He laughed at her. "Wooo. I can imagine you been having nothing but trouble, considering you don't know the code."
"Code? There's a code?" she asked.
"Yes, there is. If you don’t put it in, all you get is static.”
"Figures," Bunny sighed. "Well, good thing you came along then."
"I'm going to go check on Lucy while you two flirt," York finally said, leaving the pump locked and waving to Lucy as she and Jerry started heading back. "Hang a sock somewhere if you need to."
"Funny," Bunny said to his back.
"Speaking of," Tanner said softly as York vanished from sight. "You don't happen to have a boyfriend, do you?"
"You applying?" Bunny asked as she repacked the duffel and put it in the car.
"Well, if no one else has the job, I may as well. Isn't like the dating pool is getting any bigger these days, you know?" He smiled brightly.
Bunny nodded. "Yeah, well, hate to break your heart, Private, but you are most definitely barking up the wrong tree here."
He nodded slowly, then she saw it sink in. "Damn the luck. Hottest woman left in the city plays offense."
"Sorry," she told him.
"Nah, don't be," he sighed. "It's the famous Tanner luck."
"Let me make it up to you," she said. "Get me into Washington Park, and I'll introduce you to all my stripper friends."
Tanner perked up at that. "Stripper friends? Are we talking hot stripper friends?"
"Long as they made it there then yes. Very hot," she told him.
"I’m at your disposal then, ma'am," he told her with a salute.
"Don't call me ma'am. I'm older than you, but I'm not old," she shot back as she walked around the car to remove the pump nozzle.
"He can call me ma'am,” the woman waiting there said as she put a machete to Bunny’s throat.
During her second year on the force, Bunny had found herself with a knife to her throat. The suspect grabbed her as she was attempting to handcuff him, seized a knife, and put it to her throat, attempting to extort his freedom. Bunny hadn't broken all the bones in his hand, just enough to avoid an excessive force investigation.
As she stood there, bent over, hand on the pump, the feel of the cold steel against her neck, she wondered if she was still as fast as she once was. She heard Tanner level his rifle at the woman a few feet away, and the snap of York's Winchester somewhere behind her.
"I don't think you thought this through very well, lady," she said as she looked up.
The woman, Hispanic by the looks, wore a black tank top, shredded jean shorts and knee boots. It was the tattoos down her left arm that drew Bunny's eye, though, for many of them were clearly gang-inspired. That made her somewhat more dangerous than the average person with a big knife.
"Cap that tank," the woman said. "And back away. I'm taking the car. I don't want to hurt you, but I will."
"Can't let you have my car," Bunny told her slowly as she put the cap in place. "You're welcome to ride along, but you can't have it."
The other woman eyed the guns leveled at her carefully. "They won't shoot. Not while I've got you."
"Do you have me?" Bunny asked, gripping the pump tighter as she straightened up.
"Are you crazy?" she snapped. "I will slit your..."
Bunny cut her off by driving the pump into the side of her head. "As a matter of fact, yes, I am a bit crazy."
The woman staggered back, cursing as she did. Catching herself, she turned back to face Bunny, glaring as she brandished the machete. Bunny calmly pulled her sidearm.
"Want to see which is faster?" she asked.
The woman looked at the gun then lowered her machete. "Fine. Keep the damn car."
"Planned to," Bunny told her.
"The offer to come with still stands," Tanner added.
"What?" Jerry bleated, stomping into the situation after it had been resolved. "Are you nuts? She just tried to carjack us!"
"Look around," Tanner told him. "Can you blame her?"
"Yes!" Jerry told him. "I can!"
"Does it still stand, Beckman?" York asked.
Bunny looked at the girl, figuring her to be still in her twenties, maybe early twenties. Alone, out here, in this madness, and still alive. "Yeah, it still stands," she said as she holstered the pistol.
The other woman slid the machete back into its sheath as guns were lowered. "Don't sound like everyone agrees."
"Everyone doesn't," Jerry said. "Come on, Tanner. We're cramped enough as it is in this car. You want to add some crazy woman to the brew?"
"I want to save as many lives as possible," Tanner told him bluntly.
"Yeah, okay," Jerry argued. "But look, we already saved the centerfold for you, now you want this Chica, too? Come on!"
“Hey!" Bunny snapped. "Watch who you're calling names there, pal."
"No shit," the other woman said.
"I guess someone will just have to sit on someone's lap," Tanner said.
"You people are crazy!" Jerry snapped. "She'll kill us all in our sleep."
"You maybe," the woman taunted.
"We've decided, as a group, that she's welcome to come with us, Jerry," York told him. "How about you calm down."
"I don't want to calm down!" Jerry told him. "Have you looked around? Do any of you really get what's happening?"
"We all get it," Tanner told him. "Now stop shouting."
Jerry threw his hands up and walked away, sulking. Bunny sighed heavily, bothered by his attitude, but sort of understanding it at the same time. Sooner or later, she knew, as Rosa had told her, it would be every man for himself. Jerry was just ahead of the curve.
"Why don't you guys go check and see if there's anything in
