SS: TIE 018

“You need to kill that engine,” the officer warns through his megaphone as Chica guides the boat toward the pier and eases off the throttle. The urgency in the man’s voice is understandably linked to the distant shooting.

Chica bends out of sight.

“Miss, this is serious. We need to kill this engine! Show me some hands and you can walk into the station! That or we can carry you in!”

Chica raises an eyebrow. “Let me think about it,” she calls back, then shuts the M203 and brings up her M4, leaning in and firing. The 40mm grenade blasts away the front half of the patrol boat. She fires at the officer that falls into the water, then swivels and opens up on full-auto at the other boat, blasting away the windshield and cutting down the pilot. Another officer scrambles for cover. She dumps the spent casing and slips another M406 in.

SS: TIE

Lili surfaces, flinching at the explosions from the north, but there’s no time. One of the guards was carrying a Rattler under his jacket. She clambers up dripping and liberates it, unfolding the stock to take over as Rey goes empty.

Elsa keeps the last guard on land pinned as Lili fires at the ones swarming the top deck. “Move!” she shouts to Rey.

Rey tosses the MPX and opens the cart. She flings the backpack with the money bonds onto land, and Elsa grabs it. Grunting, she heaves up the duffel with the safe.

Lili suppresses as Rey hurries down the ramp and to cover. Bullets zip through salty air tinged with gunpowder and brass casings tinkle and ding off the burning asphalt.

The SUVs are too shot up to use, but Chica left a van in a nearby parking lot for just this situation. It’s three hundred meters away at least, and as more shots from long guns pour down from the yacht, Rey isn’t sure they have the firepower to move ten meters. They have to get out of here fast, but they can’t move at all without weapons and ammunition. She only sees one play.

“Cover,” she orders, dropping her bag and sprinting back up the ramp. A brave bodyguard is approaching the cart in a crouch. Rey pulls her pistol and shoots him in the head, then fires the rest of the magazine at the upper level. She slides behind the cart and shoves, ramming it over the bump and sending it bumping down the ramp. She should’ve done this in the first place.

Lili narrowly gets out of the way as the cart reaches the bottom and tips over with a crash. Elsa is there in a heartbeat, pulling out gear. There’s no time for armor.

Rey changes magazines and backs down the ramp, still shooting. The bodyguards have been cowed, but they’re no longer the main problem.

Tires squeal and sirens wail. Diverting a lot of cops doesn’t mean there are none left.

SS: TIE

Sally and Shelby exchange a look as they listen to the chatter on the radio. All hell is breaking loose near the Gold Star Marina.

“Some of the shooters appear to be female,” one of the fuzzy voices says.

Shelby nearly spills her coffee throwing the car into gear and putting her foot down. Sally scrambles for her seatbelt as they take off down Biscayne.

SS: TIE

Rey slings Lili’s rig to her and chooses to trust the silence from the yacht. They’ve wasted too much time already; a clean exit is impossible. The only way out is straight through anyone who gets in the way and dropping enough bodies that there will be too much of a mess for anyone to follow. She heaves up the duffel with the safe and raises her rifle. She’s the slowest, so she can’t be on point.

There was a strange moment of stillness after the exchange between shore and the yacht took place, and everyone on the street and in the marina took cover. But traffic hasn’t stopped, and neither has time. Blue and red lights flash in the street, and everyone has a job to do.

Lily moves out with her UMP at her shoulder while Rey backpedals, keeping the yacht covered. She fires a single shot at a cautious head that pokes over the railing, and a body thuds. A woman screams.

Elsa’s SR-25 booms, and there’s a sudden, scattered handful of shots from handguns and shotguns. Rey twists and shoots at the first squad car she sees, but the officers are already behind the wheels.

Lili fires rapid shots on single, trying to convince the cops not to try their luck as the three of them do their best to cross the pier. They’re exposed, so firepower is their only protection. Elsa shoots an exposed leg, drawing a scream of pain and a little harmless blind fire over the hood of a squad car. Rey hears a car door slam on the other side of the hedges and burns her magazine through them, the HK416 spitting a stream of glittering casings. The empty magazine clatters to the pier as she reloads, and Lili does the same. They start up the steps toward the street, but howling engines and squealing tires are as loud as an arena concert. Three more squad cars screech around the corner to their right, and even more sirens come from the left.

Lili makes the hard choice and signals to push forward instead of getting to cover. They can’t advance into this, but they also can’t be stationary. There’s no good answer. Rey steps it up and fires from the shoulder on the move, but the police cars are already using their handbrakes to turn and clearing out on the other side. They have cover while Rey and her girls have to cross a four-lane street.

They have to spread out, and Rey can’t be the mobile one with her cargo. It has to be one of the others. Elsa and Lili both glance back, looking for a signal from their leader.

Send Lili to flank? Or Elsa?