The waiting was getting long - evidently our boy Rum wasn't a fast man with the ladies - and both Johnny and Two Fingers were getting bored with the waiting. Two Fingers ducked off for a nip, and came back with a fresh bottle.

"Case around the other side?" Johnny suggested. He listened to the rowdiness within; it didn't sound much like things were going to let up for awhile. Besides the women, there'd be plenty of booze to loosen the men up.

Johnny took a long pull from the proffered bottle. "All right. You wait here. Can'st you whistle like a bird if'n you think Rum's comin' out?"

Two Fingers chuckled. "I make a great gull."

Johnny nodded. "Very well, it will have to do." Gulls were daytime birds. Two Fingers tapped into his bottle, and smiled. "We'll get 'em."

"I'll be back," He moved quietly into the alley, around the side of the building, and to the back.

A movement, somewhere ahead of him. Johnny began to pause for a split second, but decided that a full pause might alert whomever it was that he was aware. A sense of movement once again, then nothing. Stillness, too still. The only thing he noticed was the doorstoop at the back door of the Vixen. Several steps led down to the alley itself. Someone was up there, in the doorway.

Rum? Captain Zach? Why weren't they moving? One of the women here? Another client, sneaking away for some reason? Suddenly, Johnny lept up onto the stoop, prepared to confront...

A frightened woman.

A gasp.

He knew that gasp. Johnny leapt back, stumbling off the edge of the stoop, and barely catching his footing below. She was supposed to be safely tucked into her room, to keep out of sight of Rum!

"Bea!" he whispered, stunned. He tripped backwards, and now he fell, suppressing a laugh as he landed on his backside.