SS: TIE 020

Rey spends less time thinking about it than Chica probably would. She dumps the bag with the safe and breaks cover, opening up with heavy fire as she advances. Flicking the empty magazine out is a reflex, only for her hand to find nothing left to reload with. She drops the rifle and goes for her pistol, scrambling for cover as buckshot shatters glass storefronts behind her.

She’s still bleeding from her side. It’s only a graze, so the blood loss isn’t urgent, but it causes enough pain to affect her range of movement. She could still aim well enough with a rifle, but a handgun is another story with blood flowing and her hands shaking. That doesn’t stop her. She pops up before the officer can rack another shell into the chamber and fires several shots, taking her chance and darting forward. Her one hit is soaked up by his vest, but it buys her the second she needs to leap over his car and kick him to the ground. She shoots him in the head and stumbles to Chica.

She’s been hit in the side, between her plates. It’s a real wound, and she’s pale, but she still holds out her pistol, covering a crashed car nearby. No words are exchanged as Rey scoops up Chica’s M4 and reloads it. The grenade launcher is ready to go. She snatches Chica’s pistol and jams it into her bikini bottoms, then grunts and heaves Chica onto her shoulder. Rey is well-known to be the biggest and fittest of the group, but this would be a difficult exercise even without the extra thirty pounds of equipment. She rises to her feet and turns, shakily holding the M4 one-handed. There’s nothing resembling aiming, but it’s not about the suppressing fire that she wants, it’s about the suppressing fire that she has. Squeezing the trigger, she backs toward the alley, blazing at anything that moves.

She feels another bullet strike Chica as she backpedals, firing. There’s a brave cop behind a Kia, aiming carefully with a Glock. Rey repositions her hand and fires the M203, putting a stop to that.

She’s at the alley. She drops the M4 and pulls the pistol, turning to hurry away with Chica.

The van is close, but not close enough. She reaches the parking lot on the far side and points the pistol at the driver of the first moving vehicle she sees: a Malibu. The driver slams on the brakes, even as another squad car bursts up the ramp. Rey shoots several holes in the cop’s windshield, causing them to swerve. The driver is still in the Malibu. Rey fires a bullet through that windshield as well, and she scrambles out.

Another shot hits her as she’s shoving Chica into the back. Rey crashes against the car and turns to fire with one hand. She’s not hitting anything, but it’s enough to make the cops think twice. She slides behind the wheel and rams the stick into drive with a bloody hand.

SS: TIE

The sun pounds the white, stucco walls of the detention center. The grimy interior is in an uproar; it’s like the chaos from the afternoon has infected the whole city. Word spreads like wildfire; people picked up halfway across the city know what happened, and they cheer for the killers on the news.

“Shouldn’t you be in a hospital?” Officer Lange asks, staring at Sally’s pale face, bloody clothes, and bandaged head.

“Probably.”

“Detective,” Lange begins.

“Get out of my way,” Sally growls.

“You can’t go in there.”

She shoves him so hard that he stumbles and falls. Sally marches past and kicks in the door to the conference room, wincing at the terrible throb from her skull. Chica’s bullet hardly touched her scalp, but it bled like crazy and hurts even worse. It’s hard to think about what her hair looks like when there are so many bodies in the morgue. She doesn’t think about all the unanswered calls and texts from her wife, either.

The four cops stop what they’re doing. Elsa lies handcuffed on the floor, bruised and bloody from head to toe. One officer puts his foot down; it looks as though he had been about to stomp her face.

Sally taps the body camera clipped to her filthy shirt and puts her hand on the grip of her Glock. She tries to look firm and steady as she stares them down.

They file out, giving her vicious looks.

Elsa turns over with a groan; her hands are cuffed behind her back. She spits out a tooth before sitting with her back to the wall. She looks Sally up and down as Sally eyes the bloody smears on the tiles.

“This is what you’re wearing? Do they not pay you?” Elsa asks.

Sally gazes down at her, jaw tight. She licks her lips, then takes a deep breath and sits against the other wall, drawing up her knees into her chest.

Elsa jerks her chin at Sally’s head. “What happened there? That wasn’t me.”

Sally hesitates for a long time. “Chica.”

“Is she dead?”

“I don’t know.”

Elsa smiles. “There’s a house for sale. It’s like two down from Powers.”

“What?”

“Powers. Her wife’s in the basement of that house. The one for sale. It’s right there on her block. She’s fine. You should send someone.”

Sally’s eyes widen. “You’re just telling me this? You aren’t gonna use it for leverage?”

Elsa snorts and feels around in her mouth with her tongue, then spits blood. “I hate cops.” She shrugs at Sally with a wince. “Not their wives.”

Sally takes out her phone and texts that information, then puts it away. “Think you’ll make it to trial?”

“Bitch, I won’t even make it to dinner.”

Sally sighs. “You will. I’m not going anywhere.”

Elsa swallows, then coughs. “You always were sweet. And stupid.”

“And you were always a fucking mess.”

Elsa grins. “Harsh. But fair.”

Sally watches the other woman. Elsa is hardened beyond belief, but if what she said about Meri’s wife is true, there’s a crack in that armor that can be exploited. Elsa can’t know the status of her friends, except that Sally has revealed that Chica hasn’t been caught. Their crew ripped off Adella Salazar, one of the most ruthless criminals in the region. There are a lot of people looking for Elsa’s friends, and if Salazar’s people get to them, it’s going to make the police response look like an episode of Bluey. There’s also Lora, though. She’s involved, but not a core part of the group.

Sally needs a clue about where to find Rey and the others. She doesn’t have Lora, but Elsa doesn’t know that.

Offer a deal for Lora? Or try to convince Elsa that it’s best if Sally is the one to find Rey?