by Clay, Verna
"Kitty Puff made contact with Mrs. Martinez. They're in the dressing room now."
Jackson moved to squat behind the agent who was talking. He watched a screen showing Annie and the inside gal. The agent pulled his ear plug out and turned the volume up so everyone could hear.
Kitty Puff said, "This is our dressing room."
Annie nodded.
A stout dock-worker type entered the room. "Okay, she's up in five minutes. If she's good, she's got a job and you can train her on the computer." He left the room.
Kitty Puff looked at Annie. "I hope that's your costume under your clothes."
Annie nodded and her eyes got real big. "You want me to dance now?" she whispered.
Jackson groaned, "I'm going in."
Al grabbed his shoulder. "You make a move outside this van and I'll have agents handcuffing you."
They watched as Kitty Puff bent to Annie's height. "I thought you were aware you had to dance. Holy crap!"
Annie said, "I'll…I'll do the best I can."
Kitty Puff said, "Oh shit! Oh shit! Wait! I have an idea. We'll do a duo. You can imitate my moves."
The beefy guy with the bulldog face stepped back into the dressing room. "Come on, ladies, I got stuff to do. Let's get this audition over with."
"Oh, Billy, get your panties out of a wad. Me and Honey Bee are comin' up with somethin' real special."
Billy said a few choice words and left the room.
Kitty Puff bent to Annie's ear and spoke too low to be heard over the monitor. Annie nodded and they walked toward the dressing room exit.
Inside the van, Jackson scanned the screens for the main room. "There," Al pointed.
Jackson couldn't breathe when he saw the two women enter a room of slimy men. Billy climbed up the steps of the round stage and said in an announcer's voice. "We've got something special for our patrons tonight—a new exotic dancer to add to our team. Of course, she's got to get the approval of all you connoisseurs. So, without further ado, I introduce to you, Honey Bee."
In horror, Jackson listened to catcalls and watched Kitty Puff strut on stage, followed by a stiffly strutting Annie. The agent struck a provocative pose and Annie tried to imitate her. Kitty Puff said loudly, "Now, Freddy, Teddy, Dickey, Ricky, and all you other gentlemen…" she pointed flamboyantly toward the men she'd mentioned, "…we're gonna give you double the pleasure, double the fun." She nodded toward an unseen person and bump-and-grind music started. She did a little jiggle and the men cheered. She turned to Annie and pointed.
Jackson thought he was going to pass out. His sweet Annie was center stage in a stripper's bar. Annie's eyes rounded and she did a half-hearted imitation of the female agent's jiggle. One of the men called, "Come on, pretty baby, you can do better than that." The female agent slinked another move and Annie did a better imitation. "Yeah, baby," the same man yelled. Kitty Puff unbuttoned her top, and Annie untied hers. The men howled. Kitty Puff slipped her blouse off one shoulder, Annie did the same. In two more struts, they were parading around in push up bras. Annie's unskillful moves seemed to please the men more than Kitty Puff's expertise. A few more wiggles and Annie was less her skirt. When the dance got more seductive and the music hit a crescendo, with peeks of Annie's rear showing from under a little skirt, Jackson knew he was going to die of a heart attack. He had to get in there and save his wife. Al must have anticipated his intent because he grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him into a seat. Blessedly, the agent at the monitor said, "It's over." Jackson finally breathed and glanced over the agent's shoulder to see the girls curtsy, pick up their clothes, and run offstage. The men hooted and made catcalls and he wanted to smash every one of them to a bloody pulp.
"They're back in the dressing room," said the other agent.
Jackson looked at Alligator. "I'm okay." He moved to squat in front of the dressing room monitor.
The guy named Billy entered while Annie and the agent were slipping back into their clothes. "She don't seem all that experienced, but the men loved her. So, okay, she's hired. But she's gonna have to dance on her own later tonight. Show her how we keep track of customers in the computer."
"Sure thing, Boss."
Billy left the room and a couple more dancers entered. Kitty Puff made introductions and Annie warmly greeted them.
Kitty Puff said, "I'm gonna show Honey Bee how we track good paying customers."
The gals nodded and went to their dressing tables.
Inside the van, Alligator said, "Come on, Annie, you're almost there. You can do this."
Jackson bit the inside of his cheek and tasted blood. The tension was killing him. All he wanted was to get his wife back so he could tell her how much he loved her. He'd been stupid to think he could keep his heart safe from Annie. He'd fallen for her during their first dance five years ago, and now he loved her with everything in him.
He leaned in as Kitty Puff began explaining how customers were identified in the computer by code words so the waitresses knew which ones to pay special attention to. While he watched, Annie tapped on the keyboard and Kitty Puff kept up a running conversation as if explaining what to do. "Yep, now you select this code for creeps…"
Chapter 22: Jackson to the Rescue
"Yes!" said Alligator when Annie stepped away from the terminal.
Over the monitor they heard Kitty Puff saying, "So, that's how we know the paying customers from the freeloaders. Also, the raunchy ones who just want to cop a feel."
One of the other dancers stopped in the midst of spraying her hair. "Be sure and warn her about Greasy Grover.
Kitty Puff laughed, "Oh, you can bet I will. Come on, Honey Bee, I'll show you around some more."
Jackson moved his attention to the screen displaying the dimly lit and smoky main room. Some patrons gave cat calls when the girls entered and one yelled, "Hey, Honey Bee, you're sweeter'n honey and I know you're savin' the best for last." Kitty Puff waved. "Give us a minute, Dickey, then we'll come visit."
Jackson flexed his fists.
Alligator whispered, "Okay girls, you're almost home." He looked at Jackson. "The plan is for them to go outside for a smoke break, and then head down the street where our car will pick them up."
Jackson watched the girls walk to the bar and make small talk with the bartender. Kitty Puff made a smoking motion with her fingers and the bartender nodded his understanding. This was it. They were going to escape Sneak-a-Peek. They started toward the entrance.
Suddenly, Billy rushed over and grabbed Kitty Puff's arm. Another beefy guy came up beside Annie. With an escort on either side, the girls were walked back toward the hallway.
"Oh no! What's happening?" Jackson sputtered.
"Don't panic, it could be nothing," Al said without conviction.
On the dressing room monitor they watched, Kitty Puff and Honey Bee enter with the thugs. Billy looked at the other dancers and shouted, "Get out!"
With puzzled looks, the women hastened to obey. After the door shut, Billy said, "We got orders to keep you here til the boss shows up. Seems someone tampered with the computer and you're the only new person 'round here. Somethin' happened right after Kitty Puff showed you how to operate it. I ain't sayin' you done nothin'. I'm just sayin' the boss wants to talk to you."
"Oh crap!" said Alligator, and picked up a mic that linked to agents' ear sets. "We got trouble. Stand by for orders."
Jackson had seen enough and when Alligator leaned over to set the mic down, he jerked the van door open and jumped out. He heard Alligator shout, "Jackson, don't be stupid!"
Running like the wind, Jackson headed straight into the crowds streaming the sidewalk. As soon as he felt he wouldn't be seen, he ducked into a dimly lit bar and went straight for the bathroom. Inside, he ripped his coveralls off and punched speed dial on his cell phone.
Alligator answered, "Jackson, get your ass back here before you get yourself or someone else killed."
Jackson retorted, "I'm only saying this once. Call off your
boys. If you don't, I'll make the biggest stink you ever saw. I'll alert the whole neighborhood to something going down. I'm not leaving it to you guys to save Annie. I know what I'm doing."
Alligator hesitated and Jackson held his breath. Alligator finally said, "Okay."
Jackson wasn't dumb enough to trust Al, so after he slipped out of the bar, he still hid among the crowds until he was directly across the street from Sneak-a-Peek. He sure hoped Al took his empty threat about making a stink seriously. He crossed the street in the midst of a raucous group and reached the front door just as a scruffy looking man started toward him from the curb. Jackson told the bouncer, "Sure hope yer girls ain't skinny."
The bouncer grinned, "I'm sure we have one to please you, sir."
Hastily, Jackson stepped inside the smoke filled room that was beginning to get crowded. At the bar he ordered a mug of beer and swigged it. Swiveling on his stool, he got his bearings. He honed in on the hallway leading to the dressing room. Was Annie still there? His heart hammered. Suddenly, Billy and his buff buddy exited the hallway with Annie and Kitty Puff. Instead of heading into the club, however, they turned toward the back.
Jackson picked up his mug, shuffled through the crowd, and came up behind them. "Hey, Honey Bee, I been lookin' ever-where fer ya. I told ya I don't want ya dancin' no more. Whatcha got is strictly fer me now."
The group turned and the goon next to Annie said, "Go find your horse, cowboy."
Jackson acted the part of a drunk and sloshed his mug toward the big man. "Now, that's right unfriendly…" Beer splashed all over the jerk's jacket and the action took him by surprise. In a swift movement, Jackson was up close and personal with the disagreeable man and had confiscated his pistol from its shoulder harness. The female agent closed the gap between Billy and did the same.
Jackson covertly held the gun against his captive's side. "I'm the fastest gun in the West and I always get my woman. Ain't that right, Honey Bee?"
"Y-yes. Th-that's right."
"Now, we're all gonna mosey across the room to the entrance. I suggest you let the bartender know we're as happy as pups with two tails, cause he's lookin' this way. Cleanin' your guts up ain't gonna sit too well with him."
The thug made a dismissive motion toward the bartender and forced a grin. When they started forward and an exotic dancer slinked onstage to bass driven music, Kitty Puff said, "Billy, to make up for your sorry ass attitude, I want you to yell out that drinks are on the house."
"Huh?"
"You heard me. If you don't yell it out, I'm gonna shout that you're gay."
Billy yelled, "Drinks are on the house!"
In the pandemonium, Jackson rushed his group forward. A few paces short of the entrance, the scruffy, unshaven guy that Jackson had seen when he'd entered the club, and another guy, came up alongside them. "We've got your back. Just get the girls outside," the scruffy one said. Jackson flashed his gun at the bouncer and the beefy man lifted his hands in a submissive gesture, stepping sideways.
Outside the club Alligator was hunched over in a lover's embrace with Acuff. As soon as they saw Jackson and Annie, they sprinted forward. Several agents posing as loiterers sprang into action. A scuffling ensued and Annie got separated from Jackson. Alligator and Acuff surrounded her and pushed her toward a cab.
* * *
Annie tried to twist around but Alligator's huge arms held her in a vise. She heard shouts and then gunshots. Officer Acuff had the cab door open, and none too gently Al shoved her into the backseat before following her in. Acuff jumped in beside the driver and Al shouted, "Go! Go!" A bullet cracked the back window. The cab darted into traffic and Ann jerked around. Jackson was lying on the ground. "No! she screamed, and grabbed for her door handle. Al covered her hands with his thick ones and she fought with all the strength she possessed.
"Annie! Annie! I've got officers on the scene. They'll get him out!"
She heard Officer Acuff speaking into her cell phone. "Target rescued. Husband down. Send standby ambulance to Sneak-a-Peek Club."
"Please take me back to Jackson!" Ann wailed. Of course, she knew they would not. She laid her head against Alligator's chest and sobbed. During the ride to the safe house, Alligator kept one arm around her while he issued commands over his cell phone. At the bookstore, he told the agent posing as a cabbie to drop them at the back. Other agents rushed them inside.
Endless minutes later, Ann sat numbly on the couch shaking violently with fear for Jackson. Officer Acuff brought a blanket and wrapped her in it. Ann looked at her with pleading eyes. Giving her a sympathetic pat, Acuff gestured that she hadn't heard anything. Ann swiped her eyes with tissues pressed into her palm by the female officer.
Finally, Al exited the surveillance room and Ann held her breath. He said into his cell phone, "Roger that," and dropped it into his pocket. He walked to the divan and sat next to her. She thought she might throw up.
"He's in the emergency room. He was shot twice."
She stifled a wail.
"One bullet went into his thigh…" He paused. "The other into his chest."
"Oh, God! Oh, God!"
Al knelt in front of her and stilled her twisting hands. "He's got the best trauma team in the city working on him and he's a fighter."
Through sobs she said, "Please take me to him. I have to be with him."
Eighteen hours later Ann was finally allowed to sit beside Jackson in intensive care. He had endured eight hours of surgery to repair his thigh muscle and damaged lung.
"Oh, Jackson," she said to his unconscious mind. "If you can hear me in some part of yourself, I want you to know how sorry I am to have gotten you into this mess and for stealing from you. I should have come to you, but I was just so scared." She sniffed and swiped her tears with the back of her hand. "I love you, Jackson. I want you whole again and running your ranch. You deserve the life you've worked so hard for. Please don't die."
Ann looked at all the machines hooked to her husband and, unable to bear the agony of seeing him so helpless, placed her head in her hands and silently wept.
Three days later she was still by his side speaking words of encouragement and love, not knowing if they would make a difference in the end.
Alligator had persuaded the doctors to allow her to stay with Jackson and a cot had been brought into his room. At sunrise of the fourth day, she heard him cough and was immediately by his side. His coughing turned violent and the intensive care nurses rushed in and forced her out. The doctor on duty ran inside and Ann endured a torturous hour of not knowing what was happening.
Finally, the doctor exited the room and motioned for her to follow him. She could barely breathe and her heart felt like it might explode by the time he led her to a small waiting room.
His caring attitude meant a lot as he reached for her hands, "I'm cautiously optimistic that Jackson will recover."
The joy that rushed through Ann made her so lightheaded she almost fainted and the doctor assisted her to a chair. She looked up at him. "I was so scared when he started that terrible coughing."
"All that coughing was clearing his lungs and he's breathing easier now. We should see rapid improvement. However, I'm keeping him sedated a while longer. There were no broken bones, but his thigh muscle was badly injured and I don't want to take a chance on him doing further damage when he wakes up. He'll be agitated and violent movements could make things worse."
For the next two days, Jackson's breathing improved immensely and by the third day his prognosis was excellent. The doctor intended to begin gradually waking him.
Alligator stood beside Jackson's bed and looked down at Ann. "Are you sure you want to do this? You don't have to leave."
"Yes, Al, I do. Now that I know he's going to be okay. I can leave in peace."
"Annie, he loves you."
"Our marriage was based on a lie and I won't hold him to it. I have to free him and now is the best time. If I stay until he wakes up, his sense of honor will get in the way. I have to
leave."
After Al left, Ann sat beside Jackson and memorized his face. Recollections of their first dance made her smile. Finally, bending and grazing her lips across his, she said, "Goodbye, my love."
Chapter 23: Annie's HEA
Ann waited on the next customer in line at Dixie's Cuppa Joe. Somehow, Sarah and Sage had weaseled a promise out of her to stay with them for awhile prior to returning to Las Vegas. Before she knew what was happening, Dixie had her working at the coffee shop. "What can I get for you today, Mrs. Doolittle?"
The sweet-faced old woman considered her choices. "How about a Cream Filled Fluffy Puffy and a double-shot Mocha Madness. I've decided to go for the gusto and order something different every day until I've tried everything."
A commotion at the entrance made Ann glance up. Her heart thumped and then raced. A patron was holding the door open for Jackson while he limped in with a cane. Ann hadn't seen him for over six weeks and, according to Alligator, he wasn't expected home for another three. By that time, she would have returned to Las Vegas. She had a feeling Sarah, Sage, Al, and Dixie, had set her up.
Looking gaunt and pale, he thanked the man who held the door and glanced around until he spotted her. Their eyes met and she quickly looked away. Everyone in the coffee shop was looking back and forth between the two of them. Pink suffused her face and she hurried to accept the money Mrs. Doolittle was holding out. She fumbled with the change and the elderly woman said, "Don't worry about it, dear. I wouldn't be able to make change either if I had a man looking at me the way Jackson's looking at you." She patted Ann's hand.
Jackson hobbled to the end of the line and all the customers in front of him stepped aside, inviting him to go first. He leaned against his cane when he reached the counter. Ann swallowed and couldn't find her voice.
Jackson said, "I'd like a black coffee, please. I'd also like you to join me for a minute."