Chapter 14
Tobin and Abby were in Abby’s car, across the street from Southwest Savings And Credit Union. They had pulled up at 8am and hadn’t moved since. Stakeout work was for the most part pretty boring. Tobin felt her eyes shutting, and she jolted up in her seat.
“You alright there, kid?” Abby asked.
“Yeah”, Tobin said. “Just a little tired.” She hadn’t slept well last night, tossing and turning, replaying her conversation with Alex over and over in her head. She really needed to tell Alex. She needed to come clean. It just wasn’t fair to her. Well, maybe after today I can do that, Tobin thought. And if it all goes down today the way Tobin hoped it would, she prayed that Alex wouldn’t be upset with her for arresting Ashlyn and her friends because they turned out to be bank robbing criminals. Tobin didn’t see why Alex would be upset – it’s not like Alex and Ashlyn are together anymore-
“I’m hungry”, Abby said, bringing Tobin out of her thoughts. “It’s time for lunch.”
Tobin looked at her watch. “Abby, it’s 10:30.”
Abby ignored her and pointed through the windshield. “Up around that corner, there’s a sandwich shop. They make meatball subs. The best I’ve ever tasted. Get me two”, she said, patting Tobin on the leg.
“Really, Abby?”
“C’mon partner”, Abby said and patted Tobin’s leg again.
Tobin stared at Abby for a moment and then rolled her eyes and got out of the car. She got about twenty feet away when Abby leaned out the window. “Tobin – get me two!” yelled, putting two fingers in the air.
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Tobin found the sandwich shop. It had an outdoor takeout counter that had a partial view of the bank, so Tobin ordered from there. She placed her order and then turned around and glanced at the bank. Nothing. She stared at the bank for a moment and then turned back to the counter when the cashier asked if she wanted anything to drink. Tobin added two drinks to their lunch order and was about to turn back to the bank when she felt a touch on arm. She looked over and was met with a pair of brilliant blue eyes and a pretty smile. “Are you allowed to carry that?” the woman asked shyly, pointing down at Tobin’s hip.
Tobin looked down and realized that her button down shirt was pulled up over her hip, exposing her gun. She silently cursed but smiled politely at the woman. “Yeah, it’s okay. I’m…a cop”, she said.
“Oooh, a cop, huh? The woman said coyly and smiled a little wider.
“Uh, yeah”, Tobin said, smiling back. Her mind wasn’t really on flirting right now, but the woman had a nice smile and very pretty eyes, so Tobin allowed herself to engage for a moment.
“And what are you doing here? Is the sandwich shop about to be robbed?” the woman asked and then giggled.
“No, not the sandwich shop. The b-“ Tobin stopped herself and then said, “I’m just here to get lunch.” As she said that, the cashier handed Tobin her order.
“Do you come here often?” the woman asked.
“Um, no, not really, but I might be here tomorrow or the next day", Tobin offered.
“Well, then I’ll come here myself tomorrow or the next day”, the woman said and then smiled. “I hope to see you.”
“Yeah, uh, you too”, Tobin said. She smiled back at the woman and then started back towards the car. She glanced at the bank. And froze.
Coming out of the bank were the Queens. They were getting into a four door sedan that was parked right outside the front door. Tobin hadn’t even seen the car pulled up, nor had she seen them enter. She had allowed herself to be distracted by that woman. Damn, she thought. She dropped the lunch and started sprinting towards the bank. She looked at Abby’s car, and apparently Abby hadn’t seen them enter, either. She was in the front seat, nose buried in her phone.
“Abby!” Tobin yelled. Abby looked up and saw Tobin running towards the bank. Then she looked at the bank and saw the Queens getting into the car. “Freeze!” Tobin yelled as she ran towards the bank. The Queens looked up and saw Tobin running at them, gun drawn. They heard tired squeal and saw Abby in her car, racing towards them from across the street.
“Shit!” Elizabeth said. She hopped in the driver’s seat. “Hurry up, get in!” she yelled. The other Queens jumped in the car and Elizabeth hit the gas.
“Get in, kid!” Abby yelled. She pulled up to Tobin, who dove through the front passenger window with the car still moving, then Abby hit the gas and off they went in pursuit of the Queens. They sped down Santa Monica Boulevard and then followed the Queens as they took a hard left onto La Cienega. Tobin leaned out her window and fired a few shots at their car. One of them dinged the back.
“Shoot these bitches!” Elizabeth screamed. Mary, who was sitting right rear side, turned around and blasted a round with her shotgun at the rear view window. It shattered, and then she fired a round out through the back.
“Shit!” Abby yelled as the round shattered her front windshield. “I can’t see!”
“I got it!” Tobin said. She kicked the front windshield glass to loosen it the rest of the way and then punched it clean, and it fell to the road. She fired a few shots at the Queen’s car. One of them hit the rear right wheel, and the car started to wobble.
“Shit!” Elizabeth yelled. “They hit a tire!”
“Goddammit!” Mary screamed.
“What are we gonna do?” Daenerys yelled.
“We gotta ditch the car. I’m pulling into the gas station up ahead”, Elizabeth said. She swerved over two lanes and pulled into the gas station. She rammed her car into a car belonging to a man who was already gassing up, and the Queens piled out, guns in hand. The man took off running. “Grab the money and go!” Elizabeth yelled. “I’ll take care of the car!” Daenerys and Cleopatra grabbed the duffel bags as Mary stood watch, and then the three of them ran towards the alley in back of the gas station. People in the gas station and on the street were staring. Elizabeth grabbed the gasoline hose that the man who was filling up his car was using and sprayed her car with gasoline. Then she pulled out a lighter and threw it onto her car. It caught fire just as Tobin and Abby pulled up, and Elizabeth ran down La Cienega. Tobin opened her door and took off after her.
“Tobin, wait! Goddamit!” Abby said. She got out of her car and started yelling at the customers in the gas station. “Get out of here! Go!” People scattered, and then Abby got back in her car and backed out into the street, just as the Queen’s car exploded into a big ball of flame.
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Tobin sprinted after Elizabeth, who was half a block ahead, running full tilt down La Cienega, then ducked onto a side street. She followed Elizabeth, who kept running full tilt and then turned into a park down the block. She ran after Elizabeth through the park, and then saw Elizabeth disappear, apparently headed down a slope. Tobin slowed her speed a bit as she approached the slope and started going down herself, but her foot caught some gravel and she started sliding down. She tried to catch her footing, and her foot found solid ground, but she was moving fast, and her knee, the knee of her college soccer injury, gave way and she cried out in pain as she tumbled the rest of the way down the slope into a drainage ditch. Her head hit the concrete on the bottom of the ditch hard, and when she looked up, Elizabeth was scaling a fence at the far side of the ditch, just thirty feet away. Tobin unholstered her gun from her position lying on the ground, pointed it at Elizabeth and yelled, “Freeze!”
Elizabeth stopped climbing and turned towards at Tobin. Tobin had her. One squeeze of the trigger and Elizabeth would fall to the ground. But Elizabeth knew that wasn’t going to happen. She wasn’t sure how Tobin had put it together. Either that or Tobin had just so happened to be scoping the bank they happened to hit today, but Elizabeth was sure that the former was more likely. Tobin had put it together. Regardless, though, she knew that Tobin wasn’t going to shoot her. They had grown too close.
Tobin kept the gun trained on Elizabeth. Elizabeth stared back at her for a few seconds. Then Tobin sensed a smile coming from behind the mask, and Elizabeth started climbing over. Tobin gritted her teeth and refocused her aim, but she just couldn’t bring herself to shoot Ashlyn, who she was sure was Elizabeth. Elizabeth got one foot over the fence and paused, looking back at Tobin. This was it – Tobin’s last chance to shoot. Tobin kept her gun trained on Ashlyn for a few minutes and then gritted her teeth, pointed her gun up towards the sky and emptied her clip, yelling in frustration. Ashlyn stared at her for another moment and then dropped over the other side of the fence and took off.