Cold Blooded

Ronnie managed to catch himself before he fell into a brutish piece of machinery. He sighed. That was a close one.

“I wish you luck, Elizabeth! I’ve done my job!” Ronnie called out.

“You can keep your luck! I don’t need it!” Elizabeth called out from deeper in the building.

“That finishes that. Easy as could be,” Ronnie said to himself as he slipped out the door. “Hopefully whatever comes next will be just as easy.”

<Line Break>

Ronnie strolled through the town. His destination was the Sheriff’s office to tell Texas the good news. He whistled a tune as he went, enjoying the walk. If he had been a little more observant, he would have noticed a shadowy figure waiting for him in the next alley.

“Gah!”

Ronnie yelped as a scaly hand grabbed onto his shirt’s collar. He was pulled into the shadowy alley and slammed against the side of a building before he could react. The raccoon stared in surprise at the woman who got the jump on him. She was a rattlesnake around the same height as him. Her scales were a brilliant shade of purple. Her blouse was too small to handle her busty curves. Her breast nearly spilled out from the neck of the shirt. It wasn’t quite long enough to cover the bottom of her stomach either. A faded brown poncho hung from one shoulder. Her gray pants looked like they were a size or two too small. One squat and there was a good chance they would rip apart. A long tale sprung out from a hole in her pants. It was about half as tall as her and the underside had dark yellow scales instead of purple. The end of the tail had the snake’s signature rattle. Aside from her curves, what caught his eyes were the spurs on her black boots and the buckle pinning a gray ribbon around her black cowboy hat’s crown. They looked to be made out of real silver. He couldn’t stop himself from wondering how much they were worth. The hat covered most of her hair, but some jet-black tufts poked out. She leered at him with her ruby-red beady eyes.

Ronnie stared right back into her eyes. Now was not the time to panic. “And might I ask why you’ve decided to drag me here and who you are?”

The snake-eyed him up and down. “The name’s Zirona. And why don’t you tell me? I’m on the tail of a certain criminal who recently managed to piss off a whole lot of people.”

“And?”

“Normally, I wouldn’t care, but those people placed a rather hefty bounty on you. And I do care about lining my pockets with tons of money,” she shot back with a smirk.

“And what makes you think I’m that criminal?”

“Well, you do match the basic description. And you’re the only raccoon who came into town recently. It doesn’t take a genius to put two and two together.”

“As the jr deputy of this fair town, I’m quite offended that you would accuse me of being a criminal,” he shot back.

“A jr deputy that’s only been on the **** for a short time. A jr deputy that’s sprung up out of nowhere. I don’t know about you, but I think that’s a little suspicious. Wouldn’t you say the same?”

Ronnie kept a straight face, but his mind was racing. He needed to think of some way to get this bounty hunter away from him. And quick! He looked her right in the eyes, weighing his options. He didn’t like his odds of fighting his way out of this, so that left him with one chance.

“Alright, you cornered me, bounty hunter,” he said calmly and flatly.

Zirona blinked in surprise. “Can’t say I expected that. Most at least try to run.”

“As a bounty hunter, I think it’s safe to assume you’re only in this for the money?”

The snake crossed her arms and looked at him thoughtfully. “You don’t exactly join this profession for the benefits.”

“Then here’s my counter offer. My real name is Ronnie Rictor. I’m a professional criminal. Been at it for years now. Over time, I’ve collected a decent bit of loot. I’ve hidden most of it in small supply caches here and there. Either for a rainy day or because it was too hot to have it on me at the time.”

“And you’re telling me all this why?”

“I’m telling you this because the loot from my last job was too risky to have on me. I’ve hidden everything I stole in a small cave outside the city. I’ll give you the coordinates if you let me go.”

“Do you think I hatched yesterday? There’s no way I’m falling for that.”

“I know you don’t have any reason to trust me.”

“You got that right.”

“But I’m in the middle of a job here. One that’ll probably take some time to get done. I’m gaining the trust of the sheriff here. Once I have it, I’ll have access to the master key. It’ll open any door in town, including the bank vault. I’m sure you can put two and two together on that. I’ll give you the location of my stash. Trust me when I say it’ll be worth your while. And then you can come on back and arrest me if I’m still here. If I can’t get the job in that time, then I deserve to be locked up.”

Zirona didn’t look convinced. “I still don’t know about trusting the words of a thief.”

Ronnie raised his hand in a surrendering gesture. “I’m laying out all my cards on the table. You decide how you want to play it from here.”

She thought about it for a moment before she made her decision.