MASK Legacy Saga 2: Death Becomes Her
Chapter 1
Author's Notes: As you can see, Lisa and I are back with the next installment of the MASK Legacy Saga, and we're very happy with the response we've gotten from the first installment, Rock and a Hard Place. Many thanks to the loyal fans we've gained throughout that story…you have no idea how excited we are that you've not only used the review board for your comments, but as a place to try and predict things to come. We also appreciate the emails we've gotten from several of you, and we're pleased that we have managed to answer your questions without giving away any significant plot secrets. We also hope that you'll enjoy the second and forthcoming chapters as much as the first.
As always, these stories are a partial crossover with the High Mountain Rangers television series, this installment slightly more than most. For those like our previous co-writer Freespirit127 who are familiar with the HMR universe, the series 'Jesse Hawkes' does not take place in this story universe. Hart and Cutler are very much alive and I like them that way. J
And of course, we don't own anyone but Annie, Roxanne, and the few other colorful characters we invented to make this story work. We're getting a little more dark here folks, and pushing the PG-13 envelope a little more each story line. You have been warned.
With all that said, I'll leave you to the story…
Las Vegas, Nevada known to many as a city of riches, greed, and the only city that never sleeps. The Sandbar casino is the wealthiest and most controversial establishment in the area. The owner Charles Casanova was known for possible mafia connections, but was untouchable due to several witnesses unfortunately disappearing.
Charles smoke his expensive Cuban cigar, while waiting for the dealer at the black jack table, "Where's the stink'n dealer? I don't got all day for this."
"The dealer kind of occupied at the moment," A figure stepped up to the table.
"Who the hell let you in?! BOYS remove this…" His tongue fell short when the stranger dropped a bag on the table that revealed a couple thousands, in fresh crisp dollar bills.
The stranger moved around the table and started shuffling the deck of cards, "I though you'd reconsider, if I paid up front."
"Last job you gave me, one of my boys ended up in the slammer. I don't think I can afford another mishap."
"It's not my fault the guy was incompetent. This time we have somebody who's a threat not only to Contra World, but also your weapon selling business."
"I got my boys to keep me informed, go solve your own problems."
The stranger started to deal out the cards, "If I'm not mistaken, yesterday two of your transport trucks shipping weapons, to a private airfield in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, were appended by a certain High Mountain Ranger. " The dealer turned over the first card, which was an Ace.
Charles raised a brow at how fast the information had gotten out. He flipped over his first card revealing a ten of spade. "Go ahead and hit me."
The dealer smiled and slide a card with a picture to him, "The red head in the picture Annie Turner been snooping in areas that don't concern her. Her informant isn't identified yet, but while he was digging for information regarding Contra World he came across a weapon's contract and just so happen to leak it to his favorite ranger. Resulting in you losing a five hundred grand investment."
He glanced at the picture and set it aside, "Doing in law enforcement is asking for trouble. It's gonna cost more then usual." He then flipped over the card to reveal a King, "I think I'll stay put for now."
"It wouldn't be wise to make enemies with you benefactors. After all, we created you…and we can shut you down," The dealer flipped over the second card to reveal a jack, "Blackjack, dealer wins." The dealer picked up the bag, "I'll go find a more suitable lowlife to do the job for less, and I'll leave my superiors to deal with you."
Charles grabbed the dealer's arm, "Hold up, I didn't say I wouldn't. I'm not about to let somebody else take my revenge from me."
The dealer handed Charles the bag, "The ranger due for some R & R, I suggest you use that time to plan accordingly. You fail us and I'll have to renegotiate our little contract."
As the figure left, Charles walked over to his bodyguard, "Get me a hitman."
"Hey, hey, we've got a hero in the house!" shouted Ranger Tim Hart as Annie Turner came downstairs with her duffel bag slung over one shoulder.
"Oh please, Hart, give it a rest," Annie rolled her eyes as she dropped her bag by the door. "Besides, I had you guys to help. There's no I in team, remember?"
"Give yourself some credit there, Red," piped in Ranger Jim Cutler. "The rest of us weren't the ones tipped off to a half a million dollar illegal weapons trade going on under our very noses."
"Which magic hat did you pull that rabbit out of, anyway?" asked Ranger Commander Matt Hawkes with a sly, knowing smile.
"I could tell you, Matt, but then I'd have to kill you," Annie replied with a wink.
"Super Heroes," muttered Cody Hawkes under his breath from his current post at the front desk. "Personally, I think it's about time our part time desk jockey did some actual work around here," he continued teasingly.
Annie stepped over to Cody's chair and pretended to wring his neck as she replied, "What was that about being a desk jockey? Who is it that's going to be sitting in this chair for the next two weeks while I'm enjoying my glorious vacation?"
"Hey Matt, don't you actually have to work here to get vacation?" Cody continued to tease Annie.
"Yes you do, so maybe you should try it, Toad," Robin Kelly shot back as she entered from the kitchen, using Cody's childhood nickname to get him riled as she added, "I think I have a seat warmer upstairs if you want it."
"Don't call me Toad. The name's Ace," Cody protested somewhat hotly.
"Well Ace, sounds like they're playing your song," Cutler joked as the phone in front of Cody began to ring.
Annie had it in her hand just as Cody began reaching. "Gotta be quicker than that," she mocked him quietly before speaking into the receiver, "High Mountain Rangers."
"Just the lady I was lookin' for," said the voice on the other end of the line.
"I was just on my way out."
"So I heard. Drop by before ya take off fer good."
"I'll do that."
Ignoring the questioning looks from her comrades, Annie glanced up at the clock on the wall and grinned maniacally as she picked up her duffel bag. Before she could make it out the door, Ranger Izzy Flowers took the bag from her hand.
"I'll take this out for you, Annie," he offered gallantly as he made his way back outside.
"He's such a gentleman…the rest of you," she looked pointedly at Cody and Cutler, "could better your manners by taking his example."
"We'll miss you too, sweetheart," Cutler retorted, blowing kisses in her direction.
Annie rolled her eyes for the second time. "Try not to let the place fall apart while I'm gone, 'kay?" she requested as she gave them a wave goodbye.
She walked out to where Phoenix sat parked and waiting for her. Ranger Frank Avila was just finishing up settling her gear in the travel box when she approached.
"Once again, the Phoenix leaves her nest," he quoted cryptically, his way of saying goodbye. "Have a safe flight."
She smiled back. "I will. I had some very good flight instructors. Bye Avila."
With that final farewell, she started Phoenix and headed for Lake Tahoe.
The newspaper fell open to reveal the top headline: "RANGERS FIND ILLEGAL WEAPONS". The figure behind the desk shoved the paper toward Annie and commented dryly, "Nice job."
Annie picked up the paper and scanned the article briefly, then tossed the paper back down on Butch's desk and smiled at him. "You should have seen the faces of those ATF agents when they found out they'd been upstaged by a bunch of mountain goats. A case they've been researching for months, we crack in a matter of days." Annie's grin widened further as she concluded, "And they STILL can't figure out how WE managed to get the tip off. Guess they just don't have as good of sources as I do."
"Maybe yer sources are TOO good."
Annie tilted her head at him, sensing some very deep and disturbing undertones in that mild statement. "What do you mean?"
"You better sit down," Butch invited her, indicating the chair across from the desk that sat in his small office. When she continued to stand and stare at him in confusion, he said a little more forcefully, "Annie, please just sit down, would ya?"
That stern request alone startled her into complying. Butch NEVER called her by her given name, EVER. He called her Girl, Lady, Ranger, Ranger Lady, Little Ranger Lady, or any combination thereof, but this was the first time in the few years she'd known him that he addressed her by name. His body language indicated nervousness and maybe just a hint of fear, so whatever it was he wanted to talk to her about had to be serious. She'd never seen her contact give off any aura other than gruff calm, and frankly, the odd situation was starting to unnerve her too. She did her best to remain nonchalant, leaning back in the chair and waiting to see what he had to reveal.
"It wasn't too long ago ya came in here askin' if we was friends or not, well, I'd say we gotta be. 'Cause only one o' my friends could come in here and get the kinda info outta me that you been get'n." He shook his head and smiled darkly at her over the desk. "You're a fine piece o' work there, girl. Walkin' inta that bar with a flat, radiatin' innocence, suckerin' me inta fixin' yer bike, then flashin' me that charmin' smile while ya was workin' me over for info…"
"As I recall the situation," Annie interrupted, "YOU recognized ME and started dropping hints."
"Yeah, and not only did ya take MY bait, but ya went and got yerself a bigger hook and even better bait, and purty soon I'm the one get'n strung up and along for a ride. And don't play innocent and try to tell me ya didn't, 'cause I know yer more like your mama then you care to admit."
Annie bristled slightly at the last comment, but she didn't respond, knowing Butch's ranting was just him leading up to what he was trying to say. Besides, she couldn't deny the truth of his statement, even if at the time it had partially been Buddy's idea for her to turn up the charm. So she just let out an inward sigh as she waited for him to finish.
"My life was so much simpler before then…I didn't care about nothin' that didn't directly impact me or one o'my boys. Then ya come around with all them law enforcement types and start makin' me think a little differently."
"Why, Butch," Annie teased sweetly, "are you trying to tell me you actually CARE about me?"
"Well lady, if I didn't care, I sure as hell wouldn't be spendin' all this time tryin' to tell ya what I need to tell ya, and there ain't no easy way to say it, so I suppose I'll just tell ya straight out." Butch paused, taking a deep breath before he announced, "Somebody wants you dead."
Annie's face remained expressionless as she stared back at him evenly, showing no signs that his news affected her in the least.
"Ya don't seem very surprised by this…"
A vicious smile finally appeared as she replied, "Should I be? I mean, think about it, should I really be surprised by this at all? I don't think so. The number of arrests I've made in the Ranger's alone has probably put me on someone's hit list, not to mention my…second job. And as far as that goes, I've been waiting for that other shoe to fall for years. It was only a matter of time before someone decided to tie up that loose end and close that still open loophole."
This was not the response Butch had been expecting. "I ain't sure you understand this fully. Someone wants you dead, and they are going to try to make it happen."
"Uhh…yeah, Butch," Annie said slowly, as though to a little kid, "trying to kill me is a natural extension of wanting me dead."
"Don't be so damn flippant! This is serious."
"Oh, I'm taking this very seriously," Annie retorted. "I take both my jobs very seriously, and all this means is that I've gotten damn good at both of them." She stood up and stretched her arms casually as she added, "I take my down time seriously too, so if you don't mind, I'd like to go start an obviously well earned vacation."
She started out the door before Butch could reply. He quickly followed her, still reeling from Annie's calm acceptance of the situation. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting as a reaction, but this certainly wasn't it.
They arrived outside just as two more bikes pulled up in front of the auto shop, parking parallel to Phoenix on either side, in an almost protective gesture. The riders removed their helmets to reveal two of Butch's 'boys', and one of them addressed Annie.
"Hey Ranger, we heard you was headin' outta town and thought ya might like an escort."
"Tramp here's still tryin' to make up for hittin' on ya a while back there," said the second rider, who Annie didn't recognize immediately, but she'd seen him around before.
She turned back to Butch with a slight scowl. "I take it this was your idea?"
"The boys were headin' that way anyhow, and ya can't be too careful nowadays."
"All right, Butch," Annie sighed in defeat. "You win. Thanks for the heads up, and I promise I'll be careful."
"You damn well better, 'cause I wanna see ya back here in exactly two weeks."
She didn't reply to him, instead she climbed on Phoenix, starting the bike as she pulled on her helmet. She then addressed her entourage. "Come on boys, I'll make the escort worth your while with a fuel stop and some of the finest pizza Carson City has to offer."
"You got it, lady!"