When she had resolved to push open the door and tell her parents, there were many things she expected to see or hear. From anger filled words, tear filled eyes, the metallic click of handcuffs being secured on her wrists… She didn’t need an active imagination, she just knew how things were likely to go, all to get a weight off her chest.

She’d prepared for that and more, but what she hadn’t expected was a waiter clearing the table and no sign of her parents. Her eyes swept over the room, making doubly sure they weren’t in there somewhere, hidden. That would have defeated the purpose of the room, of course, which was to have a discreet place where no tricks or traps could easily be sprung on those attending.

“Where are my parents?” Ashe asked, not intending how sharp her voice came out.

The waiter swallowed heavily. “They came looking for Sandra, I told them she stepped out, so they asked for boxes and I figured I’d help the girl out.”

Ashe sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Fine, how long ago was this?”

“You just missed them,” he said.

Turning on her heel, Ashe hurried back towards the entrance, remembering where they had parked on their way in. She just had to get there before they left, then she could do something. So of course, that was when the phone rang, and not her regular phone. Ashe cursed her luck, and the universe itself as she fished it out, she didn’t recognize the number, but that amounted to little in their line of work.

“What?” Ashe said.

“Oh, did I call at a bad time?” Alejandro asked smoothly, his voice almost teasing. Ashe’s hand tightened on the phone, despite her weakened fingers. “Before you hang up, I thought you might like to know that I had something fall into my lap that might be up your alley, my little flame.”

“I’m not going to be the first shot in the coming war,” Ashe said, her stomach churning as she looked around for her parents. She finally spotted them getting into their car which meant her window was all but closed. She could hang up on him, claim the call dropped, but he would never buy it.

Her thumb still drifted towards the end call button as she set off towards the car. She could flag them down, come clean, and then prepare for the fallout that would inevitably come. There was even a convenient alley to slip into if the reaction was bad.

“Not even,” Alejandro said, his voice leading, “if I found out about another group of girls in need of rescue and assholes that could use your special brand of justice?”

Ashe froze in place. He had found more girls being kidnapped? Fuck, she thought that they had rooted out the bulk of that operation. Had another managed to spring up in barely two months? That was quick, but not terribly so, not if they had powerful backers. It also meant that he was likely laying the foundations for a trap, because he knew she wouldn’t be able to resist the lure right in front of her.

Watching her parent’s car pull away, Ashe knew she had missed her chance to talk.

“Fine,” she hissed into the phone. “Send me the details, I’ll look into it.”

“I knew you would see the light, little flame,” he said smugly. “Deets are on their way, just know you’re on a timer, girls get moved tonight to parts unknown.”

And he hung up.

Bastard.

Such a short timeframe meant she wouldn’t have time to arrange a conversation with her parents. Not before she had to make a decision on whether she was going through with it or not. Ashe knew that if she put it off now, she would probably continue to do so forever. Gritting her teeth, Ashe turned her attention to her phone, which had just received a text.

Back to the apartments then, she had an emergency meeting to arrange.

Ashe turned back to the restaurant, already dialing Crystal’s number. “Hey, just got a call from Alejandro, he had a lead and I want all the info we can get on the place before we even think about following up on it.”

“That’s not much notice,” Crystal said, her voice groggy.

Ashe winced. “Sorry I woke you from your nap.”

“S’okay,” she muttered. “Send the info, I’ll pass it along to Keiko. You need a lift?”

“Nah,” Ashe said, finding Sandra once more. “I should be able to get a ride. See you soon”

Sandra raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment as Ashe ended the call. Of more concern was the manager on duty eyeing her. If she had been a member of the workforce, that might have intimidated her, but she signed his paychecks. Not to mention, she had to admit to herself that the role of hard ass gang leader was fitting into place far easier than she had ever expected.

Her parents had said it well enough, she was the type to take charge and get things done. Now, she was going to have to do it again, she just hated that it was at the request of someone else. Whatever game Alejandro was playing, she needed to figure it out sooner rather than later what the man was really after.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“I’m borrowing Sandra for a bit,” Ashe said to the manager. “Bit of an emergency came up.”

“You’re just taking my employee?” he groused. She just stared at him, watching with a bit of sadistic amusement that he was starting to sweat. “Alright, just, have her back before the dinner rush.”

Ashe waved him off, but Sandra had already taken her apron off and was stuffing it into her bag. “Where to, boss?”

“Back home,” she said, following Sandra out the rear entrance and into the alley again. She saw with some amusement that her blunt was still smoldering. “Got a tip about another group of girls that might need help.”

Sandra paused for a moment, then resumed her pace with renewed vigor, her posture now all business as they reached her car. It wasn’t anything fancy, just a gray number that would blend in with any other vehicle out on the streets. It was one of several communal vehicles that were purchased for the girls to use as needed.

“Anything you can tell me?” Sandra asked, pulling onto the road.

Ashe shook her head, fishing out her phone. “I wish. I have the others gathering info, so hopefully we have something to go off of soon.”

“If this checks out,” Sandra said, her fingers turning white around the steering wheel, “fuck those bastards with a cactus. Make them bleed.”

Blinking, Ashe was momentarily surprised by the raw vitriol coming from the otherwise cheerful and sweet girl. Then again, this was dancing all over her trauma, which probably wasn’t helping matters.

“I will,” she said.

The drive would take some time, so Ashe swapped to the Harmony app to check on things, already seeing several messages with information attached. Caralina was even heading out to start getting eyes on the location. There was a swell of pride, seeing her core group working so diligently the moment they had a task in front of them.

Content that was going well on that front, she instead flicked over to her group chat with her parents. The last message was a reminder about the time of the lunch meetup they had just left. Ashe winced, yet her fingers hesitated on the screen. Was it too soon to message them? No, that was just her fishing for an excuse to delay things.

Her fingers moved, typing, then deleting, as she tried to figure out exactly what she wanted to say, and how to best say it. She didn’t want to tell them over text, they deserved better. No, she needed to apologize first, that was the priority.

And that’s exactly what she began to type. An apology for her outburst, and for phrasing things poorly. That she still loved them, and would explain everything soon. Pausing, Ashe deleted that last bit. She didn’t want to make them worry further, which they would almost certainly do if she alluded to too much.

Unfortunately, they arrived back at the apartments before Ashe could finish, forcing her to stow her phone and head inside. Ashe put on her best smile as she waved goodbye to Sandra, who almost didn’t want to leave. As much as she might be able to use the help, Ashe didn’t want to put someone so young in the crosshairs.

“I’ll make sure someone keeps you updated, thanks for the lift.”

Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to put the girl at ease, who squared her shoulders and firmed her resolve.

“I want to help,” Sandra said firmly.

Sighing, Ashe paused and turned back to her. “You are helping, you’re our ears in that restaurant. Gossip is shared over food more often than you think, and you never know when someone might slip and say something important.”

The girl huffed, but thankfully nodded and began to drive off. With that disaster averted, Ashe turned her attention back onto the other looming disaster. The girl at the door took one look at her and waved her on without a second glance and Ashe took the elevator up to the meeting room.

When she got there, Keiko paused for a moment at her computer, the image mirrored on the large TV. There hadn’t been much time to gather information on the location that Alejandro had forwarded along, but Keiko had still managed to impress. She had the street view pulled up on an old canning plant, the image was about a year out of date, but the place closed more than a decade prior, it wouldn’t have changed much.

“I don’t like this,” Keiko said.

Taking a moment, Ashe looked over the information she had pulled up, and she could only agree. “This screams setup.”

“No kidding,” Crystal muttered. “He mentioned a time limit too, specifically to limit our ability to perform recon.”

The blueprints were easy enough to find, as the building had been listed for sale just four years ago, bought by some no-name company that went bankrupt less than a year later, and changed hands half a dozen times as the assets shuffled about. It was currently owned by a developer that looked to be nothing more than another shell company.

She glanced at her phone, a text half typed looking back at her. Ashe was still unpacking that her parents left her there without a ride, which still stung more than Ashe wanted to admit. Sending the text would at least get the ball rolling, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it, not after they just left like that.

But then again, she had been the first to leave…

She added a few more words to the message while Keiko went over the shell company in more depth, it wasn’t a surprise that they had ties to a Patriot backer, and then Ashe hit send. She didn’t wait for a reply, as it could take a while if something came up with work. So, Ashe chose instead to focus back on what little they knew about the job.

As Ashe looked over the sparse details, she couldn’t help but think that it was too obvious. If Alejandro wanted to set a trap for them, would he be so brazen about it, especially for their first job working with him? That was proving to be the problem with working for the man, she was second guessing everything about it.

Trying to find layer within layer of deception was an exercise in madness, but maybe she could use that to her advantage? Playing Alejandro’s game was always going to be a gamble, each spin of the wheel the potential to lock in the bullet that would end her. So, why not rig the game further?

“Load up, I want eyes on,” Ashe said. Keiko and Crystal both turned to protest, but Ashe already had her hand up to forestall them. “We aren’t rushing in dick first, but we also can’t afford to just ignore this either. We observe, and if it checks out, then we act, and only then.”

“Seriously?” Crystal asked. “What if he’s using us as bait?”

Ashe looked down at the laptop screen, an idea forming in her mind. “Then let’s be bait.”

Keiko couldn’t help but chuckle. “Oh, that’s rich. You think that you can pull one over on the scheming bastard?”

Staring down at the screen, Ashe could only wonder how the gamble would play out.