A sharp gasp was followed by a wince as Ashe shot awake, the nightmare already fading into incomprehensible nonsense. Her ribs ached, and the stitching from her knife wound itched like a mother fucker. The rest of her injuries were nothing in comparison. It had been three weeks since she woke up in the hospital, and she was still all but confined to her parents’ apartment.

Gentle whining sounded and Ashe chuckled breathlessly, her hand reaching out to ruffle Jasper’s ears. His presence was certainly a comfort, and she was so very grateful to have the ball of fur laying beside her. At least she had a snuggle buddy for when Crystal wasn’t able to stay over.

Not being able to coordinate her people directly, having to rely on Crystal, on Caralina and Brie? Ashe wasn’t happy about it. She hadn’t expected to be the sort that wanted to be a hands-on leader, she wasn’t in charge of her raid team online, she’d never been squad leader in online shooters, but she had settled into the role when it came to her gang.

They didn’t have a name, though there were whispers of how Inferno would ensure that her people were kept safe. Ashe had a feeling that most knew it was her behind the mess at the Ellington rally, but her name had been kept out of all the media reports. How her parents managed that, she didn’t know.

Ashe knew it was only a matter of time before someone found out, before some leak tied her to some of the killings. They had framed it as Ashe being there for Crystal and getting ambushed by those escaping the premises. That had satisfied the police investigators, mostly because of who her parents were.

No charges were pressed, no major investigations were filed. She’d gotten away with a full scale gunfight on enemy grounds, where she’d been caught on the scene. It felt wrong, and her parents knew the truth of it.

That Ashe was a hardened killer.

A fact that was being pointedly ignored by everyone in the house. It led to a lot of tension, but it was clear that her parents weren’t judging her for it, which only made the guilt worse.

“Jasper,” Ashe whispered, the German Shepherd perking up at the sound of his name as she ran her numb hand through his fur. “I’m a terrible person, aren’t I?”

He barked, his tail wagging as he nosed her arm up to his ears, getting a laugh out of Ashe as she happily scratched at the spot she knew would send his leg kicking. Humanity didn’t deserve dogs, they were too good for the hell world that was Earth.

After a few minutes of happy dog noises, Ashe couldn’t ignore the pressure any longer and got up, to many whining protests, and made her way to the restroom. Her steps were stiff, and she struggled to avoid pulling at her stitches, which should be coming out in the next few days. She ran a hand along where the knife had pierced her side and sighed.

So close, just another inch and it would have been a mortal blow, she would have died long before Crystal managed to find her. The thought was sobering, and the wound was still tender to the touch. That was to be expected, and Ashe couldn’t shake the bone deep weariness that came with it. At least she wasn’t stuck attending school while feeling like ass.

Small mercies, but she still had to do all her assignments to keep up or risk repeating the grade. That was the last thing she wanted, and she would take her GED long before then if it came down to it.

Finishing up, Ashe made her way into the kitchen. There was a note on the fridge from her mom that she would be home early, which meant that she wasn’t working overtime. Her parents were bad about putting in extra hours, both saving for retirement as best they could. She knew they had at least a quarter million tied up in savings and investments, all in preparation for when they could quit the force and retire.

That was still almost a decade in the future, and by then they would likely have over a million saved up, not that it was all that much money in the long term. Ashe understood now that she was having to budget for a budding organization. Crystal was looking into front businesses they could invest in to launder the money, but there was only so much that could be done in the short term.

Drug sales were already picking up, which meant they would need proper suppliers in place before they ran out of stock from their raids. Until then, another raid would be needed, but Ashe wasn’t sold on taking the risk, especially when she couldn’t be there for it. Ordering her people to risk their lives just for the sake of profit didn’t sit well in her mind.

A breakfast bowl was tossed in the microwave and Ashe took a seat, picking up a small device and squeezed it. Even though she was injured, she hadn’t neglected her exercises needed to keep her numb hand strong. Accepting that she would never get full feeling back had been a bitter pill, but she’d recovered much of the raw strength she once had. The scar was still red and angry, fresh enough that it looked worse than it was, but she’d accepted that she would carry marks of her course in life. She had tattoo ideas to distract from how obvious they were, but some of the ideas were bold even for her.

The wound on her left shoulder was a different matter. It had been mostly healed when the second bullet ripped her arm open anew. The trail was different, cutting though in a crooked cross shape. She’d lucked out, no nerves had been hit from either shot, but the scarring would be obvious no matter how it all healed up.

Her thigh had still been tender when she marched into the rally, but now it was all but healed up. Yet another scar from her life of crime to reflect upon, another lie she had to keep track of. The microwave dinged and Ashe got back up with a grunt, retrieving the dish and digging in.

It felt almost normal, sitting there eating breakfast. Jasper wandered into the room and sat at her feet, not quite begging but doing so just from how obvious he wasn’t paying attention to her food. She laughed, offering the pup the last spoonful of eggs and sausage. He happily wolfed it down, then sat up to ask for more.

“Sorry buddy,” Ashe said, showing him the empty bowl. “All gone.”

Jasper huffed, then walked away, leaving Ashe to shake her head at how dramatic the dog was being about it all. Ashe grabbed her usual meds, taking them with practiced motions before moving to the pain pills. She didn’t technically need them, but the discomfort was still enough to ruin her day. She shrugged and popped one of the oxy pills.

From there, Ashe started preparing supper. Most of it was just throwing a bunch of stuff in the crockpot for the evening, but she still had to fry up the meat patties. She was just finishing up the last of them when the door opened and her mom walked through.

What caught Ashe off guard was how soaked her uniform was.

“Get caught in a Florida shower?” Ashe asked.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Those usually came in the afternoon, but on occasion they hit in the mornings instead. Glancing at the clock, Ashe realized that it actually was late in the afternoon and she’d either slept later than she thought or spaced out due to the pill she had taken. She wanted to curse, but that was the reality of taking the pain medications they had her on, they knocked her on her ass.

“Yeah, sort of snuck up on us,” Mom said.

A moment later the door opened again and her mother was there as well, looking as enthused as a wet cat about the state of her clothing.

“April showers,” Mother muttered. “We’re barely a week into the month.”

Laughing, Ashe put the lid on their supper, glad the first thing she had done was get the gravy boiling before adding it to the pot. The rest of the meal was just heating some water and opening a can or two of veggies, so she was safe to step away and greet her parents properly.

Or she would have if they weren’t soaked.

“What, don’t want to hug your mother?” Mom asked with a snicker.

Rolling her eyes, she hugged them anyway. It wasn’t like she was wearing anything important, just a plain shirt that she didn’t care too much about. Now somewhat damp, she smiled back at them.

“Anything exciting?” she asked.

The pair shared a look before her mom spoke up. “We finally got some information out of the feds about the…incident.”

Ashe perked up, wondering just what a federal investigation might have turned up. A bit of worry wormed its way through her gut, but Ashe had to trust that if she had been linked to the rest of the killings, that she wouldn’t be having a conversation about it casually in her living room. No, if they knew she was the person of interest, she’d be learning of this down at the station.

“I’m all ears,” Ashe said, taking a seat on the couch.

Her parents joined her, each taking their usual spots, though the TV stayed off.

“First thing, they don’t suspect you,” Mother said. Tension bled out of Ashe in an instant. “I figured you would want to know that much. Second, the team that you intercepted was backed by a Russian mercenary firm. Each had multiple international arrest warrants and some even carried rewards for their capture or…”

“Execution,” Ashe finished, then chuckled mirthlessly. “Well, can’t exactly claim those without putting my name out there, now can I?”

Her parents shared a concerned look. “Actually, the two that you were credited with both had bounties, so if you wanted to claim them, you could do it. We’ve inquired into how that might go, and given the risk of retaliation, you can claim it anonymously.”

Ashe blinked in surprise. “Seriously?”

“The combined bounties were considerable,” Mom said. “Obviously there is still a risk, but considering what you actually did, we figured we would leave it up to you if you want to risk collecting the funds.”

“How much are we talking?” Ashe asked, her mouth suddenly dry.

Another look was shared, conversation happening without words being spoken. It ended with a sharp glare from her mom as Mother’s shoulders slumped in defeat.

“Half a million,” Mother said.

Ashe almost frowned in disappointment before she remembered that she should show far more of a reaction to getting that much money in her civilian life. Inferno might be managing a rising drug empire worth millions, but Ashe was just a soon to be college student with a few thousand to her name.

“Well shit,” Ashe finally settled upon, leaning back heavily.

“It would be enough to move you and Crystal both to a safer state,” Mom said softly. “Or just leave the country outright.”

She wasn’t wrong. New Zealand was her immigration goal, and that much money would get her foot in the door and well on the path to citizenship. It was tempting as hell, and Ashe considered it for longer than she expected herself to.

But no, she had people that relied on her, and Ashe refused to abandon them for anything. The money would be helpful regardless, and she could use it to establish better fronts, to funnel money from her criminal life into her civilian one. Ideas swirled around her mind and she knew she would need to talk to Crystal about it.

She had more experience there.

“I take it you’d like to collect?” Mom asked.

Ashe nodded. “Yeah, no point in not collecting it. Anyone that wanted the information would just pay off someone in your department to learn the name of the ‘unnamed citizen’ that helped prevent the escape of dangerous criminal elements.”

“Too true,” Mother muttered darkly.

It was almost funny, because how would they react if Ellington’s supporters learned the entire incident was an inside job, or at the very least, feuding factions of their own? Something to consider, not that it would be easy to make that information public, and none of his supporters would believe her anyway so there wasn’t much point.

“We can file the paperwork tomorrow,” Mom said with an easy smile. “We’ll need to go down to the station to do it, but it shouldn’t be much of a hassle.”

Once again she was trying not to tense up. She’d been to the station no less than three times already, there was nothing nefarious about being asked to go in again, especially not on the following day. Ashe forced herself to nod and got back on her feet, making her way to the kitchen so she could start on the rest of the meal.

“I hope Salisbury is okay for dinner,” Ashe said. “Got a later start than I would have liked, damn oxy.”

“You should probably start weaning yourself off of that,” Mother said. “You know full well how addictive those can be.”

“Yes mother,” Ashe said in a monotone.

She didn’t need to be lectured on how dangerous those drugs could be, she’d seen the results first hand often enough as it was. Hell, she’d used those exact sort of drugs to kill a man for no other reason than to force his silence in a way nobody would look too deeply into.

Ashe understood full well what she was dealing with.

Letting the matter drop, Ashe moved back to the stove, setting some water to boil and brought out a bunch of frozen vegetables to start heating in a second pan. She’d barely managed to get the pan heated when someone knocked at the door. Frowning, Ashe turned just in time to watch her mother grab her side arm before moving to the door. Once she peeked out the peephole, she visibly relaxed.

“Hey Catherine,” Crystal said as soon as the door opened. “Is Ashe up? She hasn’t answered my messages.”

Ashe blinked, then realized she’d left her phone in her room all afternoon.

Whoops?

“What’s up?” Ashe asked, drying her hands as she stepped over. “Everything alright?”

“Yeah, nothing’s on fire,” Crystal joked, meaning this was nothing Inferno was needed for. “Just my father being a prick.”

“Ah,” Ashe said in understanding. “What’s he up to now?”

“Apparently he caught wind of something,” Crystal said with a grimace. “He’s coming back to Jericho and asked me to keep my schedule clear for a bit, so either he’s got another suitor lined up, or he’s gonna posture over the attempt on Jason’s life some more.”

All the color drained from Ashe’s face as a dozen scenarios raced through her mind, none of them good. He’d been playing it up for the media for weeks, but the news cycle was moving on. Did he have another play up his sleeve?

“Goddammit,” Ashe said, dropping to the couch.

There was a moment of silence before she heard her mom ask, “so, able to stay for dinner?”

“That sounds lovely,” Crystal said, taking a seat beside Ashe, pulling her into a hug. “I could use a stress free meal after the day I’ve had.”