Mary and Jaz look for their prey

"Damn," Mary says, shaking her head as she and Jaz loiter on a street corner. "This feels wrong, even in the new world." Just around the corner and across the street, a large building stands surrounded by a tall metal fence. The words NORTHERN PREPARATORY SCHOOL FOR GIRLS adorn its gate in large, block letters.

Jaz shakes her head. "No no, we're not grabbing a high school girl. Well...not one underage. C'mon, I'm not a sicko." She snorts. "No, it's that today was supposed to be this big fundraiser for the school led by recent alumni. It's a private joint. The fundraiser itself was supposed to be tonight, but given the timing..."

"...some of the people who were setting it up are probably still inside," Mary breathes. "I see. All right, then. Let's see if we can find a way in."

"No problem. My girls and I used to sneak in here all the time...the kids here had way more access to **** and shit than we did. Rich bitches." Double-checking that they're not being observed, Jaz leads Mary across the street and down an alleyway, where she tests a section of the fencing. It gives way easily under her hand, hollow bars bending under the pressure. "Haven't fixed it yet. Cheapskates."

Mary and Jaz push the bars out as far as they'll go and slip under, scrambling into the concrete schoolyard. They dart stealthily from cover to cover as they make their way toward the eerily silent school building.

"How do we get in?" Mary asks.

"Well, usually we can - wait," Jaz hisses. "Get down!" Both women duck behind a dumpster as a door on the rear of the school building suddenly creaks open.

A young blonde woman emerges, and Jaz and Mary glance at one another, brows raised. The girl's blonde hair falls in ringlets down to her upper back, and her evenly tanned skin suggests money. Her body is lightly toned but curvaceous, to the point where Mary wonders if she's had work done; her breasts are huge, round, and perky, barely contained by her spaghetti-strapped tank top, while her butt fills out her running shorts in a tempting double handful. The blonde closes the door quietly behind her, pulls out her phone, and dials, chewing her lip and tapping her foot impatiently.

"Daddy?" she says, her voice already whining slightly as someone picks up the phone. "Daddy, it's me. Where are you...? I know, I know you said to be patient but everyone here is so boring...they're all talking about it like the world is ending, like this won't just blow over..." She listens for a few moments, then sighs dramatically. "Of course I'm safe, it's not like there were any men here to begin with...it's all girls who graduated, daddy, you know that..." She listens again. "Well, why isn't Andre coming to get me?! ...His family? Oh, so he just up and abandons you because of all this? That's real nice. Aren't you paying him...? I know daddy, I know, you're always saying you can't trust them..."

"We're not going to get a better chance," Mary mutters in Jaz's ear.

"And even here there's probably not someone I'd be happier handing over to Mikey," Jaz growls with a roll of her eyes.

"Well..." The girl huffs, crossing one arm under her breasts and looking heavenward, exasperated. "Well, try to figure out something soon, daddy, ok? Because these other girls are seriously such a drag, and everyone I know has gotten picked up already...I know your work's important, daddy. I'm just saying, I'm bored... Wait, are some of the maids still there? ...Well, why not claim one of them and have her come get me?" She beams. "I know I'm smart, daddy. But thank you. Yeah, if you just claim them all they won't go running off home, I bet. ...Sure, I guess maybe not them. But at least one of them you can claim, right daddy...? Pilar's not married, I don't think. Ok, goodie. Ok. Ok. Love you, daddy! Thanks. Smooches." She hangs up, sighs, and rolls her eyes again. "Have to do everything myself..." Looking disgruntled, she pulls out a joint and a lighter and begins to puff.

Jaz gives Mary a look, then gestures with her chin toward a couple of trash cans a dozen feet away. Mary, glancing around, nods. Finding a small pebble on the ground, she picks it up, takes aim carefully, and hurls it at the trash cans. It ricochets off one with a solid *clank*.

The blonde girl looks up, tensing, eyes wary. "...Hello?" she says uneasily. "Is someone there?" Beside her, Mary feels Jaz tense. The blonde, looking around cautiously, advances a few steps toward the trash cans - and away from the door she came out of. Mary crouches, watching her closely. Just a little further...

"Whoever you are, this isn't funny," the girl says snarkily. She peers forward, glancing at the corner of the school building ahead of her warily. "Hello...?" she takes two more tentative steps.

Next to Mary, Jaz explodes into action, racing around the dumpster and sprinting toward the girl. Mary hurls herself forward as well, arms and legs pumping as she dashes across the pavement toward her. She sees the blonde woman's blue eyes widen, hears her gasp. The blonde turns to run - but Jaz is already behind her, and the taller Black woman tackles her to the ground. The blonde opens her mouth to scream, but she barely gets a shriek out before Mary is on her, stifling her cry with her hand as Jaz straddles the flailing, twisting girl.

"Keep her quiet!" Jaz hisses.

"Your shirt!" Mary snaps back. Jaz, realizing what she means, yanks her own shirt off and twists it into an improvised rope. With Mary holding the jerking blonde girl's head and jaw, Jaz thrusts the shirt into her mouth to serve as a gag, tying it tightly behind her head. The girls move with a ferocity and purpose neither of them would have shown a day ago. All Mary thinks, utterly focused as she brutally yanks the knot tight is, This girl is how we get the guns. The guns are how we keep Grant safe. Keeping Grant safe is how we keep him and all of us safe and happy. Everything depends on him. The blonde lets out a muffled cry of rage as Mary lets her go, flailing uselessly up at them with her hands.

"Shoelaces," Mary mutters, and Jaz twists around, still sitting on the girl's waist as Mary pins her wrists. Jaz has the girl's shoelaces undone in a trice and uses them to bind her wrists. The girl still continues to struggle, though, and Mary starts to lose patience.

"Stop it. Stop it!!" she hisses, shaking the girl slightly. "Do you want me to cut you? I have a knife, I will if I have to." The girl shudders and stills, though her wide blue eyes keep darting back and forth between Mary and Jaz. "That's better. Listen, you're coming with us, ok? And if you don't want to end up gutted like a fucking fish, you'll do what I tell you." She doesn't actually have a knife - wish I'd thought to grab one - but the girl goes still anyway, nodding anxiously. "Good. Let's get out of here..."

Mary and Jaz haul the girl up and half-drag, half-trot her across the schoolyard toward the fence. As they go, Mary rifles her pockets, pulling out the phone. Flipping it over, she sees an ID card on the back. "Here we go..." She glances over it and nods. "Sophomore at Harvard, huh? Good for you." As they pass the dumpster, Mary tosses the phone - with the ID still attached - into its pile of garbage bags.