Kate sat with her feet in the pool, her hands resting on the warm tiles at her sides. The weather was getting cooler now, this wouldn't be possible for much longer. The sound of the waves behind her drowned out most of the noise from the city, although being so close to the airport it was impossible to forget where she was entirely.

Her phone lay just behind her, buzzing gently as it rang, rattling on the concrete. It eventually went silent. She looked back at it, uneasily. Eight missed calls. Six from Dex, one from Johnny, and one from 'unknown' which was probably the one she felt most uncomfortable about. She leaned forward with her elbows on her knees, burying her face in her hands.

She didn't look up when she heard footsteps on the concrete patio.

"Katie?"

It was Dex's voice. She didn't look up.

"I see you haven't lost your phone." His voice was closer. And slightly irritated. There was a pause. "Uh - are you okay?"

She opened her eyes and stared at the pool through the cracks in her fingers. "Dex-" she said. "What the fuck are we doing?"

There was a pause. "You want out?" he asked. "I'm not going to judge you if you do. You might have some trouble with the others, though."

"N-no," she said. "I don't know."

He sighed and sat down next to her. He began to unlace his shoes. "Katie. This is fucked."

She nodded her agreement.

"Are you gonna have a breakdown on me?"

Her shoulders slumped. She looked up. "Dex," she said, her voice low. "I never killed a man that didn't deserve it. Uh. At least on purpose."

He dipped his feet into the water and turned to look at her.

"Yeah," he said, narrowing his eyes. "I don't know if that was the right thing to do. Could have some repercussions for us."

"What are we even doing this for?" she asked. "How can-"

He dropped his head, staring into the water. "It doesn't matter now," he said. "We need Julius back, and then-"

"What if they don't give him back?" she continued. "We can't just do what they want us to do forever!"

"Katie." Dex caught hold of her arm. "Calm down. That's why I'm here."

She finally turned to look up at him, her eyes wide and startled. "Really?" she asked in a small voice.

He smiled. "Yeah, really." He brushed a curl of hair out of her eyes.

She blinked at him, startled by the gesture.

"Come back to the church," he said. "I've got an idea."

She lifted her feet out of the water and back onto the sun-warmed tiles. "Okay," she said, standing up. "Let's go."


"Fuck took you so long?" Johnny asked irritably, as Kate and Dex walked into the church. "You got anything or not?"

Dex rubbed his forehead wearily. "Look. We're all sick of this shit. Let's show Monroe he can't fuck with us."

Kate frowned. "What if he takes it out on Julius?" she asked.

"He won't have a chance to," Dex said, coldly.

"Okay," said Johnny, pushing himself away from the broken pew he'd been sitting on. "Enough talking about how fucking great the plan's going to be and tell us what the plan is. I'm sick of this bullshit."

"Alright, alright." Dex held up his hands. "the mayor's funeral's today. There's gonna be an official procession and everything."

Johnny tilted his head to the side, smiling faintly. "Yeah?" he said, encouragingly.

"And the chief of police is going to have to put in an official appearance."

"I'm feeling good about where this is going," said Johnny. "Don't disappoint me."

Dex folded his arms. "We got no chance of getting into the police station. We don't know where Monroe lives. What we do know is where he's going to be at what time."

Kate's eyes widened, an incredulous smile spreading over her face. "Are you fucking serious?" she asked.

"Mm-hmm," he confirmed. "We're taking him out. This afternoon."

"You got some fucking balls," said Johnny, grinning. "Let's get ready for the party."

Two rocket launchers. One McManus. A .44 Shepherd and a handful of grenades.

The guns lay spread out on the altar in front of them. Johnny ran his hands reverently along the dull metal barrel of the rocket launcher.

"It's been too long since I've held you," he said to it as he picked it up.

Dex raised an eyebrow at Kate. She picked up the McManus, and then tucked the Shepherd into the back of her shorts.

"You sure?" asked Johnny. "You're going to be missing out on most of the fun."

"We're not planning on blowing up the whole procession," said Dex. "Only as much of it as we need to. I'm pretty sure we can do this surgical strike style if things go well."

"Then let's hope they don't," said Johnny, with a grin.

Kate helped Dex load the rest of the weapons into the trunk of his car. Johnny honked the horn twice as he sped past them.

Dex gave a tense sigh. "Hope this fuckin' works," he said.

"Yeah." Kate grinned at him. "Me too."

He returned her smile.

Kate drummed her fingers on the passenger-side armrest as he drove. "What happens if we don't get Julius back?" she asked. "What if it's just us three from now on?"

"Then," said Dex. "We pick out some promising bangers to promote. We've just fought a war, Katie. Casualties on both sides, but there's no one left who's able to challenge us before we get our shit back together."

"You've thought about this a lot, haven't you?" she said.

"I think about a lot of things a lot." Dex kept his eyes focused on the road.

"I've noticed." She smiled sidelong at him, then looked up to the city skyline. "I wonder what happened to Troy."

Dex snorted. "Yeah," he said. "Me too."

"He told me to get out of town," she said thoughtfully.

"Did he really," Dex said bitterly. She saw him roll his eyes. "Why would he let you in on that?"

She shrugged.

"Anything ever happen between you two?" he asked.

She laughed humourlessly. "Uh - no," she said. "Do you think he knew something big was going to go down out here?"

Dex sighed irritably. "How the fuck would I know?"

"Jesus," she said. "Okay. Sorry."

"It doesn't-" He shook his head. "Don't worry about it. You know how sometimes you don't know who you can trust?"

"Yeah?" she said, curiously.

But he never continued his thought. Instead, he pulled over next to the mall. The complex was large and open, a two-storied terracotta terrace with rows of shops lining the walkways. A wide glass roof arched over the centre, banners promoting Alderman Hughes for election hanging from the classical music played from the speakers.

"We going shopping?" she asked.

He had the grace to force a smile. "No," he said. "We've got everything we need right here in the trunk."

They earned a few curious glances from pedestrians as they carried the contents of their armoury up to the second level. "Hell yeah!" yelled one of them. "Do some damage!"

Katie stopped, holding the McManus in both hands, and frowned at him. "PSA!" she yelled, drawing the attention of the people walking around her. "You might want to leave the area. Don't call the cops or I'll have you shot."

The small crowd actually cheered.

"Subtle," said Dex.

"That ship sailed a long time ago," she said. "Why are people applauding?"

Dex smiled, a little more genuinely than before. "You're a hero," he said. "Well, maybe more of an anti-hero. You have fans."

She frowned at him. "That's fucked up," she said, before settling down on the corner of the building, overlooking the tree-lined street below. She looked through the scope, testing the view, then back up at Dex.

"Okay," he said. "Johnny's up there." He pointed to a nearby rooftop. Johnny waved. "Now, this isn't going to be easy. He'll be sitting in the back of the cop car, and you're only going to get one shot at this. I think you should hit him as he drives right past, but if you've got an earlier shot, take it."

"I'm good," she said. "Think I might even enjoy this."

Dex crouched next to her. "Okay, they're coming. Wait for the cop car. Surgical strike, remember - aw, shit."

Kate looked through the scope of the McManus. A row of police cars were driving down the street towards them, lights flashing.

"Fuck," said Dex. "Do you think you can still-"

The rest of his sentence was drowned out as an explosion shook the street beneath them. Kate looked up to see Johnny aiming his rocket launcher at another car.

"Fuck," said Dex, again. "Okay, fuck it. We're taking out all these cop cars."

He lifted the other rocket launcher and fired. The sound was deafening, the street on fire. Kate looked up as she heard a police helicopter overhead. She lifted the rifle and fired a precise shot into the cockpit. The pilot slumped forward over the controls as the helicopter plunged towards the ground.

"Okay," said Dex. "We got him. Calling it now. Let's get the fuck out of here or we're going to be swarmed."

They ran for the car.