SS: TIE 017

“We good?” Rey asks, readying the cart by the door.

“One sec.” Lili puts her towel aside and turns her back on Elsa. “Untie me.”

“Shock and awe,” Elsa says dryly. She sounds casual, but there’s sweat on her forehead. The situation isn’t great, but complaining or overthinking won’t make it better. Elsa removes Lili’s bikini top and tosses it aside. “Now we have the advantage.”

Rey snorts and opens the door, turning around and pulling the cart through. A bodyguard stands less than ten feet away, and Rey doesn’t like the look on his face.

“Gonna need more champagne,” she tells him as Elsa and Lili step into the hall carrying their towels.

“Excuse me,” the guard says, slipping around the cart and heading for the door.

Rey chooses her moment and strikes from behind, grabbing his head and ramming it into the doorframe. Elsa and Lily make sure that his **** body thumps to the ground inside the room. Rey reaches for the door only for the guard’s radio to crackle.

“Let’s do a check in, six through eight,” a voice says.

“Are any of these guards women?” Elsa asks hopefully.

“Nope,” Rey replies. “Let’s go.”

“Fuck me,” Lili grumbles.

“Better hope those puppies are bulletproof,” Elsa chirps as Lili jiggles past her.

They have to get to the lower deck, then to the port gangplank at the stern. That means either crossing some ground in the open in the midst of the party or violating restricted areas.

Rey heads for the elevator while Lili and Elsa take the staff stairs. As soon as the doors close, Rey ducks to check the cart and its contents. She has the backpack containing the cash and bonds on top, but it won’t fully obscure the equipment underneath. If anyone sees under the lid, the game would be up. She resists the urge to wonder how long it will take the guards to investigate missed check-in. One minute? Two? She touches her concealed Glock, resisting the urge to check the chamber. It’s ready to go. Is she? It doesn’t matter because the doors are opening.

A guard waits for her, wary but without his gun in his hand. Rey should be invisible in her delivery uniform; the man isn’t even supposed to notice her, but he does. They’re on alert; estimating one minute was optimistic.

Lili hits him from behind with a fire extinguisher, and Elsa’s there in time to catch him and heave him mostly into the elevator. Rey helps drag him inside, but not before hearing a startled voice and footsteps. Some woman saw that happen, and she’ll be going to tell someone.

“Go,” Rey says tightly, kicking the guard’s arm out of the way and shoving the cart into the open. Lili and Elsa are already on the move.

The doors slide apart and they head out into the sunshine and the noise. The party is going well, and the noise and chaos are double edged. They cut straight past the bar with Lili out in front. She’s the only topless woman on this deck, so she does a good job drawing eyes. Her smile and casual bearing are impressive; she should’ve been an actress. Elsa trails behind Lili while Rey follows with the cart.

The lone guard by the rope spots them coming. He’s covering one ear and holding up his radio. Lili reaches him, and Rey can tell from the tension in her shoulders that something is wrong. Elsa reaches her, and the guard’s arm goes out, signaling for them to stop.

Rey arrives and sees the problem. Two black cars wait at the bottom of the gangplank, and four guards are down there. One of them is starting up the ramp. There’s no time to talk about it. The writing is on the wall.

Lili and Elsa exchange a look. As one, they throw off the towels they’re using to hide their handguns. Lili shoots the guard in front of her twice in the chest and once in the head, sending him toppling over the railing into the water. Elsa shoots the man on the ramp in the head, then fires repeatedly at the other guards. The return fire is quick, and Lili has no cover. She hops the railing without hesitation and splashes into the water.

Elsa pushes forward, shoulders hunched with both hands on the gun, firing rapidly. She darts to the bottom of the ramp and rolls behind the wheel of the nearest car.

There’s a shout behind Rey, and she ducks just in time. A bullet flies over her and another strikes the cart. She fumbles underneath and tears the Velcro straps, yanking out her Lili’s MPX submachine gun. She jerks the stock into place and leans out, firing a burst at the guard on the upper level.

SS: TIE

The others never listen to Chica when she tries to explain to them that breathing techniques are helpful in bad situations. She focuses on her breathing as she looks over her shoulder to see a second patrol boat join the one following her. For a moment she allowed herself to hope that they weren’t on her, so she slowed down to avoid potentially bringing them straight to the yacht—but it’s for nothing. Hindsight is meaningless. Maybe she could’ve knocked that woman cold without a sound or a scene, but the real mistake had been her appraisal of harbor patrol response times. Whatever the case, it’s time to improvise.

Gunshots sound like popcorn in a microwave, and her heart sinks as she hears things go off up ahead. It’s happening. Chica’s teeth grind, but her hands are steady on the controls of the Yamaha. She has a decision to make. The police are onto her, and it sounds like Rey and the others are tangling with Adella Salazar’s people.

Lead the police away and occupy their attention?

Or try to support the others?