Lieutenant Hayes was true to his word. Come nightfall, Myina crouched behind a wall, watching the snipers get into position while Ellis crawled on her belly toward the last remaining mine in the middle of the street. The courier didn't realize she was holding her breath for the Private until she saw her shimmy back to the safety of the building on the other side of the street and then give a thumbs up to her and Hayes.
"We're good to go. You ready?" Hayes' deep whisper blew across the back of her neck in a hot breath, making her shiver slightly. Balancing on the balls of her feet, she nodded excitedly. Myina hadn't had the chance for this kind of action since the first job she'd done with Randall.
A quick signal to Bellows and Jamison and the courier and lieutenant pushed off, making their way slowly down the street. Hugging the wall, rifle at the ready in front of her, Myina rolled her feet the way Randall had showed her so as to minimize the amount of noise her steps made. Her and Hayes tag teamed down the road, one clearing the front of the building while the other kept guard on their six. Soon enough, they were on the opposite side of the street as the Bison Steve Hotel, and Hayes leaned in close to issue their next steps.
"There's a door in the back that we can get into. It'll be our best bet if we don't want to go in guns blazing. Recon estimates about 20 armed convicts in the building and I'll bet at least ten of them are in the front foyer waiting for someone dumb enough to go barging in."
Myina nodded. "How do we get to the back door?"
"It's on the top floor; that railway there should bring us right up to the ramp that we can get to the door by. We get in that way, we can clear the floors top to bottom with minimal risk."
Keeping her eyes trained on the scene in front of her, Myina swept the road, looking for the shadows to crawl through. "We should expect they'll have at least one on patrol back there, if not two."
Hayes agreed. "I've got nightscope."
"I don't." Myina frowned. She felt Hayes' hand reach around her waist and she peered down to his open palm, a single white tablet sitting in its center.
"I know. I looked at your rifle earlier. I don't normally condone the use of chems, but some Cateye in this instance might be helpful."
Myina took the pill without hesitation and let her eyes adjust to the sudden change. She was not unused to Cateye. One of the fews chems that proved exceptionally useful in her line of work, both as a bounty hunter and a courier, Myina preferred to travel at night when she could afford to, the cooler air and fewer threats from raiders and animals alike, allowing her to move much quicker.
As soon as the Cateye took effect, the world suddenly coming into focus with a bluish tint, she crept forward, leading the way through the darkest shadows towards the back of the building.
"Eleven o' clock, the railway." She whisper to Hayes. He aimed and nodded.
"Sweep for any others. As soon as he falls, any more patrols out here will be alerted."
Myina eyed the tracks bridging across the night sky carefully, Hayes keeping his rifle trained on the spotted convict.
"I've got no other movement." With barely a hesitation, there was a pop through Lt. Hayes' silencer and the convict yelped in pain, tumbling over the side of the rail before landing with a thump on the ground.
"What the-" a muffled voice came from around the corner of the building.
"Shit!" Myina hissed swinging her Varmint rifle in the direction of the sound. From around the corner, a convict came rushing forward, shotgun at the ready, searching for the source of the sound that had attracted him. Crouching low, she got him in the center of her poor excuse for a scope and took a deep breath.
A tinny pop and the convict hit the ground with a small spray of pink. "Nice shot." Hayes whispered. She could her the slight surprise in his voice and smiled at it.
Moments later they were climbing their way up the tracks, still crouched low and keeping an eye out for more patrols. When they jumped over to the landing leading to the door, Hayes held on to the doorknob and looked her square in the eyes.
"Last chance to run back, courier. You sure you're up for this?"
Myina bounced on the balls of her feet and grinned. "Always."
When they finally reached the anteroom of the first floor, Hayes looked carefully around the corner.
"We've got two patrolling the front of the room. I can hear a handful inside but can't really determine how many are in there."
Myina smirked and lifted a flap on her leather armor revealing some frag grenades she liked to keep around "just in case".
Hayes nodded, aimed, and just before pulling the trigger whispered "Incoming."
The first patrol went down quietly, but the second convict saw him fall and shouted, "Intruder!"
Hayes quickly aimed for him but only caught him in the leg before having to duck behind the wall to avoid an incoming hail of bullets. "Pull back!" Myina yelled as the stamping of dozens of feet came in their direction. She pulled the pin on one of the frag grenades and tossed it softly around the corner before launching back to behind a further wall in the lobby area.
"Grena-!" The blast shook some of the ceiling loose and Hayes threw his arms around Myina, attempting to cover her from the shrapnel and flying debris zipping past them. When she was able to look up again, she was about to give him a smile before she spotted two figures rushing them from a previously overlooked area. Pulling her rifle up she caught the first in the abdomen twice and the second in the leg, dropping him quickly before aiming one last shot at his head while Hayes moved back towards the blast to finish off any survivors.
When the dust settled Hayes looked at her before giving her the biggest grin she'd ever seen. It made stomach flutter. "Well, courier, I do believe we make a fine team."
Myina bounced up to his side and looped her arm into his. "Yes, Lieutenant. I believe we do." She grinned back at him and then pulled him in the direction of the large room. "Now, let's go find this deputy of theirs."
Deputy Beagle proved to be a little bit of a thorn. Or as Hayes put it, "A useless sack of brahmin shit." Once they got back to the Vicki & Vance casino, there was much needed rest, and then more work to do, much to the courier's displeasure. Johnson Nash, who was obviously the most trusted citizen of the town, asked her to find a new sheriff now that they were effectively out of one. Deputy Beagle kept trying to saying he should be the sheriff by rights, but Nash insisted he was much to ineffective, which Myina conceded was the best way possible to describe him. Nash on the other hand, was suggesting some former convict who had once been a sheriff in another town. Myina didn't think that was a very good idea either, and seeing that the town was, for some reason, bestowing her with the authority to name the new sheriff, she figured she should feel confident about her choice.
That's when Primm Slim came moseying on up to her and a thought struck the courier.
"Why not him?" The others blinked at her in surprise.
"A robot?!" Beagle declared incredulously.
"Well," Nash rubbed his gruff chin as he thought about it. "You'd have to reprogram him, but I don't see why not."
"Better than an ex-con, right?" Myina shrugged. Nash nodded and rolled up his sleeves. Private Ellis helped them with the reprogramming, Myina leaning over her shoulder every step of the way trying to learn. She was an unabashedly curious person and usually took every opportunity she could get to learn something new.
It wasn't long before Primm Slim was rebooted and accepted his new role as sheriff. The only person in the crows who really seemed to object was the deputy, who spent the rest of the night moping in the corner.
Lt. Hayes went back to his men to debrief them, but it wasn't long before he was by Myina's side at the celebration of the town take-back, sharing a whiskey with her. The radio blared the soft jazz of the Mojave Music Radio, and the townsfolk couldn't help but dance along. Mrs. Nash was passing out drinks and food that Mr. Nash grilled up. Even the NCR soldiers, each given an overwhelming hug from Mrs. Nash, joined the party, bringing in what little food supplies they could spare. Myina and Hayes danced a few times, and she complimented him on his lightness of foot, while he complimented her on her on her strength of marksmanship the night before.
By midnight, the two were inches apart from each other in one corner of the main hall, sharing another drink and some intimate conversation.
"So you never did tell me about that head wound there." Hayes pointed to the bandages still wrapped around her healing gash. Myina blushed a little but tried to shrug it off.
"A job went sour and I got jumped. Guy shot me and left me to die in Goodsprings. Luckily some of the residents of the town patched me up and helped me get on my feet."
Lt. Hayes' eyes went wide. "You got shot in the head?! Jesus, I thought it was just that a gecko had gotten the better of you or one of your bounties had tried to fight back. Didn't realize one of them had shot you."
"Not one of my bounties." Myina swilled her whiskey. "It was actually one of the courier jobs I was doing. That's why I needed into Primm. The Mojave Express station I picked the job up from was here."
Hayes furrowed his brows. "A courier gig got you put in a grave? What the hell were you transporting?"
"A poker chip. The fuck if I know why it would cause someone to go all murderous on me for though. Figure I'll ask Nash about it tomorrow."
"How come he didn't recognize you?" Hayes looked suspiciously at Johnson Nash, dancing slowly with Ruby while Stars of the Midnight Ranger crackled over the speakers.
Myina snorted. "The man runs a Mojave Express. He probably sees dozens of couriers a week at least. I'd be more suspicious if he did recognize me."
Lt. Hayes nodded understandingly. "Well, I for one am glad you survived."
Myina smirked and raised an eyebrow at him. "You are, are you?" She scooted closer to him and leaned in. "Exactly how glad are you?"
Hayes smiled back, reciprocating her movements. "Very, very glad." Myina closed the distance between them and planted a soft kiss on his rough lips. Hayes was all too happy to pull her in for a more passionate kiss, wrapping his arms around her.
Myina pulled back, breathlessly, and whispered huskily, "What'd you say we get a room from Nash, and you can show me some more stealth techniques?"
Hayes grinned devilishly. "Only if you show me some of your take-down moves to subdue a mark."