SS:TIE 002

Sally ignores the phone and follows the cues from her wife’s body. Her wrist hurts, but she doesn’t let up as Tracy’s hips rise off the bed. Sally is tempted to get creative or to tease, but it’s not easy to think straight when Tracy’s voluptuous body is headed for orgasm at full speed.

Tracy’s chest jiggles with her rapid breathing. She pleads urgently, and that means she’s close. She’s not usually very dramatic in bed.

“Don’t stop,” she whispers, gripping the sheets.

Sally sinks in and kisses her, holding Tracy’s soft form through the two sharp jerks that she gives before going limp. They settle into a puddle of breathless flesh.

“Oh. Baby,” Tracy says dazedly. “Good morning.”

“Mmm.” Sally nuzzles her neck.

SS:TIE

Lotte sits groggily on the edge of her bed in the motel room. Water drips from her hair, but the shower didn’t help much with the hangover. She stares into space before turning to the mirror. Her damp body is covered in tattoos. She pushes wet blonde hair out of her face and gets to her feet. As she towels herself off halfheartedly, she can hear the city waking up outside.

She pulls on her clothes and stumbles out, fumbling with her sunglasses. She lights a cigarette as she crosses the parking lot to the little coffee truck. A few chips of paint fall away as she slaps money on the counter.

“Coffee,” she says and turns to squint against the glare. It’s early, but Miami is already hot and oppressive. Most people aren’t even up yet.

A battered, gray van pulls up at the far end of the lot. Lotte scowls and snatches her jacket, hurrying over with her coffee forgotten. She grabs the handle only for the woman inside to hold up a hand.

“Hey,” she says.

Lotte peers through the window at the blonde behind the wheel. “It’s me. I’m Lotte.”

The woman inside grimaces, then unlocks the door. Lotte climbs in to find the blonde behind the wheel smelling like Chanel even though she’s wearing jeans and a paint-stained hoodie.

“Buckle up,” Lili says. Her face is a picture of focus.

Lotte does so. “You’re Lili, right?”

Lili puts the van in gear and glances over. “That’s right.”

Lotte smirks. “They didn’t say you were so pretty.”

Lili’s eyes are on the road. “Stop talking, Lotte.”

SS:TIE

Rey sits behind the wheel of the UPS truck, staring down the quiet, residential street. This is not a wealthy neighborhood, but it’s early enough that the corners haven’t even begun to fill. Everything is still and quiet.

She lifts her radio. “How are we doing?”

The radio crackles. “They’re here now,” Elsa reports.

Chica climbs into the passenger seat. “Got one around the corner.”

“Just one?” Rey asks.

“That I saw.”

“Take him out?”

“Her. A Lot of windows here. We make a move, and people see. On the other hand, if we don’t, then we have a loose variable.”

“She strapped?”

“Count on it,” Chica replies, pulling the pistol from the shoulder holster under her coveralls. She does a brass check and puts it back, then zips up.

Rey drums her fingers on the wheel. Chica would worry about something like this, but one kid whose day job was slinging on the corner wasn’t likely to be a problem.

“Let it ride,” Rey says. “Did you look at my notes?”

“I looked.”

“And?”

“We keep taking work from the same source, and we start getting predictable. Or we keep taking scores from the same source, and we build a relationship that pays off. I’ll have to think about it.”

“I meant the job,” Rey clarifies.

“I know what you meant,” Chica says, her eyes on the street.

The radio crackles. “Moving,” Elsa reports.

Rey sees the silver SUV emerging onto the street. It turns and drives away. She and Chica don their surgical masks and eye protection.

“We’re set,” Rey says, putting the UPS truck in drive. She pulls forward, watching the little houses pass. They’re narrow and have hardly any space between them. The lawns are scraggly and overgrown while most of the waist-high chain-link fences are damaged. There are tarps on roofs and boards over windows, but an alley runs the length of the block behind these houses.

Rey pulls over with a hiss of air brakes. She and Chica disembark and circle to the back of the truck, where they throw up the shutter. They lift out a large box, which they take to the porch of a house that was once a pleasing salmon color, but is now faded to something between pink and gray. The yard is littered with discarded bottles and debris.

Rey hitches her side of the box onto her hip to bang on the door, which is steel.

There are footsteps inside. “Who is it?” calls a voice.

“UPS, ma’am. You gotta sign for this. It’s heavy,” Rey warns.

“It’s a team lift,” Chica adds.

“What?” The door opens, and a curious face appears. “What the hell is that?”

SS:TIE

Lili stops the van and pulls the parking brake, blocking the alley behind the houses. She straightens her Peachface mask and climbs out, tossing bolt cutters to Lotte.

“Get that open,” she says, shouldering her backpack and vaulting the low fence. She keeps low as she crosses the yard, but newspaper covers most of the windows. The back porch is clear. She steals up in silence and kneels, unzipping the bag. She can hear Rey and Chica on the front porch, arguing with the occupant.

Metal squeals as Lotte hauls the gate open. Lili shoots her a look, then finishes setting the explosives.

She and Lotte take their places on either side of the door. Masks on, they draw their guns.

SS:TIE

The explosion rocks the house, instantly filling the interior with dust.

Rey and Chica throw the box through the door, smashing the woman inside to the floor. They climb over it to find two stunned women in leather vests coughing. Rey snatches the pistol from the nearest one and throws her against the wall while Chica grabs the other one by the face and slams her knee into it.

Lotte and Lili appear from the dust, checking corners.

“Clock’s ticking,” Elsa says over the radio.

Rey turns to look through the open front door. Elsa climbs out of the back of the UPS truck to keep a lookout.

“Go,” Rey says to Lili while Chica and Lotte round up the dazed women.

Lotte lets out a bark of laughter as she pushes another one against the wall. “Ha! Fucking bikers. Bikers with no bikes. What the fuck?”

“They’re in the garage, dipshit,” Chica tells her, her eyes on the pistol held out by Lotte. Lotte’s sleeve is pushed up to her elbow, revealing a tattoo of a koi fish. “Hey! Cover that shit up!” she snaps.

Lotte pushes her sleeve down and faces the three shellshocked bikers.

Lili goes to the back of the house. “Oh, fuck. Cheese!”

“What?” Chica calls from the front.

“This isn’t a G2!”

Chica hurries to join her, taking the backpack and kneeling in front of the safe in the middle of the dilapidated kitchen. “No. It is not,” she says calmly, running her hands over the door. “We can’t blast this. We have to drill it.”

“What’s going on?” Rey asks.

“Wrong model,” Chica replies.

“Watch them,” Rey orders Lotte, then joins the others. She gazes at the safe for a moment. “Fuck it. We walk.”

“What? The fuck we do,” Lotte protests from the other room. “Which one of you knows the combo?” She points her gun at each of the three bikers in turn. “Open it. Open it now.” One of the bikers glances toward the kitchen. “You? You know it?” Lotte grabs her and jams her gun against her head. “Let’s go.”

“Hey!” Rey says, but Lotte’s already dragging the woman to the back. She shoves her to the floor in front of the safe.

“Open it! This bitch knows the combo,” Lotte says.

“Cool it,” Lili warns. “None of them know it.”

“This one does. Oh, you think we’re fucking around?” Lotte grabs another biker and kicks her legs out from under her. She crashes to the floor. “You don’t want to open it?” Lotte lifts her pistol and shoots the biker three times in the chest.

“Jesus!” Lili shouts.

The radios crackle. “Ninety seconds,” Elsa says.

Wide-eyed, the biker tries to draw a rattling breath, then goes still.

“How about now?” Lotte says, turning the gun on the other one.

Swearing, Rey brings the third one in and forces her to her knees. The biker scrambles to the safe and fumbles with the dial. In seconds, she has the safe open.

“Told you,” Lotte says, twirling her gun on her finger.

“Time,” Chica warns.

“Get ready to bail,” Rey says into the radio.

“Copy,” Elsa replies.

“What the fuck is this?” Lili demands. “We got **** here.”

“Take it all,” Rey says, going back to the front of the house. She steps onto the porch and looks up and down the street. A few people are out of their houses and looking. Sirens approach. She rejoins the others. Lotte and Lili are taking the spoils to the van.

Chica has the two remaining bikers kneeling against the wall.

Rey stands over the dead body.

Chica catches her eye. Rey grimaces.

This woman is already dead. That’s certain. What isn’t certain is if Rey wants to leave living witnesses.

Leave them? Or no witnesses?

[ Open ]