"Dammit!" Rally slammed her hand on the desk. "This is totally unfair! They shot first!" "Rally, calm down or you’ll face more than 30 days suspension." Roy was more than a little exasperated. "You can’t just go around town acting like a vigilante!" Rally interrupted. "I know that! I didn’t kill the guy, did I? I just put him out of action." She blew her hair out of her eyes in frustration. "Geez, Roy. I made it easier for you to find ‘em." Roy pushed his chair back from the desk and stood, both hands on the desk edge. "Listen to me Rally - I’m not joking here. Those guys weren’t on any wanted posters - you had no jurisdiction." "What about the gun?" Rally insisted. "We didn’t find any." Roy stood and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "What?" Rally could not believe her ears. "The shooter took out a window at MacAfee’s. How could there be no gun?" Roy shrugged. "Look, all I know is that the guys in the car were aides from the City Planning Office and neither of them were armed." Roy sighed heavily. "The one you shot was released from the hospital. His story is that they were out for a lunchtime ride, when you and your friend pulled up and you shot him. The other guy," Roy held up a hand to stall Rally’s protest, "the guy you say was the shooter - he’s unconscious. Got thrown from the car when it flipped." Rally cursed under her breath. Roy looked at her strangely. "What were you doing on the back of a motorcycle anyway? That’s not your usual gig." Unaccountably, Rally found herself blushing. "I told you - there wasn’t time to get to the Cobra." Roy frowned a bit at Rally, then shrugged. "Go on - go home. We’ll talk later." Rally turned away from him and he said softly, "Try not to get yourself killed, okay?" "I promise." Rally waved over her shoulder as she walked away. *** "Cool!" May said, around a mouthful of fried rice. "Gross!" Becky said, as she picked a grain of rice from her sweater. "Can’t you finish chewing first?" May giggled while Becky scowled back at her. Rally finished chewing, then nodded. "Yeah it was kind of cool." She smiled until she saw May giving her a funny stare, then cleared her throat. "But there was something odd about Cowboy, too." "You mean, like how she knew where the Trans Am was going?" Becky asked, flicking a second grain of rice back at Minnie May. "Exactly." Rally locked her feet under the chair and pushed back to lean against the wall. She had changed into a crop top and shorts, but she could still feel the aftereffects of the adrenaline from today’s joyride alternately giving her chills and hot flashes "So, you think they were gunning for this Cowboy, then." It was not a question. Rally nodded, but she wasn’t sure. Cowboy had seemed so…straightforward. "Rally," May said, ostentatiously swallowing and wiping her mouth with a napkin before speaking, "do you think she was trying to set you up?" "No." Rally answered a beat too fast and knew it. Both women facing her had astonishment written all over their faces. "Rally?" Beck said. May was plainer, "She got you to shoot the driver. Without your ID, there’s nothing but a few police reports of a car-motorcycle chase on the highway. No Cowboy Simms…no one but Rally Vincent." May’s voice was serious and Rally nodded contritely. Becky stood up abruptly. "Right, before I forget - Terri "Cowboy" Simms." She walked over to her briefcase, pulled out a file and handed it to Rally. "21 years old, 5’10", born in Driftwood, Texas." "Becky, that’s got to be fake!" May laughed. "There can’t really be a Driftwood, Texas." Becky grinned. "There shore is, purdy lady." And she tipped her nonexistent cowboy hat over her brow. Rally looked down at the file, but didn’t open it. "What else?" she asked the informer. Becky waved her hand insouciantly. "The usual. High school dropout, runaway. Did some courier work for the local drug dealers, but nothing deep. Drifted, ends up here. Hasn’t settled down, though. She’s had four addresses in six months." "Hmmm." Rally sounded thoughtful. "Basic courier stuff, you say? Then why would two guys from City Planning want to take her out?" Becky winked and pointed at the file. "Look at the addresses listed for your friend there. Notice anything funny about them?" Rally read the addresses out loud. Minnie May snapped her fingers. "I know! Didn’t they all get vacated?" Becky nodded. "Each and every one of those streets was preemptively purchased under the auspices of the Industrial Street and Alleyway Vacation Program." "Right," Rally agreed. "I remember that. Businesses can expand into "under-utilized" alleyway and street areas to, if I remember correctly, ‘improve security.’" "Yep." Becky said. "And those companies can buy that land for way under market prices. The best part is that property owners of adjacent property have no choice - they have to agree to the vacation." Rally whistled. "Nice. I wonder how many places were put out of business that way." Shrugging, Becky said, "Not many. Remember, these areas are mostly abandoned warehouses, crackhouses and other tourist spots." "Yeah, but still!" May was indignant. Rally looked back down at the file on her lap and wondered how Cowboy fit into all of this. *** Rally rubbed her eyes and stifled another yawn. She was beat, but she couldn’t sleep. Rolling over, she turned on the lamp at her bedside and grabbed the file Becky had left her. Opening it, she stared at the photo of the tall woman. Brown hair - it’s longer now, she thought - blue eyes crinkled up in a cynical smile. Looks that would fade into a crowd, nothing special. Rally reread the information in the manila folder for the third time, but nothing new caught her attention. She flipped back to the photo and pulled it off the file. Lying back on her pillow she gazed at the unremarkable picture for a long time. She closed the file, stuck the photo into it and laid it back on the night table. Turning off the light, she lay back again and spoke into the darkness. "Goodnight, Cowboy - wherever you are."
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