Gunslinger [ON HOLD INDEFINITELY]

Chapter 1

The address turned out to be some sort of office building. Walking into the building, I headed straight to the front desk. A perky dumb blonde girl was working the phones. I tried to patiently wait for her to finish her call, and when she hung up the phone and looked up at me, I held out the paper Greg had given me. “I’m looking for a Larry Jacobson? I have a meeting with him at noon.”

She smacked her gum loud and blew a bubble. Finally she answered, “Mr. Jacobson is on the fourth floor, room 412. He’s in a meeting with his clients until noon. You’ll have to sit in the fourth floor waiting room until he’s finished. I’ll call him and let him know you’ve arrived.”

I tried to give the annoyingly fake Barbie a smile. “Thank you. It would be very helpful.”

Rolling her eyes, she dialed another number and waited. “Mr. Jacobson, there’s a woman here to see you. She says she has an appointment with you at noon?” She paused, listening to his response. “Oh, yes, sir. I will send her up right away.” Hanging up the phone, she looked back to me. “Mr. Jacobson said that he will meet with you right now, because he’s with some people you should meet. Elevators are over to your right. Have a nice day.” She turned away.

Rolling my eyes, I headed over to the elevator. Pushing the button and waiting, I thought about what she’d told me. Room 412 and I should go in right away to meet with some more people. Who could he be meeting with? Hopefully not the band. I didn’t want to have to deal with them until I really needed to.

Finally, the bell chimed, and the doors of the elevator opened. I waited patiently for the business men to exit, and I entered. Pushing the button for the fourth floor, I patiently waited as the elevator made stops on the second and third floors before finally opening at the fourth. I exited the elevator, and quickly headed down the hallway. Scanning the door numbers, I finally found room 412 at the end of the hallway, right next to an intersection of another hallway.

Taking a deep breath, I gave the door a knock. I could hear a bunch of men’s voices on the other side. I really hoped that this was going to turn out ok. I tried to wait patiently for someone to answer the door, but no one did. So, I knocked again. Finally, I heard the men’s voices quiet down, and someone walking towards the door.

The door opened, and a middle-aged man with short brown hair stood in the doorway. He looked me over, a confused look on his face. Finally, he said, “Can I help you?”

I gave him a smile. “Yes, I’m Holly Payne. I’m with Schrader and Smith Bail Bonds? My boss, Greg Smith, sent me to meet with Mr. Jacobson.”

He looked skeptical, but let me into the room. The room was full of other men, sitting scattered around the room. I recognized them from the picture that was in the file. It was the rock band. All eyes were on me, and I felt self-conscious. Larry motioned me to sit down in an empty chair in front of a desk, and he took his place behind it. Propping his feet up on the desk, he looked at me silently for a time. Finally, he spoke. “So, Miss… Payne, was it?... Mr. Smith promised to send the best bounty hunter he had on staff to help us out. He sent you?”

I flipped my hair in disgust. I knew where this was going. Because I was small and was a woman, I was being doubted. He didn’t think that I could do it. It’s time to set him straight. “Yes. Greg handed me the file yesterday when I got back from my last capture. I was supposed to have the weekend off. Yet I’m here, being doubted by you. Mr. Jacobson, I can do my job and I can do it well, I assure you. What I fail to see is what you need a bounty hunter for.”

Clearing his throat after my obvious attack, he said, “Someone has put a hit out on the band here. As you may know from reading the news or reading the file, the band’s original drummer, Jimmy Sullivan, died tragically two years ago. The band has decided to go on in his memory, and they have chosen Arin Ilejay to be the next drummer. Someone out there has decided they don’t like the decision to keep going and ‘replace’ Jimmy. Now they want them dead. We need someone to figure out who it is, and eliminate the problem. Who better at tracking than a bounty hunter?”