The rental car pulled into the parking lot neatly. "You sure they’re here?" Cowboy asked. She looked around with obvious distaste. "Yeah, pretty sure." Rally commented dryly. American hotels are a lot like Americans themselves. While they differ in taste and quality, on the whole, they have certain things in common…but not much. This example of the trailer trash class of hotel, for instance, boasted "Inddor Pool and Cab e." Paving in the parking lot was apparently extra, however. "Nice place he takes May to." "Not his usual class, I’ll admit." Rally said. "I wonder why he’s here." The two women left the car parked well away from the office, and slipped around the back of the hotel. As they climbed the stairs to the third floor, Cowboy wondered out loud, "If this isn’t his usual kind of place, how did you know to come here?" Rally gave a short laugh. "Because it’s May’s usual place." They approached Room 314 with guns drawn. At the door, Rally stopped, one hand extended to knock. At the sounds from within, Rally colored a little and Cowboy laughed. Rally grimaced and knocked. "May - you’ve got to three to get off Ken and we’re coming in." Both women laughed out loud at the scuffling from within. When the lock was opened, Rally and Cowboy entered. Rally stepped into the interior past Minnie May, and pointed her gun at Ken. "Sorry, Ken. We don’t have time for pleasantries." Rally could hear the sound of Cowboy grabbing May and holding her back. Ken smiled up from the bed. Before he had a chance to speak, May interrupted. "Dammit, Rally. I won’t even go into the "you have no right" speech…but get your gun out my Kenny’s face or I’ll blow you and your car to pieces." Rally didn’t budge. "Who is it Ken? Where and how? We don’t have time to play games." Ken shrugged. "It’s a straightforward car bombing, and one building demo. The car bomb is rigged to go off at about 9PM and the building at about 3AM tomorrow, but…" he paused. "But what?" Rally insisted. "But," Ken said smugly, "I told May all this and she was going to tell you tonight when she got home." Rally shot him a dark look, then holstered her gun. Cowboy must have let go of May, too, because the next thing she knew, Rally had been slapped pretty solidly by her partner and was sitting on the floor. Cowboy’s snicker was almost inaudible. Almost. "What is WRONG with you?" May asked indignantly. "Do you think you need to pull a gun on Ken to get him to help you?" Rally stood up, rubbing her face and her ass. "Hey, he’s got a job to do - he might not feel like he needs to report in." Ken nodded. "As a matter of fact, I didn’t like this one myself, but in my position, I didn’t feel I could say no." May glanced at Ken, then Rally, and hmphed off to the bathroom. Ken smiled graciously and waved Rally to a chair. Rally glanced at the chair and declined. She didn’t like the look of the stains on the upholstery. "So, who’s the car bomb?" Ken nodded. "That’s why I didn’t like the job - it’s someone high up in the Mayor’s office. The Director of City Planning, in fact." Rally looked back at Cowboy, who stood by the window, her gun still drawn. Cowboy let the curtain drop and spoke, as May came into the room fully dressed. "We got company." Cowboy said. Rally looked through the window, saw three men with drawn guns and let the curtain back down. "Well, Ken. I think they think they don’t like the sound of you, either." Ken laughed. "Par for the course. It’s okay - I have a few tricks up my sleeve." Turning to May he nodded. She turned and left the room once more. "This room does have a fire exit, doesn’t it?" Rally asked. Ken bared his teeth. "This one does, yes. May and I made it a while back. If you cover us up here, I think we can flank them…" he rose, ignoring the two women in the room and walked naked across the floor. Drawing on his clothes quickly, he said, "We’ll meet you at your car in fifteen, okay?" Rally, her eyes fixed on the window, nodded. "It’s the Ferrari parked around the right. Can’t miss it. If it hasn’t been jacked." She smiled grimly. At the snick of a door closing behind them, Cowboy looked over her shoulder. There wasn’t any sign of another door, but these two women hadn’t ceased surprising her yet. She patted herself down and came up with two extra magazines. "Rall, you live an interesting life, y'know that?" Rally laughed. "That’s an old Chinese curse you know." "Everybody knows that." Cowboy said, and hefted her gun. *** As gunfights went, thought Cowboy, that one was pretty darn boring. She felt so strongly about it, she went so far as to say it out loud. Rally looked up from where she was going through one of the six gunman's jackets and agreed. "Can't get good help these days, for love or money." Cowboy dragged one of the unconscious lackeys into the room, slung his body on top of the other four and stood, slapping her hands ostentatiously. One had been brained by the door opening; another had a broken arm from the door closing, and a concussion from it opening again. Cowboy has taken out the third with a bullet across the hand and a left hook to the temple...funny how people always assume you should hit the jaw. The three below couldn't have hit a stampede of prime beef, and Rally and she had taken them out with nearly no major injuries. One guy might never shoot again, but that wasn't any great loss. "What a mess." Cowboy commented as she stared down at the pile of thugs. "Less than usual." Rally commented. "I bet they were only the vanguard. What do you say to braving the lion in its den?" Cowboy looked up sharply. "Keaton?" Rally bared her teeth. "Yeah. You know where the guns are made?" Cowboy shook her head. "Nope. I never even saw one until I saw the ones they tore my place up with." "I do." Rally said and handed her a card. Cowboy read it out loud. "Yu-Genics Labs? That's just plain gross. How does anyone get away with a name like that?" "Illiterate government employees. C'mon, Ken and May are waiting for us." As they locked and closed the door behind them, Cowboy grinned a little. "Uh, Rally, I guess we should probably be pretty loud as we get to the car, huh?" Rally looked at the other woman with a puzzled expression, then her face cleared. "Oh. No. They're professionals. No problem." So it was with some shock that she turned the corner to find her rental car rocking on its tires. *** Rally grit her teeth again before answering. "I am NOT annoyed, so stop asking!" May leaned forward and leaned on the passenger seat. "I don't know, you seem awfully annoyed." "Just because you and Ken here wasted about half an hour..." Rally snarled. "Waste is in the eye of the beholder," May said with a giggle. Ken looked pointedly out the window, trying to be invisible, while Cowboy did her best to not to draw Rally's wrath towards herself. She toyed with the pagers and cell phones they had taken off the guys back at the hotel. "Say, Ken..." Cowboy began, hoping to distract everyone from the quarrel that was brewing, "Can you do anything with these?" She held up a phone and waggled it around. "Do something?" Ken asked. "You mean like..." "Well I don't know exactly, but I was thinkin' that you and the little lady here might be able to do something useful with them." Rally, watching in the rearview mirror, saw Ken and May exchange looks. Cowboy passed them the electronics and sat back, her arms behind her head. Rally glanced at her. "Good idea." The tall woman nodded, but said nothing. She watched Ken and May ripping the electronics apart and discussing the various explosives they had available. "Cowboy..." Rally began, then stopped. "We'll get this resolved. Clear up Lynda's death and…." "Rall," Cowboy's voice was toneless. "that's the past for me. I'm more interested in my present." Rally found her answer sticking in her throat. She looked at Cowboy out of the corner of her eye. Cowboy turned and gave her a meaningful look. Rally, caught in that look, almost drove off the road. The car bouncing over the rumble strips brought her attention back to the road ahead. *** It looked more like a military unit than a laboratory. Guards were visible, and they assumed others were not visible. Two towers covered front and back, although they were disguised as a clock tower and a viewing platform. Rally counted at least half a dozen visible guards. Ken put his hand on Rally's shoulder. "I think this is my department. I can't go in with you anyway...you know...." Rally nodded and Ken continued. "May can handle anything once you're inside." Rally looked at May. "You know what you have to do?" The blonde nodded. "Okay then. Ken, you're up." The three women faded back as Ken stood and walked towards the guards at the main entrance. He asked them for directions, bummed a cigarette of one and took out one of the cell phones they had purloined from the goons at the hotel. Ken spent about ten minutes in easy conversation with the three guards, then thanked them, and turned away. May, who had left to plant a few charges of her own, now returned. They could see Ken take a last puff off the cigarette and throw it to the ground, grinding it out with his shoe. "That's it - ten minutes from mark." May whispered. She led the other women to a shaded copse, which pressed up against the electrified fence. A gully ran below the fence and was covered in low brush. May turned to the others and explained. "Ken left one of the phones with the guards...by accident. I've got three charges that will blow the electrical connection to the fence, at the same time the phone goes off. We'll be able to get in here. Getting out will be a whole 'nother game." "If this goes right," Rally said, "it won't be an issue." They could hear the explosion at the gate from where they crouched. Rally pulled out a pair of wire cutters and snipped them a little hole in the fence. The three women wiggled their way under the fence and were in. They could hear shouting, but turned away towards the loading dock. People in work clothes were running towards the front gate. Rally, May and Cowboy hunched down under a truck and watched the hubbub. When the loading dock was nearly empty, Rally slipped behind one of the workers and pointed her gun behind his ear. "Don't move. Take me to where your uniforms are kept." The worker went to set his clipboard down, but Rally hissed at him to stop. "You keep your hands where I can see them. Now walk." The three followed the worker, until he led them to a utility closet. Spare uniforms were kept neatly on industrial shelving and Rally smiled. "Good. Now face the wall." The worker did so and Cowboy stepped up, slammed her gun on the back of his head, then caught him as he sagged. "I hate this shit," she muttered as she tied the worker hand and foot. "I feel like one of the bad guys." "Pretend you're James Bond if you have to, but get him tied up." Rally finished zipping up the work overalls and opened the closet door. "Come on," she said urgently. The three women pressed on. They followed conveniently printed signs for the processing plant. When they arrived, the plant appeared nearly deserted. A few plainclothes guards stood smoking, but there was little other movement. Waving May to wait, Rally and Cowboy stepped forward, and greeted the guards. Rally waved vaguely at Cowboy and muttered. "Uh, this lady says she has an appointment to see Long." The guards looked at Cowboy, then Rally. They stood in front of the door waiting, until Cowboy handed over a card. The shorter of the two guards looked at it, passed it to the other guy, then nodded. They parted to let Cowboy through, but the short guard slipped in front of Rally and glared down at her. "Don’t I know you from somewhere?" He asked suspiciously. Rally shrugged. "I’m new here." "When d’you start?" The other guard demanded. "What division? Who’s your boss?" Rally looked up and caught Cowboy’s eye. She looked up and smiled sweetly. "C’mon guys – don’t be mean. Maybe, if you’re nice to me, we can be friends." The two guards relaxed their arms a little, letting the guns hang. Rally shrugged again, letting the Duo drop into her hand and bringing it up to the shorter guard’s chin. The other guard turned and was met with Cowboy’s pistol between the eyes. "Now, do like the nice lady says, and you won’t get hurt." Minutes later, the two guards were tied together in a side office. May, Rally and Cowboy stepped into the main processing area…and gasped. It was empty. Not just empty of people - devoid of any equipment, debris or any other sign that the plant had ever been in use. May groaned comically. "Guess there’s no point in me blowing anything up," she said, obviously disappointed. A shot rang out and the three women dove to the ground. There wasn’t anything to use as cover. Rally ducked her head as another shot came way too close for comfort. "Wrong again, May. Do it." May grinned and pulled several grenades from her pockets. Tossing a few in the general direction of the shots, she cheered as they went off and shouts could be heard. "Let’s get out of here!" Rally shouted. "May, cover us!" Cowboy and Rally got off a few shots as they backed out the door through which they had entered. May tossed another grenade, but didn’t stay to see it explode. The three women ran as fast as they could, retracing their steps. Gunshots occasionally whizzed by. Twice, Rally turned a corner and laid down some cover fire, once Cowboy did. By they time they got outside, they pretty much had given up on subtlety. The pursuers had more ammo and more people, but Rally and Cowboy placed careful shots, taking out one guard after another. At last the wooded copse was within sight. Rally turned to May and said, "Get out of here. Go!" May stood for a moment, then nodded. She pressed several objects into Rally’s hand, and sprinted for the trees and the cut fence. A few shots were sent in her direction, but the bulk of the fire was aimed at the two women with guns. Rally was quickly running out of ammo. More guards were coming from behind and she was getting itchy to be out of here. She glanced at the objects in her hand. Three pagers, all taken from the guys at the hotel. "Cover me," Rally said and stepped out from the corner. Sliding one of the pagers along the floor, she stepped back behind cover before the stunned guards could take a shot. "And again, this way." She slid another of the pagers down the floor, and stood next to Cowboy. "On three – we go out the window, got it? One, two…" Her "three" disappeared into sound of explosions at both ends of the hall. Cowboy and Rally both shot the door out from behind them, and ran across the office, shot out the window in front of them and tore for all they were worth. Cowboy was limping, but she kept up with Rally. "What the hell did they do to those pagers?" Rally grinned. "Neat, huh?" Cowboy grinned back, ducking as bullets came too close. "Yep." The two women hit the fence at full speed and were up and over before the surprised guards noted that the electricity didn’t seem to be functioning. As they came across the small, forested area, they could hear dogs, but the screech of tires drowned out the noise. Rally held her gun ready, but the car that came up the road was her rental. Rally and Cowboy piled in and Ken took off as fast as the car could move, while guards, led by the dogs, spilled out onto the road behind them, shouting and firing weapons.
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