"What now?" Ken asked, as they hit the main highway. Rally sighed. Her body ached; she was hungry and frustrated. "I have no idea where they might have gone. Do you?" She glanced at Cowboy, whose face was drawn. "Nope." "Becky might," May suggested. "Why don’t we A) call her and ask her to look around, B) get food, C) get some rest." Rally nodded. "Good idea all around. But we can’t go home – someone will have recognized us, I’m sure." Ken cleared his throat. "We need some time to rest anyway, why don’t we hit up a motel? If we pick one at random…after dumping this car, of course…we should be okay for a few hours at least." Rally considered. "You’re right. I think I know a place. But we’ll need a car." She looked in the rearview mirror and caught Ken’s eyes. He nodded. Thirty minutes later, a late-model sedan pulled out of a used car lot. No one noticed, which was the point, even though the lot appeared to be closed. Ken drove, with Cowboy in front with him. In the back seat May had shoved a baseball cap over her hair and Rally was slumped down in the seat, trying not to chafe. "Motel?" Ken asked. Rally hmphed and Cowboy shrugged. May and Ken thought over several possibilities and decided upon an anonymous place along Route 80. Ken went into the office and registered them, coming back with keys. He tossed one to Cowboy. "We have two rooms, I asked for top floor, around the back." "Yay!" May enthused. She leaned forward and put her arms around Ken’s neck. "A night with my Kenny!" Rally rolled her eyes. She thought about what May just said and her heart stopped beating for a second. She choked, but what could she say? Wait, May, stay in the room with Cowboy and me ‘cause I don’t trust myself? Rally closed her eyes and withdrew into herself in misery. They separated at the third floor elevator, May and Ken into one room, and Rally and Cowboy to the room across the hall. Cowboy held the door open and pressed herself back to let Rally in. "At least we’re not next door to them." Cowboy laughed. "Or we wouldn’t get any sleep at…" her voice tapered off. Rally walked past her, lost in a funk. Rally grunted that she was going to take a shower, and disappeared into the bathroom. Cowboy stood for a long time looking at the bathroom door, then closed the room door behind her. There was a mirror and sink in the entrance hall of the room, and Cowboy splashed her face in cold water, then toweled herself off. She sat on the bed staring at the TV, without turning it on. The water in the shower went on, and she could her the sounds of a person moving under the water. Shuddering slightly, Cowboy reached for the TV remote and spent the next twenty minutes flipping channels, unseeing. Rally came out of the bathroom without speaking to Cowboy, indeed avoiding the other woman’s eyes. Her shirt was pulled loose from her skirt, and her jacket lay over her arm. Cowboy stood, waited until Rally had passed her and entered the bathroom herself. Cowboy came out of the bathroom some time later, wearing only her t-shirt, which hung loosely on her frame. Rally looked at her, then away, but didn’t move from the chair in which she sat. Cowboy dropped her clothes on the dresser. "You can have the bed tonight. I’ll sleep on the floor. I’ve slept on worse." She gestured at the chair in which Rally sat. "You can’t sleep there…" Rally stared at nothing, but said quietly. "No, go ahead, you take the bed. I don’t think I…I don’t feel like sleeping." Cowboy stood and took a few steps towards Rally. Stepping behind her, Cowboy put her hands on Rally’s shoulders. "Rall. C’mon. You can’t sit there all night." Rally tried hard to relax her shoulders, but couldn’t. When she felt Cowboy begin to press into them with her hands, massaging them, Rally leapt from her seat and faced her. "For Christ’s sake, Rally!" Cowboy was getting angry. "I’m not going to rape you or anything." She pushed the hair out of her eyes. "I won’t do anything you don’t want to…it’s just that…" "What?" Rally asked hoarsely. "It’s just what?" "Dammit to hell – why can’t you be honest? I know you feel this thing between us. Why do you keep pushing me away?" Cowboy stepped back to the bed and sat heavily upon it, staring at the floor. Rally stood by the window, her arms crossed tightly against her chest. "I don’t know." She gave a dry laugh. "That’s not entirely true. I know, but I don’t know how to say it." "Say what?" Cowboy looked up. "Do you know," Rally asked suddenly, "how many collars I’ve made where the perp in question was in bed with someone?" Cowboy shook her head, but Rally didn’t see it. "Dozens, probably. They got soft, all for a little sex. Lost their edge." Her voice was quiet. "I don’t want to lose my edge." Cowboy snorted, but then saw that Rally was being serious. "You’re not kidding, are you?" "No." Rally paused. "And I like you, Cowboy. Probably too much. I’m not used to feeling this way. I’m afraid of making bad decisions…of having a weak spot…of …getting in too deep." Cowboy stood. "Rall," she said after a moment, "I’m a drifter, a gunrunner, and a nobody. I make my living in the cracks between one thing in another. I won’t be here forever and I won’t promise you anything." She fell silent. "But you can’t live afraid," she said finally. "C’mon…you look like you’ve been beaten up today. At least let me give you a neck rub – no funny stuff, okay?" Cowboy forced her voice to be light. She patted the mattress. "You’ll fall right asleep with a patented Simms-o-matic massage." Rally turned around and gave Cowboy a wan smile. "Thanks." She laid face down on the bed, pillowing her face on her arms. Within seconds, she was asleep. Cowboy looked down at the sleeping figure and shook her head slowly. She grabbed an extra blanket out of the closet, and rolling herself on the floor, was asleep about a minute later. *** At breakfast the next morning, May glared balefully at Rally. The blonde kept shooting her partner questioning looks, which Ken and Cowboy pretended not to notice. Fed up, Rally finally snapped at May and asked her to step outside a moment. Standing outside the diner, Rally put her hands on her hips and asked May what the hell she wanted. May was taken aback at Rally’s anger. "I was just wondering if you and Cowboy settled your differences." May said after a moment of thought. "Yes, we did." Rally said, practically yelling down at May. "But if you want to know whether we slept together, that’s none of your business." May looked shocked, but then her face flushed with anger. "Well, it’s pretty obvious that you didn’t!" she shouted. "You’re becoming a bitter old maid, Rally." Rally turned on her heel and walked away from May without a word. May watched after her for a moment, then returned to the diner. She smiled at Ken and Cowboy. "Difference of opinion. It’ll pass." She took a sip of coffee, but her eyes wandered to where Rally had disappeared from sight. *** Rally struggled against her bonds, but couldn’t find any purchase - they’d tied her up pretty thoroughly. She looked around. The guy on her left was the driver she’d beaten up the other day, he wasn’t likely to be friendly. The other guy looked familiar, but she couldn’t place him. What an idiot she was! So lost in her own thoughts about Cowboy, and May, she hadn’t even seen him sneak up behind her until he had her in a lock. This was, she thought acidly, exactly the kind of thing she meant last night…she glared at her captor, displacing some of her frustrated rage. Seeing her watching him, the second man turned to her and smiled a mean, tight, little smile. "We haven’t been introduced yet." He pushed his glasses up his nose. "I know you’re Rally Vincent…and I’m…I’m the last thing you’ll ever see before you die, bitch." He backhanded Rally. Her grunt of pain was lost against the tape they’d used over her mouth. He pressed his face close to hers. "And you’ll be glad to die, when I’m done with you." Sliding one hand along her stocking-clad leg, he lifted her skirt lasciviously. Rally struggled, but there wasn’t any escape. He licked her cheek and laughed as she tried to pull away. She caught sight of a cast on his right arm and the face snapped into place. He was the driver she had shot from the motorcycle. Well, that would explain his attitude anyway. He pulled away abruptly, sneering, and walked to the window. The room they were in looked like the one she had slept in last night. The lights were off, the guy with the cast stood by the window, watching the diner across the parking lot. At last he turned, and motioned to the goon by her side. "Here she comes…stay here and don’t let her out of your sight." The driver nodded, but said nothing. Cast drew his gun and stepped out of the room. Rally tried to make noise loud enough to be heard, but the door slammed home and the driver just grinned at her. She heard nothing but the beating of her own heart for a few minutes. When the door opened again, Rally sagged where she was tied. Cast had returned, dragging May with him. Rally glared at her careless partner, but May didn’t have a chance to respond. As Cast pushed her forward, he jerked oddly. The door behind him began to close, his hand slipping from the handle. Slowly, as if deflating, Cast fell to the floor, practically burying a squirming Minnie May underneath his bulk. The guy to Rally's right jumped up and drew his gun but the door exploded inwards and Cowboy pumped a few rounds into a very surprised thug. It seemed forever, but a few moments later, Rally was freed. She stood unsteadily, while Cowboy helped support her. Rally didn’t even protest the arm around her waist. May pushed Cast’s body off her and smiled as Ken helped her off the floor. "I called Becky. I wanted to tell you what she had to say, but you hadn’t come back…" "Tell me on the way back to the city." Rally said, as she retrieved her guns from the driver.
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