Rose fought back a curse, the while-blonde haired woman standing near the corner of Granville and Hastings streets as she looked up the street towards the headquarters of the Sisterhood. She paced, the slim but beautiful young woman obviously impatient as she waited for news from her employees, her jeans and jacket doing little to hide her gorgeous body. Then a young man galloped up Hastings towards her, keeping a wary eye on the former university and shopping center. "Ma'am," he reported breathlessly. "Did they go in?!" Rose demanded harshly. "The lady running the old pizza place was wiling to be bribed," he reported excitedly, some dirty blonde hair falling into his eyes as he continued, "she saw three women go inside earlier tonight and not come out." "Three?" Rose blinked. She brought her thumb to her mouth and chewed her nail thoughtfully, "Did she describe them, James?" "Two norms and a cat-girl," James answered her promptly, his own delicately pointed ears twitching a bit. "Cole," Rose swung her fist at the wall, stone cracking from the force of the blow, "that treacherous slut!" "What do we do now?" a woman's voice asked from the shadows. "You head back up to the Victoria, Lisa," Rose addressed the other catgirl calmly, "and don't tell your father you helped me. He's still loyal to Jack." "I'm not that stupid, ma'am," Lisa agreed, turning to walk away. Rose watched the sway of the girl's hips and fought down a pleasant but distracting surge of lust. Turning back to her lieutenant she asked James, "We've got ten men handy.. How many more can we get on short notice?" "If we empty out the safe house we'd get eight more," James admitted, "and I might be able to round up some local muscle..." "No way to know how loyal they'd be," Rose fretted. "True," James nodded, "it'd be a gamble." Off in the distance they heard the clatter of hooves on pavement and both tensed, going for weapons. After a moment they saw a familiar figure hurrying up the street, holding on to the reigns as she hurried her horse on. Tugging firmly she brought the horse to a stop breathlessly as she gasped, "Miss Rose!" "Jasmine, you're supposed to be at the safe house," Rose growled. Jasmine leapt down gracefully, the green scales on her skin shining in the twilight near dawn as she said, "It's important, ma'am." She struggled to catch her breath and added, "The safe house has been hit!" "What?!" both James and Rose demanded. "Davidson hit us a hour or so ago," Jasmine reported grimly, "leading a band of toughs. He tortured a man until he found out you were involved then left..." "Oh crap," Rose breathed out. "Shit," James agreed. "I was lucky, I was able to pretend I was knocked out and slip away," Jasmine confessed. She looked at Rose, "What do we do now?" "James...?" Rose gave the man a look. "If word's gotten around that the Shogun's man is on the move our chances of getting any reinforcements from the gangs is low," he said frankly. James smiled grimly, "In fact I'd be scared to ask around, in case it got back to Davidson." "We'd be slaughtered if we hit the Sisterhood with just our ten men," Rose thought to herself aloud, chewing on a knuckle so hard it bled. "Scott and Motoko hid out with the Sisterhood, ma'am?" Jasmine looked thoughtful, "I could always try to sneak in..." "And if they caught you as a spy, you'd be lucky to get out of there alive," James pointed out to her dryly. "Or end up in Milly's dungeon for life," Rose added, "thanks for offering, but no." Her lips pressed together in annoyance before finally saying, "We're calling it off." "But we still could..." Jasmine offered hesitantly. "No," Rose shook her head, "Davidson has clearly shown he won't be blackmailed, which was our reason for going after Motoko in the first place." "And Scott?" James asked. "I want to put a bullet in her more than ever," Rose admitted honestly, "but that'll have to wait till another day." "What do you want us to do?" Jasmine asked. "We're heading back to Davies' Street," Rose nodded to Jasmine. She drew a pistol from under her jacket and said softly, "Sorry James." "What?" he started. BLAM! The bullet hit him in the head, blood splattering against the wall as he stood there a moment then dropped bonelessly. He lay there like a puppet, his strings cut and body sprawled out awkwardly on the sidewalk. "You just knew too much," Rose sighed as she slipped the gun away. "Should we take the horse?" Jasmine nodded towards the restless animal. "We'd better," Rose climbed up first then helped Jasmine up, "I want us safely on the west side before Davidson catches up to us." "Please," Jasmine agreed as she held on to Rose. A flick of the reigns started the horse going up Hastings to Burrard Street, which would eventually take them up to Davies. "At least there's one thought to console me," Rose murmured. "What?" Jasmine rested her cheek on Rose's shoulder. "How long are they going to sit there hiding with the Sisterhood waiting for us to attack?" Rose smirked. There was a moment's silence and Jasmine laughed. "Days, probably," she grinned. The next morning Davidson frowned, the older man's glasses shining as he looked at Lisa, "Is this him?" "Yes sir," Lisa looked more than a bit disturbed as the lightly furred woman said, "he was the one Rose used to order her goons around." "And with him dead it'll be difficult proving Rose was involved," Ryo noted, the Asian boy standing nearby. "Thank you for contacting me," Davidson added. "I'm glad to help," Lisa nearly purred. "You've made out quite well, getting paid by both me and Rose," Davidson said as he and Ryo headed off towards the Sisterhood's headquarters. "Uhm..." Lisa trailed off before slinking away. "I don't trust her," Ryo growled. "Nor do I," Davidson agreed grimly. Once they neared the old university and shopping center he waved Ryo to a stop, then keeping a careful distance from the gun wielding ladies outside he called, "Could you let Jack Scott know Davidson is here?" "Sure," a woman gesture for one of her companions to go in as she added, "come closer so I can take a shot at you!" "I like my limbs intact, sorry." There was a certain amount of laughter from the ladies as they waited nervously. In a few minutes three figures emerged from the building, all wearing swords at their sides. "Bout time," Jack Scott said, the sandy blonde smiling. "Father, it's good to see you," Motoko said in her flawless Japanese. "And you," Davidson agreed in the same language before hugging her close.
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