Linda walked into the precinct with a heavy heart and far too much on her mind. She knew her daughter was getting caught up in things she shouldn’t, but for her to be Inferno, the city’s latest monster in the making? She wasn’t sure how to feel about that. She’d watched her daughter gun down people without flinching. Her companion executed the mayor in cold blood, but not without reason.

Knowing that the man was behind more than one attempt on her daughter’s life, directly or otherwise, it was hard to not agree with her. Linda knew that was a troubling sign, that she should be taking steps back to re-evaluate her life. Instead, she had stepped back to observe her daughter, to see why she was doing what she was.

It was more than a bit concerning that she perfectly understood her daughter’s motivations and couldn’t really fault them, at least early on. Linda could see the slippery slope claiming her all too easily. She had finished the reason she set out to become a criminal, those who hurt her were dealt with, but the others hurt by those same monsters needed someone, and Ashe stepped up.

Now she was embroiled in the greater workings of gang politics city wide, and here Linda was, helping her keep things from boiling over. Yessina was in danger, a known gang leader and suspected of being the architect of hundreds of murders over her time with the Viuda. Some of which Ashe had carried out herself, at the woman’s request.

Linda was there to make sure that Yessina survived the night, so that the Viuda wouldn’t be taken over by one of Alejandro’s puppets. A role that the man was attempting to groom Ashe for, and her daughter had taken that revelation rather personally.

Walking into the captain’s office, she found Catherine looking over a tablet, a map of the city showing several hot spots that were unresolved. One of which she recognized as Ashe’s apartment complex. The symbol over it denoted that it was an uninvestigated shooting, but not an active situation.

Given the symbols for active firefights all across downtown and stretching up into Keen and beyond, she knew it was a stressful night for all involved. Walking up, she set a cup on the table, startling her wife who immediately let out a heavy breath and accepted the beverage.

“Thanks love,” Catherine said, taking a sip of the coffee. “Tonight is an absolute cluster fuck.”

“Damn, must be really serious to get you cursing on duty,” Linda said. Oh how she wanted to open up and tell her wife everything, to have no secrets between them, but she didn’t have time for that. “You mentioned you needed me for something?”

“Yes,” Catherine said, glancing at the door. Linda shut it without needing to be told. “I received a tip that I’m inclined to believe, that someone intends to assassinate Yessina under our noses. I don’t know if they’ll be Patriot, Alejandro, or some other player, I just know that it was credible enough to act on.”

Linda winced, knowing the reason that she had been brought in. “And you need someone that you know isn’t caught up with those that might want her dead.”

“I’d like to think that my wife isn’t bought and paid for by criminals,” Catherine said with a smirk. The once joke was now biting so close to the bone. “Think you can get Yessina a few hours outside the city?”

“Got a safehouse in mind?” Linda asked.

Catherine shook her head. “Nothing on the books, so keep me in the dark.”

Linda saw the opportunity, though they hadn’t needed to use anything like that since she made captain, but early on, they knew they could only trust one another.

“You know I hate the dark,” Linda said.

Cat paused, her eyes narrowing. “Is that so? Just don’t do anything stupid, like check in at a hotel on social media. Anyone would know to look there if you did.”

Linda breathed out a sigh of relief. Cat did remember, and knew better than to ask questions about it.

“How’s Ashe?” Cat asked, passing her a slip of paper.

“She’s with Crystal and some of their friends,” Linda said, accepting the pass. “Since the city’s on fire, they figured it was safer in numbers, keep their heads above water so to speak.”

Catherine sat stoically, likely working to piece together the hint. Figuring out that Ashe was with Inferno’s group shouldn’t be hard with that hint, though she wasn’t likely to figure out that their daughter was actually Inferno. It was the best she could do without outright betraying her daughter’s trust.

“Okay, I’ll get in touch with her later,” Catherine said. “Call me before you get settled, can’t have someone hacking the cell signal to locate you.”

Nodding, Linda departed her wife’s office and went towards the holding area. She had to scan her ID twice to get through the airlock, and had a short argument with the man at the body scanner that she was allowed to bring her phone with her due to the pass. Following that, she had to scan her ID once more to access the protective custody cells.

Inside, three officers were sitting around their desk, one watching something on the computer, while the two guys were playing poker, using piles of candy as chips. She snorted at the display, and pointedly ignored that one of them had an iron cross tattoo on his exposed bicep. The other man was officer Combs, the man that Brie indicated was their mole with the police.

Both men were likely passing information about Yessina to those outside the force, and if caught, would be terminated. That had once been a reassurance to Linda, but now she was no better.

“Hamilton!” the woman called, quickly closing the video on the computer. “We weren’t expecting you.”

She held up the slip. “You know how it is, my wife has me running an errand for her. Gotta take our latest acquisition to the feds for safe keeping.”

“Off the books, I take it?” Combs asked.

She sighed melodramatically. “You know how these runs go. She hasn’t even told me who my running partner is, or where we’re going, just to grab them and go to a specific car.”

“At least she’s practicing good opsec,” the Patriot said. “What are the odds they’ll throw the book at the Queen of Whores?”

That nickname always followed the Viuda matron, whoever it was at the time, but it was almost exclusively used by the Iron Patriots. Anything to dehumanize their enemies. Unfortunately, Linda couldn’t risk causing a scene at the moment, so she had to let the comment slide.

“If the list of charges Cat was going over was accurate, she’s gone for life if even a quarter stick.”

A complete falsehood, but it would hopefully end the conversation sooner.

“Good,” he said. “Alright, let’s get her into some cuffs and leg irons. I’ll sleep better once she’s no longer our problem.”

Linda nodded as the other officers all got to work. The woman at the computer got out a few forms and passed them over, Linda recognized them as transfer forms and quietly slid them back, shaking her head. If people got suspicious, she could always call up her daughter to pull something to make it look good, because what she was doing was already sketchy, and if anyone else had asked, she would have never agreed to move someone off the record.

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“No paper trail,” Linda said softly, eyes flicking over to the two men. “Already too many eyes and ears as it is.”

“I get it,” she answered, taking the sheets and sliding them over to a pile of scrap paper. “You know people will come for her, right?”

Linda regarded her for a moment, despite the lack of visible tattoos, that didn’t mean anything about potential affiliation or just outright sympathy. It wasn’t like she could fish for clues as to who this particular officer might support, not without painting a bigger target on herself than she already had.

“I was given a job to do, and I’ll make sure it gets done,” Linda said.

The two officers returned, both with hands gripping the arms of a dark haired woman. Linda could admit that the Viuda’s leader cut an appealing figure, even in a gray jumpsuit. The woman was looking around, affecting boredom until her gaze landed on Linda, her eyes widening minutely.

“She’s here to deliver you to the feds,” said the iron cross tattoo guy. “Not that you deserve the better food. Hell, maybe we’ll luck out and they’ll ship you back to Mexico.”

“I’m from Brazil,” Yessina said. “Not that your ilk cares for such matters.”

The man shoved her forward, forcing Linda to catch her before she fell to the floor.

“Easy,” Linda snarled. “I don’t want to have to do any use of force paperwork on this bitch, alright?”

“Sorry,” the man said, sounding anything but.

Linda rolled her eyes, and made sure Yessina had her feet under her. “Alright, nice and easy.”

The woman complied, holding back any comments as she escorted her through the airlock and out towards the motorcade where Cat’s car was parked. She knew better than to take her own, too many people would have seen her leaving with the wanted criminal to not know she was taking her somewhere.

“Interesting,” Yessina said when they stopped at the unmarked vehicle.

“I’m sure,” Linda said. She was quick to pull a gray hoodie from the backseat and drape it over the woman before opening the passenger door and helping her inside. “I’ll fill you in further once we’re underway.”

Yessina’s expression shifted, hardening as she nodded. Linda moved around, her hand never far from her firearm as she climbed in the car. Linda’s eyes were everywhere, watching each and every car for a potential ambush as she finally got underway. Pulling out onto the street, she kept expecting some vehicle to try and run her off the road, or a team of gunmen to pull up alongside them.

It wasn’t until she was nearly six blocks down the street that she finally allowed herself to relax, if only slightly. A melodic chuckle drew her eyes to the person in the passenger seat and Linda had to resist the urge to frown.

“Something amusing?”

Yessina nodded. “Indeed. You are jumping at shadows. Believe me, they will come, but it won’t be like this. Alejandro doesn’t do subtle.”

Linda watched the woman from the corner of her eye, still expecting something to go wrong in a blink. “Inferno called in a tip that you might need to be moved.”

“Did she now?” Yessina said. “I was under the impression she was still in that bastard’s back pocket.”

“He burned her, and she survived,” Linda said. “She’s out for blood now.”

Even saying that, she didn’t like to think about it. Her little girl was all but preparing to lead a war against the monsters that plagued their home. That Ashe was counted among those monsters hurt all the more. It was too much to consider for the moment, so she pushed it out of her mind as best she could.

“Surprising,” Yessina said after a moment. “Though, that girl is a bit of a spitfire, willing to work with anyone she feels can help forward her own agenda.”

“Sounds like you know her fairly well,” Linda hedged.

“Better than you, I imagine,” Yessina said, smugly.

Linda tensed, and she had to force herself to relax. Ashe had mentioned that Yessina knew who she was, that was part of it. Alejandro wanted her to talk first.

“It wouldn’t surprise me,” Linda said. “I did let her down after all.”

Now it was Yessina’s turn to fall silent. “She told you?”

“Figured it out,” Linda said. “Not that she was bothering to hide it, given the current crisis.”

“A part of me wants to be surprised you didn’t arrest her, but I know full well how the police protect their own.”

This time Linda did turn a glare upon the woman. “My daughter saw justice fail her and stepped forward to ensure others wouldn’t be hurt by those that hurt her. Then, she took responsibility for those that had nowhere else to go. I might not approve of all her methods, but I am proud of her for sticking to what she believed to be right.”

Yessina watched her as she spoke, her expression wide eyed and contemplative. If she was expecting Linda to be anything but proud of her daughter, she had another thing coming. Even if Ashe was a criminal, she was still proud of her girl for standing on her own two feet for what she believed in.

Ashe took after her birth mother in that regard, Carmen could have become a gang leader with ease, but she instead fought for social reform on the streets. Her last act had been securing blockers for Ashe, exploiting then Governor Ellington’s own flagship bill to do so. That woman would have been a terror if she resorted to violence. Ultimately, even if she hadn’t been a violent woman, violence had found her.

Catherine and Linda both still swore it was a hit job, not that there was any proof.

Well, it looked like Jericho would understand the bullet they once dodged. She didn’t know how the conversation with Ashe following all of this was going to play out, but she couldn’t see her daughter backing down from protecting her people, not while they still needed her.

Bringing Cat in on the secret would be the tricky part, but Linda knew her wife. She wouldn’t like it, but she wouldn’t sell Ashe out either. They had both sworn to stand by that girl before the adoption was even final, and she couldn’t imagine Catherine going back on her word.

“Your daughter is lucky to have a mother like you,” Yessina said softly. “Too many women are abandoned to the street, and despite our disagreements, I still respected Inferno for taking responsibility for the girls she saved.”

Linda thought back to the apartment and all the girls that stood armed and ready to defend their home. They were a gang, there was no doubt about that, but more than that, they were family. Fiercely protective of one another, and the whole gang would walk through hell for any individual in it. Devotion like that didn’t just spring from nothing, Ashe must have inspired them through her own actions.

Maybe someday she would get to hear some of the stories, and learn more about the woman her daughter had become. But until then, she would—

The car spun, the impact of another vehicle shattered glass and bent steel. Even dazed, Linda could recognize the danger. The vehicle that had hit them was already reversing away, and two more vans pulled up. Linda jerked the keys from the ignition and ducked down, finding the cuff key she always kept on it.

Yessina had also ducked forward, but with her wrists restrained, there wasn’t much she could do. So, she undid them with a swift motion as she ignored the blood spreading along her gray from a bit of metal that had torn loose in the wreck.

“What are—”

“They’re after you,” Linda snapped. “I promised Ashe that you would be safe, so that’s what I’m going to do.”

“Don’t die,” Yessina said. “Ashe would never forgive me if you did.”

In truth, Linda didn’t have much of a plan, but she already knew how fucked she was. She pointed towards a nearby car and Yessina was careful to slip out of the vehicle despite her injuries. She ducked behind it and Linda hit the gas. One perk of driving an older rustbucket, it still worked without the key in the ignition.

The car lurched forward, bullets impacted the car, but she did her best to put some distance between them and act as a distraction. If Yessina died, it would mean chaos in the city far worse than anything they were dealing with at the moment. She would keep her promise to her daughter, because if Yessina died, it would fall back on Ashe.

And Linda refused to let that happen.

Another van pulled out in front of her, and the steering failed to respond fast enough, she hit it broadside head on, and this time the airbag deployed properly, slamming into her face. It took her a moment to recover, but that had been a moment too long.

Someone strolled right up to her window and shoved a gun against her head.

“Evening officer,” Alejandro said with a menacing smile. “Don’t suppose you happen to know where your prisoner escaped to?”