Unfortunately, Ashe couldn’t just take her new baby out for a spin right away, but that didn’t stop her from appreciating the absurdly generous gift for what it was. Even as nice as it was, it still came second to something far more important.
She had kissed Crystal, and she had kissed her back!
Ashe would be riding that high for days to come, she could finally call Crystal her girlfriend! She practically skipped inside, Crystal and Keiko following behind her while carrying on a hushed conversation that she was fairly certain was a bunch of teasing being directed at her girlfriend.
So long as Keiko remained good-natured about it, she would allow it, because Ashe was feeling magnanimous at the moment. She was feeling many things, actually. Bliss, elation, and more than a small thrill and she wished to shout it from the rooftops. Unfortunately, she couldn’t do so, telling her parents about the bike would only worry them, and they couldn’t know that she could actually afford the damn thing on her own, or that it was nothing for Crystal to buy her one.
Maybe she could tell them that it was coming out of Ellington’s pocket, they would probably approve of it then.
The entire day she had wondered if it was a date, and now she could honestly say that it was, and that it had been magical. She’d planned the entire day in advance, and didn’t let the events surrounding them hamper things too much. She was a little upset they couldn’t just spend the evening cuddling and kissing, but Keiko did have news, and they needed to hear it out, and plan what they could.
Ashe sat down gingerly, still wishing for the sweet relief that her meds would bring, but that would have to wait until things were done. Crystal sat beside her, shooting her a grin that set her heart fluttering anew. Keiko rolled her eyes, taking the single-seater across from them.
“You two are going to be sickening going forward,” Keiko said, a teasing lilt to her voice. “But, I’m happy for you both, and about time.”
“I seem to recall an ultimatum,” Crystal said, sending a half-hearted glare Keiko’s way. “Something about making my move before you did.”
Ashe sputtered, glad she hadn’t been taking a drink, even as Keiko rolled her eyes.
“Please. I may like my girls younger, but that’s well beyond pushing it, even for me. If the girl isn’t able to legally drink, I don’t pick her up anymore.”
“I’m sure,” Crystal said, her tone telling exactly how much she actually believed that. “So, business. What have you learned about the warehouse?”
Sighing, Keiko leaned back in the chair. “First of all, thanks for lending me Brie and her little friends, they were invaluable at getting some of the information out of the place.”
“No problem,” Ashe said, her stomach twisting a bit, but not as bad as it had when she first started. “She said she passed her report along, and that she was grateful for the tip you gave her.”
“Oh, the pleasure there was all mine,” Keiko said with a wink. “Girl’s got talent, that’s for damn sure.”
“I’ll start planning the wedding,” Ashe said, rolling her eyes. Brie was professional, but she was also pretty damn straight. She just knew how to service both sides of her potential clientele. “What do you have for us?”
“Lots of drugs, for one,” Keiko said. “It’s not as big of an operation as the pawn shop, but it’s close. Plenty of illegals being made to work on processing the bulk into distributable packages as well. Cash on hand is minimal, they don’t handle sales directly from what I gathered, just enough to pay the people they employ and not much more. It seems they can learn from their mistakes after all.”
“Good for them,” Ashe said with a huff. “The information is more important than any haul we might get anyway. How many jackasses are gonna be trying to kill us?”
Crystal snorted, and Ashe snuggled up a bit tighter. She didn’t want to jump right back into another life or death situation, especially with how injured she still was, but needs must. They needed a lead on Robbie, and if it meant doing a shitty favor, so be it. There was the nagging feeling that it was just another setup, and that the Viuda were just cleaning house. She’d plan for that possibility too.
“About a dozen,” Keiko said. “Brie mentioned other girls to them, and she offered to get as many as possible stoned out of their heads before the raid proper. Dunno if you want to use them like that, but I figured I should pass it along.”
Ashe knew she would need to double check with her, but saw no reason to doubt Keiko’s word on that. Trust but verify. Keiko might be Yessina’s eyes and ears within her organization, which really needed a name, but that didn’t mean she would keep her at arm’s length. Ashe forming her own group was all kinds of red flags for escalation and caution was just good business. If Robbie had been targeted because of her actions, then that changed things.
She needed to play along, make herself look less threatening. She was just a girl trying to help others in a bad situation, carving out a niche to keep them safe. If she could keep up the charade long enough, she might just last long enough to make an impact in Jericho. She couldn’t do that if the Viuda turned on her too early.
There was a very real risk that they already had, which meant playing this entire mess cautiously. Betrayal would mean changing her entire approach, new methods needed to keep her growing presence in the city from crumbling around her. The big players all seemed to know exactly who she was, which meant they could sell her out at any point.
It was infuriating having to play on their terms, which meant that she needed to figure out a way to flip the game on its head. She had an idea of how to do just that, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be responsible for that level of death. It was one thing to pull the trigger herself, but another to manipulate others into doing the dirty work for her. It felt wrong on so many levels, but if it gave her a chance to save the city…
Ashe heaved out a sigh, there was just so much that needed done.
“I like the idea of getting them all too stoned to care,” Ashe said. “Now, on to the actual event. We need to put on a show to keep Yessina happy, and I don’t want us to get bogged down either.”
“We’ll need to keep a few girls in reserve to help load the van,” Keiko chimed in. “Five minutes after shots are fired and we burn. Torch the rest.”
Ashe nodded. “Prep what you think we will need to light up that damn building like a fireworks warehouse that skirted every safety code in the book. Let’s give the Viuda exactly what they wanted and make damn sure the fascists know who to thank for it.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Oh this is gonna be fun,” Keiko said, hopping to her feet. “I’ll get started right away.”
Ashe nodded. “Be safe. Call if you so much as think something is off about a situation. We don’t know who our enemies are right now.”
“Will do. Worst comes to worst, my apartment is rigged to blow and nobody knows I rent the one beneath it as a bolt hole.”
“Being awfully trusting of us,” Crystal said.
Keiko sighed, her shoulders slumping. “Probably, but as naive as Ashe is, I trust her to at least know not to share that around. I also know she won’t stick a knife in my back unless I stick one in hers first.”
“I’m right here,” Ashe said, petulantly, crossing her arms as she did.
Keiko just hummed sweetly, turning to leave. “Good luck with your shit, see you in a few days.”
A few moments later, the door shut and Keiko’s car rumbled to life before pulling away. Ashe savored the moment, curled up into Crystal’s side as she was, but like all good things, it would have to come to an end.
“Now for the part I didn’t want her to hear,” Ashe said softly. “We need a secondary bugout, just in case Keiko is planning to burn us. I want to trust her, I really do…”
“But you need us to be safe,” Crystal finished. “I get that.”
Ashe pulled Crystal closer, burying her face in her shirt. “I know you used to date her, but I can’t take any risks. I don’t want to lose someone I care about just because I was too much of a bleeding heart to make a hard call.”
“Thanks, Ashe,” Crystal answered. “I’ll look into the sewer plans around the place, see if we can find an exfil point that will be safe.”
Wrapped in warmth, Ashe let out a heavy breath, savoring the feeling of security being in Crystal’s arms brought with it. There was another subject to broach, and it wasn’t that big of a deal, but she still had business to deal with first. Taking out her phone, she sent a quick text to Brie, asking her to call at the next safe opportunity.
The phone rang before she could set it back aside. She flicked the answer button and set it to speaker.
“Sup Ember?” Ashe’s eyes twitched at the new nickname. “You said it was important.”
Pinching her nose, Ashe straightened up a bit. “Yeah. We’re planning to hit the warehouse you helped Hanabi scope out. We wanted you read in on things since you’re going to be hands on.”
“Fair enough,” Brie said.
Ashe took a breath. “Alright, we’ll have you and your hand picked girls show up, throw that little party you had in mind, let the guys see that nothing bad happened by indulging once. More are likely to participate the second time, so we will hit them then.”
“Probably want to slip them some harder stuff the second time, too,” Crystal added. “Are we going to kill the stoned people, or are we going to leave them alive?”
Ashe took a deep breath, that was what it came down to, was she ready to order the deaths of others to be carried out by those under her command? She doubted she ever would be, but she had to start somewhere.
“Yeah, we’re going to kill them, but I want some signs that point to Yessina herself being behind it,” Ashe said, forcing confidence into her voice. “There’s good odds that the Viuda are going to tip this warehouse off, or someone else, to make sure we get caught, so let’s play into that to the best of our ability.”
“Why not make sure they get tipped off, then make it that much worse for them?” Brie asked.
“Elaborate,” Ashe almost snapped, before catching herself. “You want to make sure they’re tipped off?”
“Broad sense only,” she explained. “I can easily have one of the girls slip up and drop Yessina’s name and make sure that guy survives. Truth in a lie sort of deal.”
“Hanabi promised a big boom,” Ashe said, trailing off as ideas came to mind. “We could work with that. Would it be worth tipping off the cops as well?”
“Shaky grounds there,” Crystal cut back in. “They were probably tipped off for the pawn shop job, we don’t want to see what they do a second time.”
“Could just have dirty cops on call anyway,” Ashe said. “No point giving them extra warning then. Okay, next idea. Brie, are you comfortable killing people, or do you want us to arrange to do it instead?”
“You act like I haven’t killed before,” the girl grumbled. “I use old school hair spikes for a reason. My girls and I will handle the room, don’t worry.”
“Good, one less thing to worry about,” Ashe said, her hand trembling even as her voice remained hard. “Just make sure you have an easy and safe escape route. Everyone comes home alive, you hear me?”
“Yeah, I hear you,” she said, then under her breath followed it up with, “save us from bleeding hearts.”
Ashe cracked a smile, despite how serious the situation was. She was once again planning to kill people, to steal drugs from the gang that had hurt her months prior. A giddy feeling was welling up within her at the idea of bleeding them further, and the guilt over planning murder was far less than it had been that first time.
She was getting used to it, which should have concerned her.
Then again, they were Nazis, and it was hard to give a shit about killing the people that would happily do the same to her if given the chance. So, that’s all there was to it, she would do what she needed to do, to keep advancing her plans, to stay alive while doing so, and secure a future for herself and her people.
All to work up to getting rid of Ellington, a sitting Senator, and Presidential hopeful. Well, people always said that one man’s freedom fighter was another’s terrorist. All that mattered was who won in the end, and she was damned determined to win this one.
“We’ll have the floor plan in a day or two,” Crystal said, drawing her attention back to the planning. “It’s hardly a heist, but we may as well give it all the due respect.”
“Sounds like we know what movie we’re watching after all this,” Ashe chimed in. “Might give us some ideas too.”
“I doubt a drug warehouse will have casino levels of security,” Brie said flatly. “Whatever. I’ve got to get ready for work tonight, I’ll leave you two to your own.”
“Stay safe,” Ashe said, not caring if she sounded like a broken record.
An exasperated sigh came over the speaker. “Yeah, yeah. Talk to you later, boss lady.”
The call ended and her phone went back to the lock screen. Ashe pocketed it and resumed her mandated cuddles. That left one remaining item on her agenda, one she wasn’t quite sure how to approach delicately, which meant she probably needed to just rip the band-aid off and get it over with.
“So, are we a couple now?” Ashe asked, putting action to her thoughts.
Crystal tensed, and Ashe squeezed her in what she hoped was reassurance.
“I think so,” Crystal said. “I still think it’s dangerous, and we might want to keep any PDAs low key at least until prom, but… Yeah, you’re my girlfriend, if that’s okay with you that is!” Crystal’s words were practically a roller coaster with how her pitch kept shifting as she almost panicked. Then her voice dropped to a near whisper. “Please say it’s okay.”
Ashe’s heart cracked at the raw vulnerability in those words, and some tiny voice in the back of her mind whispered doubts about how someone as awesome as Crystal could ever fall for someone like her. She squashed that voice under her metaphorical boot and reached out, cupping Crystal’s chin and kissed the girl.
Before it could turn into something too heated, Ashe forced herself to pull back, to Crystal’s mewling, yet adorable, protests.
“Yeah, it’s okay. Girlfriend.”
Crystal’s smile was a sight to behold, and the kiss that followed could never be described as chaste.