A favor for a favor...

Maria walked crisply towards her cruiser and opened the white door settling into her seat. Again I couldn't help but admire her ass when she walked away and I know Nikki saw me looking.

"I almost feel like I should feel jealous..." She slipped into the front passenger seat again, buckling herself in.

"Ok, yeah, I was looking at her ass," I nodded. Fumbling for my keys and delighting in the feel of Nikki's wedding rings on them once again.

"It's a nice ass." Nikki agreed, "So you of course are going to fuck her and get us outta dis, right?"

"Uh... "

"That girl is thirsty." Nikki glanced in the mirror as I started the engine and pulled out of the spot. The black and white police cruiser followed us, as I precisely turned left at the end of the white marked spaces. "When a woman laughs at jokes dat dumb, she wants you to like her."

"My jokes aren't that bad."

"Jedi mind trick? That's like... no way in hell dat would ever work."

"It apparently just did." I observed, guiding the van around the small concrete island that marked the edge of the parking lot, Now on our right was nothing but deep pine forest which butted right up against the concrete road, littering it with red needles.

"Dat was just luck."

"Seems to be the way things go with me. I'm like a weirdness magnet, it seems."

"A what?" Nikki asked, her eyes back on the cruiser which was still following us.

"You know, one of those people who never tell stories about their past because nobody will believe it. You'll think I'm making it up."

"Try me."

"Only reason I have a wife and a girlfriend is because of a tree falling in a forest."

"Yeah, you're right. You're making it up."

The occasional look of schadenfreude from a mall patron made it clear that nobody wanted to be in my shoes right now. At least from all outwards appearances. We quickly left them behind, following down a small incline. At the end I could see a pair of metal bars protruding from a dipped portion of concrete. Set across the two bars was a large metal chain, with a white and red sign beneath, limply hanging low.

The quick Whoop from behind me of the cruiser's siren caused me to immediately brake. I looked in the mirror to see Maria exiting her vehicle quickly. She strode past my window, playfully tapping it with her fingers as she passed, before walking directly to the chain and unhooking one of the rusted hooks from it's small metal loop. She dropped it to the ground and took on an official stance, directing me down the small dirt road that the chain had blocked off.

"See, dis is exactly how horror movies start..." Nikki sighed, as the tires of the bus rolled over the flattened earth, bumping slightly over the chain. I looked behind me to see Maria rehook the chain and then carefully lock her vehicle. She glanced back and forth, and seeing no visible movement quickly hopped over the small concrete divider and half jogged towards the Van.

She yanked open the side door, and stepped inside, slamming it shut behind her.

"Keep going, bout another hundred yards round the corner." She gestured towards the dirt road, and a small embankment that hid the road from the main thoroughfare. I didn't waste any time, putting the van into gear once again, and following the well worn ruts in the road.

"So... where were you? I still want the details here." Maria said, unbuckling her duty belt, which she placed on the rear seat next to her.

"Ok, where do you want me to start?" Nikki asked.

Nikki relayed the story of the last hour in her trademark fashion, with numerous digressions to complain about her husband. That seemed to be a topic that Maria fully agreed on her with, and the two of them began comparing notes on betrayals. Maria definitely seemed to have the edge however when I pulled the bus to a halt on a dirt clearing that seemed to have been used for construction at some point in the distant past. Numerous tire tracks going in and out were still present, but it was clear that this place had been long disused for its intended purpose. Instead the numerous liquor bottles and cigarette butts scattered about, as well as the occasional used prophylactic, gave clues as to the current use.

"So... just hell with it? You just decided to fuck him?" Maria looked over at me. "I notice you're not saying much here. Most of the time guys can't wait to tell me about their conquests when I ask."

"Just don't want to risk pissing off the gal with a gun."

"Badge and gun, don't forget the badge." Nikki's eyes roamed over the woman in the back seat. "Kinda sexy on her. I like a gal in uniform."

"I will agree with that." I nodded, taking Nikki's hint.

"Ok... now this has the makings of an epic locker room story." Maria's fingers toyed at the collar of her duty uniform. "Mind if I lose the boots? Just can't get comfortable with them on..."