he
definitely did live there, that was worth finding out in itself.
Now if she could just see what number the doorman was dialling? She
casually wandered back towards the console and tried to see which
buttons he was pushing without being too obvious, but it told her
nothing.
    She looked
round the lobby while rapidly trying to think of a way to avoid
this unplanned meeting.
    ‘Um, look, hold
on a second - don’t page him right now. I think I’ll go get us a
pizza for supper, he likes those. I’ll be back in a few minutes, so
don’t disturb him just yet, OK?’
    With a small
triumphant smile on her lips, she was away down the front steps
before the doorman had a chance to answer.
    Around the
corner, she opened her bag and wrote down the apartment number she
had just seen on the lobby mailboxes before she had a chance to
forget it. C.Symons, Apartment 1123. Brilliant! Now that she had
his address she could find him in two locations. That had to double
her chances of doing him some damage.
    Exultant as she
was, she’d had enough for one day. She was tired now and ready to
find her dinner and bed.
     
    By morning the
kernel of an idea had sown itself in her brain. It was a daring
plan, risky even, but she thought she had a fair chance of getting
away with it. It would take a bit of setting up, so she made an
early start.
    First stop was
the Eatons Centre, where she used a ‘print-your-own business card’
machine to produce a professional-looking flyer