"I'm not looking forward to this." Jack parked his hearse behind the police cars and shut the engine off.
"Neither am I." Taura patted the back of his hand. All three of them had collided with the police a few days ago and it wasn't hard to imagine how the cops would react when she and the others got involved. Just what she needed, now that she was in heat and her emotional state was often unstable at best.
Jack got out, took a quick look around, and pointed. "Corrie's over there. Looks like a cop's hassling her. Helluva shock, huh?" He strode off toward Corona and Taura followed him.
"Well, look what we've got here," the cop said when he saw them approaching. "The rest of the cop killers."
"I've told you people before," Corona snapped, "they didn't kill that bastard, I did. I'm not proud of it, but I had no choice. It was self defense."
"Bullshit!" The cop put his hand on his gun. "The guy you blew away was a good friend of mine, and seeing you three running around, free and clear, makes me want to puke."
A burst of anger came out of nowhere and surged through Taura. She took a step toward the cop and snarled. "We've told you stupid assholes this before, as well -- we're not free. If we were, we wouldn't be standing here arguing with pricks like you."
The cop glared at her. After a moment he glanced around and looked as if he was thinking about pulling his gun on them. She prepared to boost her body into its combat state.
"If I thought I could get away with it," he finally said, "I'd shoot you dead right here."
Jack stepped between them. "That kind of shit is exactly what got your buddy killed."
"Your friend murdered innocent people just so their deaths could be blamed on us after we were dead," Corona growled. "What were we supposed to do, stand there and let him gun us down after he killed those people right in front of us?"
"If you don't get out of here right now, you'll wish he had."
Taura clenched her fists so hard that her arms shook. Jack spoke before she could move.
"Listen, we are not going through this shit with you people again. We've explained it to you over and over, and you won't listen. Fine, whatever. Just stay out of our way."
"Or what? What do you think you're gonna do, huh? Think you're gonna just waltz in and take over?"
"We don't want to take over." Jack sighed. "We don't want to be here. The only reason we're getting involved is because our boss ordered us to. We don't have any choice. Can you understand that?"
The cop stared at him for a long moment, then sneered. "Just get out of my sight."
"Gladly." He took Taura's hand and gave it a gentle tug. "Come on."
She gasped at his touch and finally moved her glare from the cop. Her heart pounded and she shivered. She almost lost her balance. She tightened her grip on Jack's hand. He winced but kept quiet until the three of them were a good distance away from the cop.
"You okay?" he said softly.
"I guess. Just … it's happening more often every day."
He nodded, then tugged on her hand again. "Ow. Ow."
"Oh, sorry." She released him and he grimaced and rubbed his hand. "Damn, I didn't break anything, did I?"
"I don't think so."
"I'm sorry." She ran her hands through her hair and let out a frustrated grunt. "Just … when you touched me … "
"I’m sorry, I wasn't thinking. I just wanted to get you away from that dickhead before you went nuclear on him."
"Thank you." She shook her head. "I don't know how much longer I can control myself."
Jack looked worried for a moment, then he took a breath and said, "Just try to stay focused."
"I'll do my best." Taura caught herself running her hands over her belly and chest. She shoved her hands into her pockets. "Let's get this over with. I need to masturbate as soon as we get home." She winced. Oh, hell, did I really say that?
Jack started to laugh, but cut it off abruptly. "Don't feel like you have to hold anything back, okay?"
"Sorry. My mouth is outrunning my brain."
"You know, we're gonna have to hook you up with Otto. You're starting to sound a lot like him."
But he's not the one I'm in love with. Taura sighed and walked on ahead of Jack and Corrie. "What's the first move? I doubt the police are going to help us, given our history with them."
Jack took a look around the mall parking lot and pointed. "That's the photo lab. It's on the outside of the building, but maybe there's also an entrance from inside the mall."
"We can slip in through a door into another part of the mall and see for ourselves," Corona said.
"And when we're out of sight," Taura added, "I'll see if I can get into the mall's security cameras and find exactly where Givens is in the lab."
Jack nodded and headed around the end of the mall. Taura and Corona followed close behind him.
Each entrance they passed had at least two cops stationed there. Taura had to fight the urge to gnash her teeth.
Stay calm. Keep yourself focused.
"Let's try that one." Jack motioned at the nearest door and strode toward it. The two cops standing there moved to block his path as soon as they saw him approaching.
"Get the fuck outta here," the one on the right snapped.
Corona flashed her ID. "We're here on orders. You wanna stop us, take your best shot. You'll get one." She stormed past Jack and straight toward the cop who'd just spoken.
He remained in place until he realized she wasn't going to stop. He dodged out of her way at the last second, glared at her and placed his hand on his gun.
Jack drew in a quick breath and reached for his own weapon. Corona pointed a talon at the cop without looking at him while her right hand flicked under her vest and reappeared holding a throwing knife, and snarled, "Don't even think it."
The man froze but looked for a moment as if he was weighing his chances.
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