Zane sat up and turned away. He grabbed his shorts and pulled them on. He left the room and returned to the kitchen where their coffee still stood on the table. It was cold.
He put their mugs in the microwave and heated them as Hope followed him into the kitchen. She was still naked. She retrieved her panties and put them on. Then she put on her skirt and top and sat at the table.
“Those drugs are low-key stuff but still drugs. That’s where it starts. Kids just want a gentle lift or high and before they know it, they want something stronger. Then they move on to the really bad shit and from there it’s a one-way ticket.”
“I don’t peddle bad shit. Have you never had your share of weed in your life?”
“Who hasn’t tried it? The problem is some people don’t know when to stop. Others can control their need for use of drugs. As I said, it starts with the mild stuff and it’s just downhill from there.”
“You should stop looking at the drugs. I put a lot of poor kids through school. Poor kids that want to go to school but can’t, for whatever reason. I give them a place to stay, I feed them, and I try to give them a better life. They don’t do drugs. I make sure of it. That’s part of the reason I’ve come as far as I have. The kids know what I do for them and they look after me ‘cos that means they’ll get looked after.”
“There are lots of organizations out there that support people like you. Why don’t you go work with one of them, or for one of them?”
“What? Do you think they want to fund me? Help me? I am a queenpin. Do you think they’re going to believe for a moment that I’m not going to use their money for drugs? I probably make more money than they’ll give me anyway. And I use a lot more money to help the kids. That’s why the kids call me ‘Flamingo’”. Why don’t you go ask about
Flamingo and see what you come up with? Not in your police computer but on the streets where you know I’ve been.”
Zane paused as he digested what she had told him. He made a mental note to make inquiries on the streets about a person called ‘Flamingo’.
“So, what are you going to do?” she asked.
“You’re asking me? I’m going to put you away unless you get out of my town. And after tonight, I’d be lying if I told you I want to do that. If what we did here tonight ever gets out, I’m done for. So between us, I’m happy to call it zero-sum for both of us and start over tomorrow. Clean sheet. I forget about tonight and so do you. If ever you get caught, even by me, tonight is off the record. Agree?”
Hope smiled, teasing him, “So does that mean I get to spend the rest of the night between those not so clean sheets on your bed?’
“You slut,” Zane smiled.
“Well, didn’t you enjoy yourself? I’d be lying if I said I didn’t. And if it ends after tonight we may as well make the most of it.”
“Maybe we can talk about that later. You keep sidestepping the issue and not answering me.”
“And you take life too seriously,” she replied simply.
It was his turn to ignore her now, “What I don’t get, is why a queenpin like you placed yourself so clearly in the open, in the frontline. Ringleaders just don’t do that.”
“This is new territory for me. We haven’t even made many inroads yet so my impact and distribution are still small. On a small scale, you don’t worry about being in the open. It’s the best place to be sometimes. If someone hadn’t tipped you off you would never have caught me. It’s not the first time I’ve been so close to the frontline in a new territory.”
“How is it that you keep slipping away without staying caught and being sentenced? That’s one of my biggest questions. It’s allowed you to come this far. How long did we have you arrested for today and you were free at the station beating up my partner?”
“Imagine what he’d say if he saw us now?” Hope smiled shamelessly.
“I think he’d want me to spank your ass until you couldn’t sit for a week,” Zane said.
“I guess he might and, if he did ...,” Hope paused smiling, “I’d gladly let him.”
“Really?” Zane asked his eyebrows arched in surprise. “You like my partner?”
“No,” Hope replied frowning.
“You mean the spanking part is what you’d like?”
“Uh-huh,” she nodded her eyes twinkling at the thought.
“Well, maybe then I should spank you on behalf of him?”
“Big boy threats,” Hope replied with disbelief daring him to live up to his threat. Zane was tempted but resisted. He still wanted to talk.
“So do we have an agreement about tonight? When tomorrow comes it never happened?”
“You should know better than to bargain with a criminal Zane,” Hope replied calmly. “You should know criminals have no honor. What makes you think you can bargain with me and that I’ll remain true to our agreement?”
“I like to believe in the good in people. And I believe that somewhere in your heart there’s good too. That’s what I’m appealing to.”
“And because it’s you, and you’re asking so nicely, I’ll say I agree. But I don’t have control over my life so don’t trust me.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean? That sounds like you’re promising something with crossed fingers behind your back.”
“You got that right,” Hope replied. “But I’m not crossing my fingers. Someone else is.”
Zane sighed. “Okay, so between you and me, no-one has to know what happened tonight. It was just you and me. No-one else right?”
“That makes sense.”
“So no-one else is going to know unless we tell them.”
“Something like that,” Hope replied.
Zane sighed. Hope was the most frustrating woman he had ever known. His mind was telling him to arrest her there and then. But she was different. He wanted to believe she was. Wanted to believe she could change, could see reason. But for some reason, she was resisting. He couldn’t understand why, but his gut feeling was telling him there was trouble here. A fire had started and he better put it out quickly or it would burn everything in its path including him, his life, and his career.
“Zane,” Hope said reaching across the table and putting her hand on his. “I like you. I haven’t liked being with anyone for a long time but you’re different. I don’t know why. What I did in the station today, I wouldn’t normally have done. But you, you affect me and I don’t know what it is. It’s an attraction. But I’m trouble. I don’t want to be. I want to be better. You make me want to be better. In the short time since I met you, that’s the truth. But I can’t. I don’t have a choice. I can’t make you promises other than tell you, I’ll do my best. But I have to warn you, you’re better off either arresting me or staying away from me.”
Zane looked at Hope again. “Can you give us tonight? This night? Just you and me?”
“I’ll do my best. I’ll try.”
Zane’s mind screamed for him to run but he couldn’t.
“Well then, let’s use what’s left of tonight.”
“Are you going to spank my ass?”
“Do you want me to?”
“Yes please officer!”
Zane stood and scooped Hope up off her chair. He carried her to the room again and sat down with her in his lap. Then he told her to stand and as she did he pulled her over his lap. Her ass was firm and round and he couldn’t resist spanking it and watching as the red outline of his hand appeared on each cheek as he spanked her enjoying the feel and sound of his hand as it landed on her ass.
When he decided she had enough, he slipped his fingers inside her soaking pussy. He let her get on the bed and they made love again falling asleep in each other’s arms when they were spent.
Zane woke the next morning and rolled over hoping to find Hope beside him but she was gone. She had left a note for him and he read it eagerly.Sorry to love and leave.It’s not you. I thoroughly enjoyed last night and I enjoy you too. You’re an interesting man.I think it's best that I go and that we don’t see each other again. I’m guessing that the next time you see me will be when you arrest me if you arrest me. It will be best if you do, rather than repeat last night. Even better would be for you to leave. Take a transfer and go settle in another town far from here. You can’t stop what’s coming and neither can I. But we are on opposite sides and I can’t change that. I’m pretty sure you won’t either. Even if you wanted to, other people aren’t willing to give you the opportunity.Please don’t let your ego get in the way. Listen. Think
Zane climbed into the cruiser and swore as he looked at the courthouse. He had always had a good working relationship with Judge Borth but their discussion left him feeling uneasy.Judge Borth had seemed to be less than his usual self this morning. Maybe he had gotten out of the wrong side of the bed.Whatever the reason, Judge Borth had not been himself. He had been distant and cold. Zane pondered what to do. There was no point going back to the station. He picked up the files of the kids he had tossed on the front passenger seat and went through them.James O’Reilly, sixteen, Lamar Pendleton, sixteen, Barry Jaxon, seventeen, George Hartly – eighteen. He didn’t check further. He looked at James’ address and decided to visit him. He was just on the outskirts of town.Thirty minutes later Zane pulled up outside a timber house. The house needed a lot of work but, he suspected, the family didn’t have the money to fix it or they
He headed straight to Andy’s house. He knocked on the door and a big bulk of a man answered. He was surly but seemed to relax when he realized it was Zane, the town’s chief of police.“Yes chief, how can I help ya?”“I’m looking for Andy. Is he here?”“Why? He done somethin’ wrong?” the man asked immediately suspicious.“On the contrary,” Zane smiled. “He’s done something right.”“Oh, well that’s good,” the man smiled. He opened the screen door and invited Zane in.Zane politely declined, saying he was enjoying the beautiful day outside.“Andy!” the man shouted.Moments later a young boy about James’ age rounded the corner into the living room behind the man at the door.“Yes, Dad?”“Police chief here wants to have a word with ya. Take a walk with him outside,” the m
The ‘Hello Goodbye Motel’ was a single-story structure with ten guest rooms. Even so, it wasn’t easy to approach with stealth. All the rooms had windows that looked out front over the main road. The entrance was such that every car had to drive by each room on the way to the reception. The chances of being spotted were high and the chances that Hope wouldescape if she saw him were high. He would have to go to reception and ask if they had a guest fitting her description.If she spotted him driving up in that time she would be long gone by the time he got to her room. He watched for hours but so no movement. He wondered if Hope had checked out already. After her capture, she might have decided to move on. Brian radioed him and asked where he was.“I’m questioning the kids we arrested who were released. So far nothing. Let me know if anything comes up at your end.”Brian assured him that he would.Zane turned his
He breathed slowly and as quietly as he could trying to hear what was happening in the bedroom. He hoped she would leave again soon for any reason. His luck had run out though. He heard her push open the bathroom door and enter the bathroom.He heard the rustling of clothing and saw the blur of her movements through the shower curtain. He wondered if she could see his blurred outline standing still in the bath. From her blurred outline, it was clear that she was undressing. She finished undressing and sat down on the toilet, relieving herself. Then she flushed the toilet and Zane heaved a quick sighof relief under cover of the noise of the flushing toilet.In the next instant, the shower curtain was swept aside as Hope cried out.“Who the hell are ...?” She broke off her question as she realized that Zane stood in her bath. She held a pistol trained on him. A smile slowly stretched across her face.“Well, well, Chief.”
She listened to him breathing and to his heartbeat. She felt torn. She hadn’t known a man like Zane in a long time. But from when she had first been informed about him and come into this town and watched him, she had felt an ache in her heart. An ache she hadn’t known since she had first laid eyes on her daughter’s father all those years before. She had known what she was coming to do here. Had been promised this was her last job. Then they would let her go. Let her daughter go and she would be free. With a handsome payoff to boot and even funding for a non-profit organization to help street kids without having to employ them to pack or push drugs on the street.In her heart, she agreed with Zane. He was right. Even though she hadn’t started outright and had been peddling marijuana to begin with, she had never intended to do it this long. It had never been meant to be a way to make a living but rather a temporary to an end.And then? Then she ha
They dressed and Zane left the way he had entered. Through the back window.Zane left Hope feeling more besotted than ever before. He felt as if he was adrift on the ocean. He had not felt the way he did about Hope since his fiancée. He was disappointed though. She was not going to give him the chance to show her that he could help her. She was going to continue regardless. Whatever hold the people had over her, it was more than she believed he could offer her.He told himself that he had to wise up. He had to be strong and accept that she was going to go down at some point.At this point, everything was between him and her and he had to believe that she would have some honor if she was caught and not take him down with her.Zane pondered their chat and her remark that there were corrupt cops involved. She had denied that there was any corrupt police on his team but since she had turned up here just maybe there were corrupt police on his team and s
Zane looked at Sanchez as he pondered what to say and where to begin. He had always considered Sanchez as one of his best friends. They had gone to the academy together, graduated together, and started together learning their trade on the streets of Chicago.Zane had always seen Sanchez as his equal in their careers even though they were best friends as well.He knew though that what he had to say would potentially put him below Sanchez from a legal standpoint. Even so, he knew he could trust Sanchez if anyone. Besides Sanchez was in the FBI, separate from the police force. He was safe discussing what he had to discuss with Sanchez.“I think I’m in a spot of trouble. Or maybe more than just a spot.”Sanchez sat forward. He was all ears. “I’m here buddy. What’s troubling you?”Zane hesitated then made his decision and plowed on. He told Sanchez how they had received a tip-off about a drug-running operation i