To Catch a Copperhead Read online

  The shot felt wrong to me but I knew it had a good purpose. I didn’t murder him in anger. Instead it was a mercy killing. I looked at her while we walked out the door and wondered, for the first time, if there was a difference.

  ***

  “Where do we go now?” she asked after we’d gotten a block away from the Royale.

  The sounds of fire bells echoed down the myriad streets. We’d stopped a few, but many of the Copperheads had achieved their goals. The frustration was the hardest thing to deal with. We’d done as much as possible and it wasn’t enough to stop them all.

  “Ryan’s Pub,” I whispered and then said it out loud when I saw she hadn’t heard me. “He said his group was meeting there after the fires were started. I want to catch as many as possible.”

  “Catch or kill?” Emma asked and for a change, there was an absence of sarcasm in her tone.

  “Catch,” I said and looked over at her. “We’ll catch them, turn them over to the police and let the city hang them.”

  “Fair enough,” she replied.

  -5-

  Secrets

  When we walked into Ryan’s, all eyes turned to us. A dozen men sat around the bar and at the few tables. Their eyes danced from her to me and back. Emma’s cheek glowed red from the monster’s backhanded blow and my face couldn’t have looked any better, given the beating I’d taken. Strangely, the fact that I was so heavily armed didn’t seem to register with them.

  “Daddy?” Emma said, and I followed her gaze to a well dressed man in the back.

  He sat at a table, a deck of cards in his hand with several cards laid out in front of him. He scrunched his face up and looked at us. His eyes opened wide in surprise when he realized that his daughter stood beside me.

  Emma stormed up to the table and glared at him. As I approached to stand beside her, I saw his hand move as if he meant to slide it inside his jacket. My hand moved quickly to the butt of my rifle and hesitated. He knew he’d never draw his weapon in time, and pulled his hand back to the table.

  “Daddy… You’re a part of this,” she whispered and I could hear the heartbreak in her voice. “You? You’re the leader of this… this group of…” her words trailed off and she lifted a hand to wipe a tear from her cheek.

  “You weren’t supposed to be there,” he whispered and looked around at the other patrons who looked away from us. “I did what I did for the greater good. You’re just a girl. You don’t know what this war is really costing us.”

  She nodded, “Yes, Daddy… I think I know what this war has cost me.”

  ***

  The midday sun fell on the small café that I loved. The wrought iron tables that sat along the sidewalk were full but Emma had already claimed one for herself. After parting ways the night before, I’d agreed to meet for tea.

  “Good Lord, I didn’t recognize you,” she said as I approached her.

  She looked me up and down, surprised at my fashion choice for the day. The dark green dress was a favorite because it matched my eyes. That and also because I could carry a pair of knives strapped on each thigh without anyone noticing. I took a seat and asked a passing waiter for coffee.

  “And your face… I can’t tell that you were even hit,” she said and I noticed the slight bruise along her right cheekbone.

  “In my line of work, you have to know how to cover up all the marks and bruises,” I quipped and then turned the topic to a more serious one. “How did your mother take the news? After all, your father was arrested as part of this conspiracy.”

  Her smile faded. “She had suspected that he was up to something nefarious. So, it didn’t come as much of a shock. Still, it’ll be hard for her, hard for both of us.”

  The waiter placed my coffee on the table and I quickly added a measure of sugar and cream. As my hand idly stirred the mixture, I looked at her for the first time in the daylight.

  “What will you do? Continue to work for the boarding house?”

  She smiled. “Yes, of course. No reason for me to give up good employment.” She snickered and added, “And I’ll be adding a night job to my routine.”

  I eyed her suspiciously. “What kind of night job?”

  “I think that Assassin Anne should have a partner.” When she saw my expression, she revised the idea, “Alright, a sidekick perhaps.”

  I said nothing and lifted the cup to my mouth. Before I could take a sip she said, “What about Battling Betty? Sounds like a good team, Assassin Anne and Battling Betty.” I lowered the cup as she began to ramble. “Of course, I’ll need you to teach me how to shoot and I’ll need to purchase a gun or two. Can you recommend a good type? Maybe something smaller than what you carry. And I’ll need an outfit but maybe a little more stylish and, dare I say, more girlie than the one you wear. No offense, but you look like a common soldier in that get-up.”

  I smacked my lips and said, “Great.”

  Considering that she continued to ramble on about her wardrobe and weaponry choices, the amount of sarcasm in my single word hadn’t been sufficient to let her know what I really thought. Still, it might be nice to have some company for a change.

  You have just finished reading

  TO CATCH A COPPERHEAD

  by D. Alan Lewis

  This story was originally presented in High Adventure History, available at Amazon and Smashwords.

  Edited by Mark Beaulieu and Tommy Hancock

  Editor in Chief, Pro Se Productions-Tommy Hancock

  Submissions Editor-Barry Reese

  Director of Corporate Operations-Morgan Minor

  Publisher & Pro Se Productions, LLC-Chief Executive Officer-Fuller Bumpers

  Cover Art by David L. Russell

  Cover Design by Jeff Hayes

  E-book Design by Russ Anderson

  Visit the Pro Se Press website at http://www.prose-press.com for more New Pulp novels and short story collections

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