Yes. Officer.

[Tanned_babe]

Closed for ConstantAdmirer.

This wasn’t exactly what I signed up for. Zara thought to herself as she looked down at the middle aged Asian guy who lay at her feet as a result to a punch in the side of the head, her knee to his crotch and then pistol whipped on the back. “Just lie there and stay the FUCK down!” She growled at him as she pointed her hand gun down at his head. The young woman hoped to God he couldn’t see the unsteadiness of her hand or hear it in her voice.

Zara kept glancing back to the kiosk of the shop where two guys she had met this morning were emptying the till. Once they were finished they motioned her. “Just lay there, you call the cops and we’ll be back for you! I swear to fuck we will!!”

Jobs a Goodin.

Six weeks ago it had been a different story. A contact she had through dappling in dealing weed asked if she wanted to earn $150 for driving his friends to the shop. There was a catch. There was always a catch. But it was an offer she couldn’t refuse. She was desperate for money, she had been saving hard to go back to school but all that went to shit when her boyfriend had left her after taking a fair chunk of her savings to feed a habit and a gambling addiction. Then not even a 10 days later her work had to ‘let her go’. So desperate times call for desperate measures.

So, yeah. It had gone from a quick drive here and there where she could turn a blind eye to going into convenience stores and using her womanly ways to lure them to the back of shop to get something off the top shelf or ask for advice, then she would get them on the deck and two thugs would come in and rade the till. Done and done.

Zara sat in silence as they drove through the suburbs and out to one of rough areas of town to give him his money and get their share.

 

[ConstantAdmirer]

Being a beat cop wasn't something Officer Jace McGrath had aspired to, he wanted to be a detective. To work with the Narcotics Unit and put dealers and drug lords away, to make the streets a safer place. After four long years his promotion was coming up, this was one of his last days in a patrol car. Jace was young for a four year vet, he'd gone straight into the Police Academy after high school and never looked back. He'd maintained his Linebacker physique from High School and gotten through the Academy with Honors. He had short brown and glittering green eyes that often hid behind mirrored sunglasses, (though not at night) whether he was on duty or not.

It was a warm summer night, and the air was thick, almost stifling. Jace was alone in a rougher end of town, his partner was on the radio and not far away in a separate car. They didn't share cruisers these days, their were too few cops, but they couldn't let it appear that way, already this year alone they'd lost five officers, three went away for corruption, and two they lost in the line of duty.

It was looking to be a long quiet night, all he'd done so far was write a few speeding tickets. Jace made a right onto Bellevue, and saw a car headed down the road with a tail-light out. He flashed his lights and the car pulled over. He got out and walked to the passenger side. He wasn't the kind of cop to shine a light in anyone's face right off the bat, and so he waited patiently for the driver to roll down her window.

"Miss you have a tail light out" Jace said, "I'm going to have to give you a warning and if the issue isn't resolved within 48 hours you'll be fined"

 

[Tanned_babe]

Zara hated going to deal with Rich at his mum's apartment. He was the worst kind of criminal, the one who thought he was a somebody but in essence was just a low life scum bag with a gun and a big mouth who could manipulate people into doing his dirty work and taking the fall for him.

"How much did you get?" Zara asked as she turned down Bellevue but before she could wait for an answer she cursed loudly. "Mother fucker!!" She had just spotted a police car cruising up behind her and flashing his lights. Aw God, for a second she considered flooring it but decided against it, this old Mustang would hit 80mph and the wheels would most likely fall off!

She indicated and pulled in, the two guys in the back, one black and the other of Hispanic origin hissed at her to keep cool, routine checks were run of the mill round here. She rolled down the stiff window with some difficulty.

Once the window was hot Zara was hit with a wall of uncomfortably warm hair and until now had been unaware that her white strappy top was clinging to the base of her back. She tucked a strand of long dark brown hair behind her ear as she looked up at the rather handsome cop. She was in pretty good shape herself carrying a figure neither skinny nor curvy and despite her sitting in the car it was apparent by how far she had the seat pushed back that she was tall, a tad over 5,8, most of that coming from her legs that were clad in black skinny jeans.

"Oh shit. Sorry I didn't realised." She said honestly, mentally breathing a massive sigh of relief. "I'll get it fixed tomorrow." Not giving the cop an excuse to say anything else she nodded and pulled away, driving the long way to the apartment, just in case.

********************************************************************

"What the hell is this?" Zara asked looking at the $75 bucks in her hand. Totally ignoring her disgusting surrounds.

She was standing in the small living room of Rich's place, it had a kind of 70's orange theme going on, bongs, beer cans and other debris littered the floor. There was another guy in the room with them who looked like he was dressed to appear in a spoof of a Snoop Dogg or 50 cent video with a half naked girl straddling him.

"It's your cut. You should be fucking lucky you're getting anything, you stupid bitch. You fucked up!" Rich snarled at her.

"Oh I fucked up? I was no where near the fucking till, I didn't know what those Neanderthals were doing, seeing as I'm the only one who can be trusted to holding a gun without letting it go off accidentally!" She snapped back, lifting her white top, gesturing to the gun and showing off her flat tanned stomach in the process.

"You know what you need to be doing?" Leered the guy in the corner who pushed the now naked girl off himself. "Come and do a few shifts with me baby, you'll make ten times that over a weekend." He got up and moved closer to Zara who inadvertently backed away.

"Bite me!" She growled before turning back to Rich, "I want more money! I'm serious, I need it!"

"There's a job I need you for in three days. A grand guaranteed." He told her what the plan was. It was never going to work, he wanted her and five others to hold up a supermarket, he had someone 'inside' who would let him know when was good too go in on the Friday. As he explained everything to Zara he made it sound so easy but she doubted it this time, it wasn't some sad little store struggling but she needed the cash so badly. "Oh and Zara?" He smirked stepping getting up and stepping slose to her so his face was just inches from hers- he stank of beer and cigarettes. The he made a fast move, gripping a fistful of the hair behind her ear and twisting it. "Ever question how much I give you again and I'll break your fucking legs! You take whatever you get from me and be thankful, bitch!!!" He pushed her head away with some force, causing her to almost fall backwards but she kept her balance and walked out the apartment, stuffing the notes into her back pocket. It wasn't until she was trotting down the stair that she allowed herself a reaction from the pain he had just caused her.

 

[ConstantAdmirer]

Jace took the excuse and tried to ignore the pretty girl in the driver seat. He was a cop, a professional to the core, but that didn't mean he was completely immune to attractive girls no how he acted. She seemed relieved that all he had to say was that she needed to fix her tail light. The Old Mustang took off and rounded a corner disappearing out of sight.

He got back in his cruiser and did one last tour of the neighbourhood. He was quickly getting bored, about an hour later he saw the same old mustang parked outside a rather well known apartment building. Jace couldn't remember how many calls he'd gotten to this address there was a third floor apartment that was always causing shit. A local thug by the name of Rick or Richard or something, he was just a small time thug but some of the detectives Jace spoke with kept him out of too much trouble. He was a convienient snitch with just enough ties to other groups that he usually had something good.

He'd need those kinds of leads in the future he supposed. Though the idea of needing creeps like him kind of disgusted Jace. Then he saw the girl come walking out of the building and heading for her Mustang. She was taller than he'd thought, probably 5'6 or 5'7 at least, and all leg in those black skinny jeans of hers. If he wasn't on duty he might've tried to get a number, she was that attractive, though common sense said that by the neighbourhood and the hole she was crawling out of she was probably a high class hooker, or a one a growing number of female gangbangers in town.

Jace drove on by and tried to push her out of his mind, he was off in an hour and hoped their would be some action before the end of the night. He never was careful enough about what he wished for. A call came in "All Units please respond Armed Robbery in progress on 8th and Bellevue the mini mart"

"Jace you around?" His partner David Hassler called in a moment later.

"Yeah man I'm on my way!" The sirens went on and Jace floored it. He was an exceptional good driver and even his fellow officers agreed he was one of the best they had. Cars moved over, scattering out of his path as he rounded a corner onto 8th and braked hard as he pulled up to the store. Hassler's cruiser was already waiting, and his partner was clearly already inside. Cursing under his breath Jace got out and drew his gun. Hassler never waited for back-up! A gunshot rang out just as Jace got to the door, dread filled his stomach. He rushed inside, checking his corners quickly and looking for civilians. A young asian man stood behind the counter hands on his head looking terrified, he mouthed something quietly and gestured to the back of the store.

Jace started down an aisle. Fear and excitement ran a relay race across the back of his brain as he walked toward the back of the store. Then he saw the blood. He peeked around the corner to see his partner laying out on the floor, a hole through his head. Another shot rang out and Jace dove behind cover.

"I done got one 'uh 'choo muhfukas already, choo doing boy?! I ain't goin back to da pen" Some druggie waving a gun had killed his partner. Clearly the guy was on something, his speech was distorted his heavy gangland accent making his hard to understand. Jace gripped his gun, the cocksucker was right, he wasn't going back to jail, Jace was going to send his ass straight to hell. He looked up into a corner mirror as the thug fire off another round. The guy was older, probably in his mid forties he had the look of long-time drug use to him and was visibly shaking.

Jace popped around from cover and fired three shots in rapid succession. The kill was textbook, two rounds to the chest and one to the head. Blood sprayed across the floor as the man collapsed in a heap. Jace went to Hessler, grimly his eyes not showing even the slightest hint of emotion. He didn't even look as he fired at the second thug, taking the man twice in the leg. Thug two screamed in agony as Jace walked toward him kicking the gun away, and setting his own weapon into the man's face. "DON'T MOVE"

The sirens in his ears were soft and distant as Jace considered killing the man sobbing on the floor. He wanted too, it would be simple, clean, vengeance. Easy. Fast.

"McGrath we got you man" another officer was there. He'd waited too long. Death wouldn't come for this man yet. He relaxed as much as he could letting his gun down as another cop took his place. He didn't see who it was. Didn't care, he holstered his gun and let himself be guided out by the paramedic that had shown up. There was another man seeing to Hessler. Jace was going numb. The rest of his night was a blur, he waited silently. Filled out his entry report, and was told to report the next day for psyche evaluation.

He went home, tired, and slept. The next day he got up still feeling cold. Still unmoved. The Psychiatrist spoke to him softly and he answered all his questions, pretending that he'd vented his grief, he played his cards right, and was allowed to return to active duty. Two days later he got the paperwork for his promotion, and once it was done the chief slapped a case folder down on his new desk.

"Well McGrath, I've got something special lined up for you"

"What's that?"

"Those guys that got Hessler? They were part of a local crew thought you might like the case"

"Thanks Boss" Jace said with a cold smile. "I appreciate that"

 

[Tanned_babe]

Zara sighed heavily as she sat in the back of the blacked out SUV. It wasn't the type you see in movies or crime drama's, in fact it was such a wreck it had probably attracted unnecessary attention.

"You and Stiff are up first. You know what's happening." Rich's right hand man barked, "You two go in, do whatever you can to get into that manager's office, I don't care if you have to suck the clerk's dick! Just get in there. Mike says the safe code is scratched into the underside of his desk and for God sake be cool! You-" He nudged Zara's knee, "You look like you're about to throw up, get it together! Rich has already told me if you fuck this up you're for it."

Zara just glared at him, she had more brains and common sense in her big toe than this lot. She had a bad feeling about these guys, she hadn't seen any of them before apart from Brad, Rich's bitch who was now sitting in the front seat reading some kind of Asian XXX magazine. She saw the signal and opened the door of the car, waiting for Stiff so they could walk into the store under the pretence of being a couple looking for jobs.

He seemed to be a man of few words and probably the least rough looking of Rich's 'friends' but even then he had a nasty looking scar running from his cheek up into his short black hair and a dragon tattoo curling round his neck, apart from that he was a pretty decent looking guy.

As the two walked into the modestly sized super market, there would be another car pulling up outside, ready to take any funds that would be in the series of tills but the important thing was that safe. Zara felt totally numb, not nervous, not excited, nothing. This was a job, it needed to be done. End of!

She had put on the a similar pair of jeans and a black tank top this time, but her eye's were covered with a pair of large sunglasses, which she pushed onto her head as they entered the shop. She may have drawn some attention but it was just from the odd male customer as she made her way up to customer services with Stiff walking at her side with his arm round her.

"Hi there." She beamed, her glossy dark hair framing her face beautifully. No one would ever expect a face like that to be capable of a life of crime but the hand gun tucked down the back of her jeans would suggest other wise. "Look we were wondering if you had any jobs going." Pushing the CV towards the older woman who declined them without so much as looking at them. "Oh right, well it's just my dad plays golf with the manager and we were told just to pop in and see him ourselves."

She looked at them for a second, but Zara just gave her an angelic look and she nodded, getting up and taking them into the room. The manager looked up and as soon they enter and Zara began her job searching speech and luckily enough the woman left almost instantly.

"Right! Hands where I can see them!" Zara hissed once the door was closed. The suit sat still for a moment, looking at them defiantly. "I swear to God put your hands up and get down on the floor or won't be seeing you're family again!" She said this time with more force, noticing the gold band on his middle finger. She clicked her gun into place and this seemed to do it for him, slowly he raised his hands.

"Right OK OK. Just put the gun down honey. Don't do anything stupid." Said the guy who must have been ages with her own father. This gave Zara her first twinge of guilt but before she could properly take in what she was feeling Stiff moved quickly to him and pistol whipped his face so hard Zara could actually hear a crunching sound.

"You fucking idiot!!" Zara screamed at the idiot. "He was complying!! What the hell did you have to do that for!??" But the guy was totally ignoring her and had turned the desk up with considerable force, causing a loud crashing noise.

They moved quickly getting the code for the safe and as if from nowhere Stiff produced a duffle bag and the two stuffed a good few thousand dollars into it, taking the odd wad and stuffing it into their jeans.

Outside Zara heard a gun shot, the others had obviously arrived which meant they should be making a move.

 

[ConstantAdmirer]

Now Detective Jace McGrath was running down leads on his new case like a greyhound at the race track. In the day since he'd been promoted he'd been assigned a new partner. Sheryl Lougheed, a local legend in the Organized Crime unit, she about 40 solid looking and pretty in a uniquely powerful, intelligent way.

She reminded him of tigers he'd seen at the zoo all strength and ferocity, she didn't mind getting her hands dirty and in the twenty four hours they'd been working together they'd made a bit of progress. A local snitch had tipped them off about a grocery store heist that was supposed to happen tonight, and so the two of them parked behind the store and waited.

"You ready Jace?" Sheryl asked as they watched a couple getting out of black SUV.

"Yeah why?"

"That's them, that couple right there"

"Where's backup?"

"On the way lets go" She got out of the car first, strapped on her bullet proof vest and headed for the doors. Jace was hot on her heels. Both in plain clothes they just joined the swarm of customers headed into the store. Invisible, Jace saw the couple disappear into the managers office and headed for the door. It was code locked and there was fuck all he could do from this side but wait. They taken the service clerk in with them and the manager.

Sheryl told him to cover the back door and started for the back of the store. Back-up would come in nice and quiet like file in through the back door and take the gunners off guard. Or at least that was the plan. When the crew came strolling in the front door ski masks on and AK's in hand Jace started to doubt the validity of the scheme. Where the hell had they gotten this kind of firepower? The Assault rifles screamed out and people hit the floor.

"EVERYBODY ON THE GROUND" the gunner yelled. No, no, no Jace pleaded as they stepped over people guns pointed down. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Sheryl B-lined it for the emergency exit, kicking open the door and ushering in guys in full combat gear, black vests and helmets the whole nine yards.

Civilians were all out of the way and shots rang out two of five gunmen went down hard. The held their ground not panicking at the first sound of resistance but rather returning fire on the officers, boldly refusing to be put down. Jace swore loudly as he saw a cop go down riddled with bullets and screaming over the chaos.

The door to the office opened, a guy with a bunch of tattoos and a duffel bag slung over his shoulder stepped out looking nervous, and wild eyed.

"FREEZE!" Jace shouted drawing his gun, tattoo's panicked and went to fire. Jace plugged him twice, and the fool was bleeding out on the ground. The she was there. A girl looking stunned, her mouth wide open as she looked at her dead companion. Riot cops were moving up the aisles she was holding a gun, they'd shoot on sight.

"DROP IT!" he yelled, training his gun on her. He never saw the thug coming up behind him, but he felt the barrel of the gun on the back of his head.

"Grab the money and go bitch!" his captor said to the shocked girl. "On your knees coppa"

Fuck. Fuck. fuck. Jace cursed, a couple of the thugs had made it out the door as the pressure was kept up on his team. Where was Sheryl? The girl in dark glasses shouldered the bag and was making it for an Employee's only section, Jace watched frustrated and scared as she disappeared into the back of the store. GOD DAMN IT. Jace slowly lowered himself to his knees, what a way to go.

 

[Tanned_babe]

Two deafening shots later Zara stood, rooted to the ground as Stiff fell just a foot from where she was standing. A puddle of blood quickly formed around him as he bleed out all over the vinyl floor of the managers office. She may have screamed, Zara could not recall but she suddenly became aware that she was staring right at a cop who had his gun pointing directly at her.

She looked at Stiff again, and her hand, holding the gun moved a fraction before she saw two of Mich's bitches coming up behind him. She smirked a little and raised a perfectly waxed eye brown, making a move for the money before being told to do so by one of the thugs.

Reaching for the bag meant her black converses had to step in the pool of thick crimson blood and grab the duffel, which she could feel was soaked as well as she swung it over her shoulder she shuddered feeling the warm wetness leak through her tank top.

Legging it for the exit she moved through the employee only door which took her into the warehouse type area where pallets and other goods were being held. Zara sprinted to the back, hoping to find a door, her feet echoing as they slapped on the concrete flooring.

Suddenly she heard another set of foot steps could be heard moving as fast as hers and she was joined someone she recognised from Rich's place. "There's a car waiting for the money round the back!" He panted as they burst through the back door and into the sweltering heat.

Zara, again, had her gun drawn and was making a be line for the Mustang parked at the back of the car park. Just when she thought she was almost there she felt the duffel being yanked out off her shoulder and she tried to fight him. "What the fuck are you doing??" She growled but before she could get an answer the the guy had grabbed the scruff of her neck and threw her into a dumpster, managing to yank the bag off her shoulder.

After causing a loud crashing noise Zara could mearly lay there for a moment as she writhed on the ground, the wind had been completely knocked out of her. Letting out a loud moan and a curse she got up just in time to see the Mustang pull away. "Mother Fucker!!!!!" Zara said, more to herself than anyone else. She was almost in tears when she heard a smooth voice from behind her.

"You really expect anything else when you deal with guys like this?" She turned round slowly, to see a cop, female with her gun pointed at Zara. "Get on the ground. Now!"

What was the point? She had lost absolutely everything and now it would be the slammer for God knows how many years and even after that there was nothing once she had been inside. There were no such things as second chances. "Or else what?" Zara smirked as she asked the rhetorical question, moving her own pistol upwards towards the cop.

 

[ConstantAdmirer]

The goon was distracted by his fleeing friends one of them hollering:

"ICE that muthafuka and let's get out of here!" They had the cops pinned down under a constant stream of automatic gunfire. The barrel of the gun strayed as the thug looked away at his friends. Jace jerked backward and drove the crown of his skull into the man's gut. Staggering him long enough for Jace to grab the gun, tear it out of his hands and smash him across the face with it. The guy fell like a sack of flour and Jace took off toward the back where he'd seen the girl with the money go. He pulled the clip out of the rifle as he ran and tossed it high over the shelves leaving the useless rifle on the floor as he ran.

He had his gun tucked back into it's armpit holster as he darted through the back door and out of the emergency exit. He found the girl in sunglasses in a tense standoff with Sheryl. Niether had seen him yet but he wasn't exactly hidden from their view.

"Alright, why don't you put the gun down like I asked you too earlier?" He trained his pistol on the girl, waiting to see her smirk fade. Jace's heart sank in his chest when he saw that the money was gone. Damn it. And more cop killers had gotten away! A thought occured to him though, they could break a deal, he doubted she wanted to go to jail anymore than he wanted to shoot her. Sheryl had the kind of pull that could get her off the hook so long as she hadn't killed anybody... She looked familiar now that he saw her tall lithe build and black hair in this poor light. Then it clicked. The girl from the mustang.

"Come on put the gun down, you can't fight your way out of this one but maybe we can work something out?" He kept his gun up as he moved to block her escape down the alley. It was a Mexican Standoff at it's worst.

Sheryl added to his momentum with a less than reassuring: "We don't want to kill you if we don't have too"

Awesome negotiating Sheryl. Just fucking awesome.

"Sometimes we let the little fish go so that we can catch bigger fish" Jace said, we know your part of a group, help us out, we'll see what we can do for you, just put the gun down"

 

[Tanned_babe]

Hearing the male cops voice Zara jumped, changing her aim to him now, the gun in her grip shaking ever so slightly as he spoke to her. Her dark brown, almost black eyes shifted from one cop to the other, she frowned, considering her options- of which there only seemed to be one sensible one.

Her ample chest was rising an falling underneath her now damp tank top that was coated in dust, sweat and Stiff's blood. She began to lower her weapon but something clicked in her head, the female cop- "We don't want to kill you if we don't have too."

At this Zara snarled, turning to the woman old enough to be her mother and taking a step closer to her but not yet raising her gun again. "You're just a bad as them!" Zara shouted, gesturing into the supermarket, indicating the thugs, "You don't give a fuck!! You kill now and ask question's later. Life can't be reversed once someone's eaten lead!" The girl was scared, shock was starting to set in. Zara had never seen a dead body let alone witness what had just gone down in there. Her top was soaked in human blood. Human blood!! She took another step towards the woman who cocked her gun, making Zara take one last thought and then heard the guy speak again.

Nervously licking her lips Zara tasted bloody, that bastard must have burst her lip when he pushed her into the trash canisters! She took one last look at the female cop before, with a shaky hand, tossed the gun to the side. Hearing it land on the concrete.

She didn't struggle as they cuffed her.

 

[ConstantAdmirer]

Jace shoved past Sheryl to cuff their girl. He was careful to be as gentle as possible. His wonderful partner had nearly ruined his attempt to talk her down and he wasn't impressed. She was supposed to be a veteran what was she doing making a rookie mistake like antagonizing a armed perp? He spoke quietly to the girl as he led her to their car.

"So what's your name?" he asked neutrally, she seemed so young to be involved in this kind of shit. Maybe it was because she was a woman but it got to him a bit. She didn't look like the sort of girl to get involved in the underbelly of the world. Though he supposed appearances weren't everything. Her words made him question her place in all this too. She seemed genuinely distressed by what had happened. Most criminals hardened enough to try something like what they had tonight wouldn't have been so emotional.

Jace got the door for his newly arrested 'friend', and helped her get in without hitting her head. His motivation for 'niceness' wasn't quite as chivalrous as he tried to convince himself it was. He needed the girls cooperation, her information might lead him to the asshole that had gotten Hessler killed, and nothing would be sweeter than that arrest, or... kill.

 

[Tanned_babe]

Zara winced as the cop came towards her, even though she had never been cuffed sh had always expected them to do so roughly but was surprised when he gently guided her arms behind her back, she felt the cold metals of the handcuffs wrap around her little wrists as he pushed her towards the police car. His hand was on her head, guiding it past the top of the door frame and she sat in.

He asked her her name, she didn't answer straight away, as far as Zara knew she wasn't on record already so a fake name may work but then again a whole lot of shit could be pinned on her. "It's Zara." She said quietly looking straight ahead. Her head was spinning with 'what if's'. She needed to get to Rich's if they let her out. She needed to get her share, which would probably cover her bail.

Zara felt the car start to roll away, she looked on out the window, it was starting to get dark, blue lights could be seen rushing to the supermarket. It had all happened so fast- and gone so fucking badly. As far as Zara knew it was going to be a few thugs, grabbing as much cash as possible in as little time not a full blown rammy!

Feeling the car stop the young woman looked up, catching her reflection in the wing mirror. Her long dark brown hair was a bit dishevelled, she had been sweating and now areas of her lightly tanned skin were dark with dust that had stuck to her but her grey eyes were, as always bright, giving her a dear in the head lights kind of look.

Hearing the catch on the door click Zara looked up.

 

[ConstantAdmirer]

She looked scared. And so she should be Jace thought to himself as he climbed into the driver's seat of the cruiser. Sheryl got in looking dark and angry. They'd lost two officers to these thugs and hadn't been able to make an arrest except for Zara. The city was going into high alert over the brutal encounter and people were panicking. Cops were sweeping the streets looking for any sign of the attackers and Jace knew what was coming: this was there case. When Shit hit the fan they'd be in front of it.

He put the car in drive and headed for the precinct. It would take some convincing to get Zara to work with them he knew and when they got to the Precinct he was careful to ensure the girl stayed within arms reach of him. Alot of angry cops wouldn't hesitate to lash out at her seeing as she was the only one they'd managed to take alive.

"Sheryl get the chief down to interogation we've gotta get something set up and fast" Jace said as he guided Zara gently. Sheryl glared she was the senior of the two and obviously didn't like being told what to do but she went and did as asked anyway. Jace took Zara to an interogation room and uncuffed her sitting across from her at the table.

"Zara I'm not going to lie, your in deep shit" he said. He could feel eyes watching them through the two way mirror on the wall. "But if you help me I'm going to try and help you, alright?"

 

[Tanned_babe]

Zara looked more like a deer in head lights than ever before. She went through the rigmarole at the police station, she was re read her rights, then it came to her handing over 'anything that may harm you or me.' It was clear that cops there were pissed off with her and she didn't know it but if Jace hadn't been there whilst they handled her she would have been treated a hell of a lot rougher than she was being now. "Well I guess this may do some damage!" She retorted as a police officer took her gun from her and placed it on the counter, then followed her belt, keys and watch. It wasn't until an cop made a move to take her necklace, that had a delicate pendant that she kicked up a fuss. It was as if a light had switched off in Zara's head and she started fighting against the cop. "Just leave it!!! Just leave it the fuck alone!" But it was useless, they had it unclipped from her neck and sat on the counter. "What the hell am I going to do with it? Strangle myself!?" She snarled as she was led down to a room, one like on TV with the big mirror that everyone could see into but the mug in the room could only see themselves.

As she sat down, Zara was reminded that she had a good deal of cash stuffed down her pants. The station must be in a mess, they hadn't even patted her down well enough. She sat back in the chair and looked at the cop ahead of her. Oh yeh, its the good looking cop that pulled her over for her tail light. God he was handsome she thought to herself as she gave him a stony stare.

"I didn't do anything wrong." She replied in a monotone, "I didn't hurt anyone, I was just in asking for a job, an opportunity presented itself." She referred tot he bag of money, "and I took it. But I didn't steal the money in the finish up did I?" She attitude was so cocky it was almost unbearable but this was only to cover up her own nerves.

As handsome sat listening Zara jumped, ruining her cool image as some kind of suit burst into the room. Damn he was pissed Zara thought to himself as she scanned over him briefly before averting her gaze, glancing at the mirror for a second.

 

[ConstantAdmirer]

She played it cool. Nothing wrong? As if! She'd been armed, wielding a gun and had admitted to conspiracy to commit an armed robbery. She'd aided other criminals in removing stolen cash from the crime scene for gods sake.

The door burst open and Zara flew into the air for a moment, so she did know she was in shit. The cockiness was just a defense.

"Alright McGrath one reason I shouldn't have her strung as a scapegoat for the media to go to town on!" It was his boss, in all his official business suit glory. Fuck. Jace's mind kicked into overdrive:

"Chief Zara and I were just getting to how she's going to help us out"

"Really it looked to me like she was trying to play the innocent cocky little bitch" his chief growled.

"I know, she has a marvelous sense of humor, but I can personally guarantee she is going to be more co-operative for the rest of the night" Jace said, trying to smooth over Zara's foolishness. Hoping to god she knew every word was being recorded. "And she's going to turn over the money she has stashed in her pants once we're done here"

Jace didn't miss a beat. He gave Zara a impassive look, and raised an eyebrow as if to say: Right? He was her life line, and if she missed grabbing a hold of him she could rot in county with all the butch chicks she could handle. But he doubted she'd last long there.

The police chief glared at both of them.

"Fine McGrath, but she's your responsibility, fuck this up and you'll be so done you won't work as a security guard at the mall!" His boss stormed out.

"Zara" Jace said once he was gone. "I need you to work with me... or we're both gonna be in a lot of shit"

 

[Tanned_babe]

Zara glared at the suit as he spoke to Jace, not even looking at her whilst he bitched about her but the young woman's glare quickly flicked to the cop when he suggested she had money stashed down her pants- which of course she did, but she wasn't going to give that up freely. She had earned that, all be it not so fair and sqaurely!

When the suit was finally done she gave him a 'run along' smile and turned to face the cop. She was really fucked in terms of the police but she was in even deeper shit if she was caught helping the cops behind Rich's back.

Zara sat back in the cold plastic seat at looked directly into the copper's eyes, as if trying to size him up, finally she spoke. "Ok, first off. I had no idea the amount of shit that was going to go down today. I swear." She wasn't pleading, she was just telling it to him straight as she lent forward, placing her arms on the table, unknowingly giving him a fantastic look down her top. "As far as I was aware it was Stiff and myself, we were just supposed to be in and out of that office in 5 minutes and then a few thugs in the shop scraping the tills. Seriously man, as far as I knew that's how things were supposed to go down."

Taking a breathe Zara asked the question that was pressing on her mind. "Why would I help you, I don't want to go to jail- come on I'd get the shit raped out of me!" She said bluntly, "But I'd rather do a stint in county than be dead because that'll happen. He finds out EVERYTHING! And I mean everything and he's obviously more 'powerful' than I thought."

There was no denying it, Zara was scared of Rich. As it was now she got away with a lot of cheek and back chat but that's only because she wasn't bad at doing what he asked and even though he gave her shit Zara was pretty sure that was just to keep his macho image. She was dreading him bailing her out, well sending someone down to do it for him.

"

 

[ConstantAdmirer]

"Look Zara you'll do more than a 'stint' in county... you'll sit your ass there while a federal prosecutor puts a case together" Jace sighed heavily. "We lost two cops to those guys, your an accessory to murder, you heard my boss he wants to string you up and hang you out to dry for the media vultures"

He ran a hand through his hair and craved a cigarrette, a habit he thought he'd managed to quit months ago or a beer something he hadn't bothered trying to give up.

"This was armed robbery, and murder in the second degree your looking at twenty-five to life if you won't help me even with the best lawyer in the country" His eyes tried to remain impassive, to not give a shit about the cocky girl giving him so much lip. But he didn't quite manage it. More than her words ever could her eyes showed the fear she was feeling. It wasn't something he liked seeing in a woman's eyes no matter what she'd done.

"Which you won't get because I'm pretty damn sure none of your 'friends' no matter how powerful will risk putting their names on a lawyers bill for your ass... you want help? Work with me! We'll get you into witness protection move you somewhere safe, I don't care how 'up there' your boss is he won't fuck with the FBI if he's still knocking over grocery stores"

He let his words sink in then pushed a little harder.

"Please Zara all you have to do is point me in the right direction a name, or two maybe a couple nights IDing guys and pointing out the safehouses you know"

 

[Tanned_babe]

"A safe house isn't going to make any difference!" Zara interjected, "When I don't call them for help they'll know something's a miss, they'll know I'm up to something if I was to just disappear and then all of a sudden there works start getting tampered with!"

Zara gave the cop a look that showed how much shit she thought he was talking. "Yeah, sure! I give you a name or two and I get off scot free? As if!!" She scoffed. How the hell was that possible? "So you're telling me one minute I'm looking at 25 to life and the next I give you a name and address and its all good? C'mon what's the catch?"

Zara was getting uncomfortable, she was really thirsty after sweating quite a lot in the heat, not to mention the nerves not helping and she could feel her body stiffening up from where she had been pushed over and whacked into the side of the dumpster. She shifted herself awkwardly.

"When do I get my phone call?"

 

[ConstantAdmirer]

"Zara co-operation works if you calm down and really try to listen, we don't just need any names! We need top level names, you want to get off 'scot-free' you'll have to help us and testify in court when we catch the motherfuckers, you want your phone call? Here" Pissed off now Jace waved for a phone to be brought in and left the room in disgust. If she didn't want help he couldn't help her.

"You shoulda let me shoot her" Sheryl said quietly in the hall, as she leaned against a poster that showed a massively muscled inmate bench pressing. The caption read 'they never take a day off, why do you?'. He set his head in his hand and brushed off Sheryl's comment.

"She's young and scared shitless, just like the rest of us... Two men dead? Fuck me Sheryl what the hell happened?"

"They got the drop on us... but how? Who told them we were coming?" Sheryl said with an exhausted sigh. She looked like hell, must be a lack of sleep he decided.

"TURN OFF THAT DAMN RECORDER SHE'S MAKING HER PHONE CALL!" Jace roared over his shoulder. One of the men looked at the floor sheepishly and flicked off the audio recorder. Fucking aye. "She's still got rights you want to give a lawyer a case?!"

"Jace relax he was trying to help" his partner said putting a hand on his shoulder. He took a deep breath. Yes, calm down, this ain't helping. You've gotta go back into that room looking composed he thought. Stretching and grabbing a drink of water Jace headed back into the interogation room. He sat down again, his frustration mostly evaporated. "Alright Zara where were we?"

 

[Tanned_babe]

Zara glared at the cop as he left the interrogation room and waited for the red light to dim, that showed she could be heard. Picking up the receiver she went to dial Rich, she started 0-0-6-1 and then put the phone down. What the hell was she going to say to him? Hey babe. I got caught because some ass hole wanted the praise for retrieving the cash, come bail me out! Eh NO!!! That kind of shit wasn't going to fly. She started dialling a different number again but but the receiver down yet again.

One last try, she thought to herself. Taking a deep breathe she dialled yet another number, the phone rang, it was a long shot but if he had- by any stroke of luck- had a win at the weekend she may be able to convince him to help her. Zara's mind kicked into over drive, if she got out of here and had somewhere to go, like out of state- his house she may be able to start over? The number she called just rang out. "FUCK!!" She cursed, slamming the receiver back on the body of the phone so hard a couple of fragments of plastic flew here and there.

This was ludicrous, these cops are pissed, she thought to herself. No amount of playing were gonna make them budge. As handsome said she either assisted or spent a considerable slice of her life being someone's little bitch.

Zara cast her grey eyes in handsome's direction when he came back into the room, he still looked cool but there was still a little bit of exasperation there. "Alright Zara where were we?"

"You were just about to give me that bottle of water." She said holding her hand out and raised a perfectly waxed eyebrow as if to say 'now, please'. "And then I'm going to tell you if I'm going to help you or not." When she finished, she glanced at the glass panel, sure that there were a dose of cops and suits a like, waiting to see and hear what she said.

After a long drink from the ice cold bottle she looked at the cop again. "What do I have to do?"

 

[Tanned_babe]

Bump?