The barn was silent by the time we got there. But I knew they were here the moment I spotted what looked like a big fly buzzing around the entrance. Moments later, the barn door flew open and out rushed Frankie, followed by a pale, hollow-eyed Julian.
"Ashe!" Frankie's features were tight with concern. "What happened? We hid and watched the sheriff take you away, but then B.O.B. sent me a message and—"
"I got out," Ashe answers simply, gesturing to me with a smile. "The sheriff let me post my bail. Remind me to send him a nice card when all this is over."
"He let you—" Frankie stopped. "Wait, how did you pay for it?"
Ashe looked away. "I used our shared account."
Frankie's brow furrowed. "How much?"
"Almost all of it. But I didn't have a choice."
"What?" Julian's mouth dropped open. "You blew our whole account?"
"Most, not all," Ashe repeated. There wasn't time for this.
I stop them. "I suggested it, you can take it up with me because with all that crime there was no way I'd be able to pay her out on my lonesome without racking up the charges."
"We earned it once; we can earn it again. Right now, we need to work on a plan."
"A plan for what?" Frankie asks, still looking shocked.
"What do you mean, for what?" Ashe pushed past them and into the barn, tossing her bag into a corner. The bikes were untouched where they had left them, further confirmation neither her parents nor their lackeys had discovered their hideout. "The Diamondbacks took Cole! We need to get him back!"
Frankie and Julian traded a troubled look.
"C'mon," Ashe ordered, grabbing her Seraphim rifle and Cole's spare revolver from the rack on the wall. "Gimme some ideas. There must be some way to figure out where they've taken him."
"Don't need to," Frankie says distantly as if only half listening to what Ashe said. "I know exactly where they'll go—their hideout in the old Route 66 rest area over near Deadlock Gorge. But there's no way we're getting in there without them knowing. And even if we do, the chances of getting out alive are a million to one."
"That's not zero," Ashe counters, continuing her preparations. "And we have an advantage—you used to run with them, so you know the hideout, right? What kind of security does it have? What's the best way to hit them so that they won't see us coming?"
Silence filled the barn.
Ashe turned back to the pair, waiting for an answer. "Well?"
Frankie opened her mouth to speak, stops and then sighs. "Ashe, what are you thinking? The Diamondbacks outnumber us five times over. There's no way we're going to be able to go up against them and then walk away, much less rescue Cole."
"We will and we can," Ashe insists. "We just need a good plan. It doesn't matter what the Diamondbacks have in numbers, they can't even begin to match us in brains. Marco, especially. That lunkhead is going to find out what happens when he crosses me or mine."
Still, Julian looked unsure. "I don't know, Ashe. Maybe we should wait a bit, think this through."
"Ashe, I need you to listen to me," Frankie says, taking her by the shoulders. "This is madness. You want to go in there, guns blazing, but I'm telling you the truth: That's going to get us all killed. Really killed."
A sour taste filled Ashe's mouth. "Are you saying we should do nothing? Give up on Cole?"
"No." Frankie let out an exasperated breath. "It's only ... You don't understand. Marco isn't the forgiving type. Better to wait until he gives you a chance to do something in return for Cole, like pay a ransom."
"Exactly," Jullian nodded.
"Pay a ransom with what? How much do you two have left in your personal accounts? Because mine is dry. And what would I be able to do in exchange for Cole? The only thing Marco might want from me is information about Arbalest, and I don't have access to those files anymore. I've got this"—she tapped her temple—"and I've got this." She gestures to the Viper rifle. "And even if that's all I've got, that's what I'm going to use to save Cole."
Frankie's lips thinned. "Then you're both gonna end up in an early grave."
"Make it three," I nod. "Hope there is place on the headstone for another name."
Ashe looks at me, clearly saying that I am not helping at all. "Not if we work together. But it sounds like you have no plans to do that. Do you even care that they took Cole, Frankie? Or do your old friends suddenly look a whole lot better than your current ones?"
The hacker scowled. "That's not fair."
"Isn't it? I thought all these months together meant something. That the five of us"—Ashe glanced at B.O.B—"the six of us had put together a real team. Not too long ago, the sky was the limit so long as we worked together. But now one of us is in trouble, real trouble, and you're ready to turn tail and abandon him."
"That's not true!" Frankie yelled. "You don't think I'd get Cole back in a heartbeat if I could? And don't talk to me about what this was. We worked our butts off on those heists, only for you to go and blow our earnings on getting yourself out of jail. You didn't ask us for help first, or for permission, you just went ahead and did it."
"Because it's nothing to you, is it, 'boss'? There's always more money to be made for types like you. You say what we did means something to you, but is it any more than a game? Any more than what your parents are always doing with their elite corporate friends? I had plans for that money, Ashe. Plans to help my family and friends back home. And now those plans are dead in the water because of something you decided, on your own. How can you call us a team and then make a decision like that?"
Frankie turned away, fists clenched. "From the moment we started this, you were always the one with the least to lose."
"Fine," Ashe spat finally. "If that's how you feel, you don't need to be a part of this anymore."
Ashe turned to Julian. He'd kept quiet during their argument but straightened the moment Ashe's gaze fell on him, looking like a mouse who'd been spotted by a snake. "Julian, you're with me, right?"
Julian stayed silent for a moment, then wagged his head up and down. "Of course. Ashe. I'm with you one hundred percent. Find the Diamondbacks, save Cole, ride into the sunset—all that."
"Good." Ashe grabbed Cole's rifle and tossed it to him. "B.O.B., you hold on to the Viper." She handed the antique weapon to the omnic. "It's not what we'll need for a firefight like this, but it won't hurt to have along. Grab anything else we've got left, too, and load it onto the bikes—ammo, explosives, even those junk rifles from the last heist. EVERYTHING."
B.O.B. nodded.
"Then let's go." Ashe pointedly threw a nasty look at Frankie and climbed onto her chopper. "Cole needs us. He's one of our gang. He's family. And I'll be damned if we're going to let him down."
The two of them start walking. I break my vow of silence and then flash a smile at Frankie.
"Do what you have to Frankie, be seeing you 'round."
She doesn't respond at all.
There is no reasoning with Ashe at this point, but it was time to go after them with a vengeance.
