Chapter 2

Laura Davis slid into the front seat of her Chevy Nova and started the engine. The car turned over quickly without hesitation. Alex would be happy when he returned at the tip-top condition Laura kept the cars in, if he returned. Laura tried to turn her thoughts to another subject, but couldn't. Why, oh why, did he have to leave? She didn't even know if he was dead or alive. The man who'd been such a pillar in her life, the man who'd always been there to lean on was gone. At work, she was a tough lady cop, but the rest of the time she was all woman. With all the weaknesses, indecision, needs and wants of any woman. And it'd been a long time since any of those needs had been satisfied, a long time.

She backed the Nova out of the driveway and turned onto the clean well-kept street Alex and she had chosen to build their dream house. As she drove down to the corner, she could see her neighbors kissing their husbands goodbye, sending them off to their nice, safe jobs in the city and then padding back into the house in their robes and slippers, leisurely having another cup of coffee and then tackling the breakfast dishes. Why couldn't Alex have had a nice safe job, instead of working for the damn CIA and getting sent off to Chili? But she knew why. She knew that if Alex had been a stockbroker, or an accountant, or anything else, she never would have been attracted to him. Laura was a beautiful woman, who packed a snub-nosed .38 Smith and Wesson in her purse. Unarmed, she could disable or kill a much larger man. She was a strong woman and she needed a stronger man. A man like Alex. And now he was gone, goddamn him, she thought. And now he was gone.

Of course, none of her friends and neighbors knew what Alex really did for a living. They thought he worked for the foreign service in the diplomatic corps. This conveniently explained his frequent absences from home. They had a hard enough time handling the fact that the most attractive woman in the neighborhood was a lady cop.

Some of the neighborhood men had tried to take advantage of Alex's long absences. For a long time, after they'd first moved into the neighborhood, as soon as Alex would leave for a trip the husbands would start dropping by. It was "just to say hello", or sometimes, "If there's anything I can do to help out while Alex is away. . . . " They would've mowed her lawn, rearranged the furniture, fixed the trash compactor-it didn't matter, all they wanted was a chance to be alone with Laura. Just a chance.. . .

It didn't take too long for Laura to find out what was really going on. At first, being new in the neighborhood, she wanted to be as friendly as she could. She was very pleased with the neighborhood they'd chosen to live in, what with all the friendly neighbors. Yet, for some reason, thought Laura, the husbands seemed a lot friendlier than the wives. In fact, the wives seemed downright hostile. Laura figured they'd come around in time.

About 6 weeks after they'd moved, Alex was away on a job. He'd flown to Burma to oversee the yearly harvest of the poppy crop for the CIA. It was through control of the drug trafficking in the Golden Triangle of Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand that the CIA and thereby the United States was able to control the political machines in each of those countries.

Rodney Kercheck from down the street wasn't wasting any time. The day after Alex left, he dropped by the house. Laura was in the back yard, enjoying her day off, lying on the chaise lounge in her bikini getting a suntan. Laura had always been very proud of her smooth, silky skin, and delighted in tanning it to a nutty brown.

She was wearing a skimpy maillot swim suit which was far more revealing than she'd ever "'ear in public. But since she was in her own back yard, she couldn't see anything wrong with it.

Rodney had dropped by to return some garden shears that he'd borrowed about two months previously. Not being suspicious by nature, or when she was not working, Laura didn't see anything strange on the face of it. Somebody else might have thought it a bit strange that this handsome, dark -haired neighbor had kept the pair of garden shears for two months and then decided to return them three days after Laura's husband left the country on a business trip.

Laura heard the door bell ring, set down her lemonade on the table and ran into the house to answer it. When she opened the door, Rodney was speechless. He just stood there with the garden shears in his hand and his mouth open. He'd known that Laura was a fox, knew that she was a stone fox, but was totally unprepared for what he saw when she opened the door.

Laura was like a bronze goddess who was wearing next to nothing. Her brown skin was perfect and never seemed to stop. The amount of material that made up her swimsuit would have caused a midget to blush. Rodney's eyes quickly scanned her head to foot. Her blonde hair, bouncing up in a slight curl, rested softly on her naked caramel shoulders. Her breasts, large and firm, surged out from beneath the constraints of the swimsuit. He could make out the outline of her nipples beneath the thin, clinging material. Her stomach was flat and smooth, leading down to the top of her swim-suit bottom, which, beneath, rose softly to cover her pubic mound. What particularly grabbed Rodney's attention was the extremely fine and soft blonde baby hair on Laura's' upper thighs where she didn't shave her legs. Those downy curls always drove Rodney crazy. Especially since his wife was a dark eastern European who seemed to have coarse black hair everywhere-from her unshaved black mustache to the thick line of black curls that descended from her bellybutton to her cunt.

Laura looked at him standing there speechless for a second and then smiled and said "Hi, Rodney. You bringing the garden shears back?"

"Uh, y-y-yyeah. . . " he stammered. "I'd kinda forgotten all about it and then the other day I saw it in my garage and I, uh, remembered, that, uh, I should take it back to you and everything, so, well, here I am." He smiled lamely.

"Well, come on back," said Laura. "You can put it in the garage-I certainly don't want to carry that dirty thing."

Rodney followed Laura through the eyes, his eyes never leaving her firm ass as it moved back and forth with just the slightest seductive jiggle. Rodney felt the blood rushing to his groin and his cock began to swell. He was glad to be wearing thick Levi's which would conceal the bulge.

Once in the backyard, Laura lay down again on her lounge and Rodney disappeared into the garage to return the shears. When he came back, Laura was sipping her lemonade and thumbing through the pages of a magazine.

"Boy, it's sure been hot lately. . . " Rodney said, wiping his brow.

"Oh! Would you like a glass of lemonade?" asked Laura.

"Thank you, that'd be nice." Rodney sat down in a chair across from Laura as she poured Rodney a glass from the nearby pitcher. All Rodney could think about was how he'd like to lay Laura down right there on the grass, pull that goddamn swim suit off and climb right aboard. The thought of his mouth sucking on one of those breasts was enough to start the glass of lemonade in his hand to shaking.

"I haven't seen old Alex around lately," said Rodney. "How's he doing?"

"Oh, Alex is fine, just fine. He'll be out of town for a few weeks; he's got some meeting to attend at the embassy in Bangkok."

Rodney's eyes lit up when he heard that Alex was out of town. To his way of thinking, Laura was just a normal woman and since her husband had been gone for a couple of weeks, she was probably hornier than hell. He was a pretty good looking guy and had already fucked about half the wives in the neighborhood. He didn't know why he shouldn't be able to succeed with Laura as well. If he played his cards right, that is.

"It must get awful lonely for you when he's gone," Rodney confided.

"Well, I must say that I'm much happier when he's around than when he's gone. That's for sure!" laughed Laura.

Rodney was a man of action and in most cases liked to get straight to the point. He hated beating around the bush, so to speak, and on more than one occasion had fucked neighbor ladies by simply coming right out and asking them.

Rodney looked her straight in the eye. "You know, I must say that I think you're the most beautiful woman in the neighborhood."

Laura couldn't help but blush at the compliment, though she felt a little uncomfortable under his intense stare. It was at this point that she began to suspect that Rodney's attentions were somewhat less than honorable-but he hadn't really done anything out of line, so she'd give him the benefit of the doubt.

"Thank you." was all she could say.

"You know I wouldn't say that if I didn't mean it. You're a very desirable woman." Laura wished she wasn't wearing such a skimpy bikini as she felt Rodney's eyes roaming over her body. "I don't want you to get the impression that I'm not happily married," he continued, "because I am. But-hey-even if you ate filet mignon every night, after awhile it'd get to taste pretty ordinary. Right? That's why they say variety is the spice of life and I believe that's true in everything, from food, to loving, to marriage. I'd be the last person to try to disrupt someone's marriage, but-hey-I know what it can be like to have your husband gone for weeks at a time. I know how lonely you must get. I really do-and I just want you to know that you can trust me."

And here's where the "man of action" made his big mistake. He leaned over in his chair, planted his lips upon Laura's and placed his left hand on her swollen breast. For a second Laura was too surprised to react. This was totally unexpected! She'd thought of Rodney as no more than a friend, and a married friend at that. Rodney took Laura's non-reaction to mean acceptance of his advances and so gave her soft breast a firm squeeze and shoved his tongue deep into her throat.

When Laura finally reacted, she was as quick as a cobra. Her arms shot out from her sides, his from her body. Her teeth came down, biting his tongue, and her left leg shot up between his, sending his balls careening around in his scrotum like billiard balls. Rodney let out a scream of agony and surprise and then collapsed to the ground, moaning in pain.

Laura knew that he was not hurt seriously-if she had really wanted to hurt him she could have done that very easily. She wasn't even angry with him at this point. In fact she felt a little sorry for him as he lay there moaning on the ground-but then, you should know better than to mess around with a lady cop. Or at least have the good sense to ask before you act.

She helped him to sit up in the other chair while he cradled his tender balls in his hand. He was extremely pissed off. "Why the fuck did you do that, you cunt?"

Since she'd become a cop, Laura had heard every swear word and then some-they didn't bother her at all. "Why the fuck do you think, asshole?" she smiled.

"Well, Jesus H. Christ, you could have said something, I mean you could have asked me to stop!"

"Did you ask me before you started? I'm sorry about what I did to you, but I really didn't have any choice-I've been trained to respond to attacks in that manner."

Rodney staggered to his feet. "You're going to be sorry for this some day, bitch. You're going to pay for this. No cunt does this to me and gets away with it!" Rodney then limped out of the backyard, one hand cradling his swollen nuts.

Laura was at work by this time and pulled the Nova into the parking lot of the St. Louis police department. She parked the car and locked it carefully-even in the police department parking lot there were frequent break-ins and thefts. Laura was glad to be at the job-it was good to be able to switch into her work personality. At work her personal life was totally shut to one side, her emotional life was comfortably dismissed for the eight hours she was on the job. At work she was all business and respected because of this.

As a new graduate of the police academy, two years earlier, she had a lot of problems getting accepted by the other cops. She was the second female officer in the department history. The older male cops felt there was but one place for a woman in the police department-a secretary who answered the phone and made coffee for the boys. They didn't want to see a woman packing a pistol; they didn't want to be out on the street with the animals and have to worry about a woman in the car with them.

But Laura didn't ask for any special favors. She could out-shoot any man on the force with her martial arts training; she was lethal in any physical tussle, and after she saved the life of her partner on more than one occasion her bravery was never suspect. It took a long time to earn their respect, but she did. Alex was as proud of Laura as she was of herself.

Laura headed straight for her locker in the small dressing room aside for the lady cops-all two of them. She smiled sadly when she opened the locker door and saw the photo of Alex she'd pasted there. She quickly stripped out of her street clothes and pulled her black uniform off the hanger. She stopped to look at herself in the full-length mirror. She was 26 years old and had the body of an 18 year old in full bloom. She wore a matching bra and panty set that Alex had given her on their second wedding anniversary.

Alex had always been turned on by imagine lingerie and this particular set had really excited him. They were black and silky, with lots of lace, which contrasted stunningly with her snow white skin. His eyes were aglow with pleasure when he handed her the package to unwrap. Laura gasped when she saw what was inside. She had always been a very modest girl and would never have bought something like that for herself.

When she opened the package, she didn't say a word, but simply took the box with her into the bedroom, closing the door behind her. For a few moments Alex had wondered if he had made a mistake by giving her such a racy gift. His questions were answered when she reappeared from the bedroom.

Laura sat down on the living room couch. She was wearing her most elegant dress. It was a red silk gown that clung revealingly to every shape and curve of her luscious young body. The front of the gown dipped down low, revealing the deep swelling of her ripe bosom. The gown was strapless and her long blonde hair swept and caressed her naked shoulders. She put a finger to her mouth, telling Alex that he wasn't to say a word.

Alex was amazed at what he saw. Laura was always beautiful, but on that night she simply glowed. She moved with a confident sensuality throughout the room, her sleek thighs showing through the long slit up the side of her dress.

First, she went to the bar and fixed them both a strong drink. On special occasions they got out the Chivas and on that night, she simply left the bottle out where they could get at it easily. Next she strutted over to the light switch and dimmed the room until it seemed like a smoky night club. Finally, she walked over to the stereo and put on an album of slow, sensual Latin samba music.

Then Laura did something which neither of them could hardly believe. Prim and proper, Laura. Laura, who was a virgin on their wedding night and who for a month after wore long flannel nightgowns to bed and insisted upon undressing in the closet. Prudish Laura began to do a strip-tease in front of her husband, writhing erotically to the music.

She let the red silk gown slide down her body, all the while staring Alex straight in the eye like a lusty young animal. She stepped out of the gown and stood facing him. She wore the lacy black silk bra, the frilly black silk panties with the transparent front that revealed the curly blonde hairs of her soft pussy, black garters holding up old fashioned nylon stockings with the seam going up the back, and black, spike, high heel shoes.

She let her hands run slowly down her body, starting at the creamy smoothness of her throat. She cupped her breasts and felt their fullness, a small moan escaping from deep in her throat. Her nipples instantly became erect, poking through the soft silk of the brassiere. As she began to rub her breasts, her hips moved in small, vulgar circles-as if her pelvis had a mind of its own, as if she had no control over her own cunt.

Alex sat transfixed-the only motion in his body was in his cock, which was growing hard and firm. This was a fantasy he'd had all his life and now he was seeing it come true in the flesh. Laura dropped one hand from her breasts, and let it play with the elastic at the top of her black panties. Then the hand slid underneath and she stood with her legs spread wide apart, rubbing her cunt, exploring the deep folds of the dripping pussy lips. She moaned as her forefinger parted the labia and penetrated slowly up the dark love canal.. . .

Laura snapped out of her locker room reverie and quickly dressed in the dark blue uniform. She tried not to let her mind wander with thoughts of Alex and especially with thoughts of sex. It'd been six months since she'd felt the strong arms of a man around her, six months since that constant ache between her legs had been satisfied. Her best solution was sublimation. Putting all of her energy into her work. Being the best damn lady cop the city of St. Louis was ever going to have.

Finally dressed, Laura strode confidently out of the cramped dressing room and down the hall to the briefing room. She was on time, as always, and took her usual seat towards the back. The room was alive with the early morning babble of 30 cops getting ready to go to work. They were talking about everything but police business. Girlfriends. Wives. Baseball scores. Inflation, upcoming parties, broken down cars, and the assorted and varied physical ailments they all seemed to suffer from. There was an unwritten rule, of sorts, that the few minutes all of the cops were together in the morning before starting work would be given over to talk about themselves and their lives. Police work already took up too much of their time and thoughts.

The room immediately quieted down when Lt. Mankowitz entered the room. He was a tough cop, one who'd risen up through the ranks and was respected by everyone. When he said something, he meant it and if you valued your ass, you'd better pay close attention when he spoke.

He swaggered to the podium-the macho walk was acquired in his early days on foot patrol when a confident demeanor was an important part of street survival. He casually tossed his clipboard onto the podium.

"Good morning, men. And lady," he said, smiling in Laura's direction. He said this every morning and Laura didn't mind at all-that's just the way Lt. Mankowitz was. She knew she had his respect as a person and a police officer. Though it hadn't always been that way. In the beginning, Mank, as he was called, had a very hard time getting used to the idea of a lady cop. He finally accepted it, but only after covering a shoot-out at a supermarket where Laura had courageously run into the field of fire to pull a wounded officer to safety.

Mankowitz went through the usual early morning business rundowns of crimes committed the evening before, descriptions of stolen cars, the usual assorted rapes and assaults that take place every evening in every American city, and a pep talk about the need to step up the rate of traffic citations-revenues were dropping and city hall was putting a little pressure on the department to write more tickets and thereby help pick up the slack.

Finally he got around to the business of assignments. "As you all know," he said, "the animals have just about take over Fleet Street. The winos are there in the mornings and the hookers are there at night. All fine and good-at least we know where they are and what they're up to. The only problem is, well, election time is coming up and our friendly D.A. is running again and he's going to be on a "Clean up St. Louis" kick. So, I've been getting a lot of pressure to step up things on Fleet Street. So, it's time to turn the heat up, time to let the animals know who runs this city.

"The last time we went to war with the hookers of this city, you know what kind of shit we had to take from the citizens' review board. Seems that some of the ladies felt they were mistreated by some of you boys. I don't give a shit about any of that, as you well know, but the review board can be a real pain in the ass. I think I've got a way around that, though."

He smiled mischievously at Laura. "Officer Davis, you're hereby transferred for a period of two months to the night shift, with specific responsibilities for taking care of the animals down on Fleet Street. Officer Melons will be your partner. Any questions?"

Laura was too stunned to say a thing. What a hassle this was going to be! Going to war with the hookers and the winos, what bullshit, she thought. Yet, Mark had a point. Every time they cracked down on the hookers, all kinds of misconduct charges were brought up against the boys. Since Officer Melons was the only other lady cop on the force and they would be doing the cracking down, perhaps the hookers and their slick lawyers wouldn't be able to raise such a stink.

The assignment was also a break-through in another sense. The force had never dared put the two women together on an assignment. Laura had always rankled against this implied incapability and weakness. Now was a chance to work with another woman, one who also happened to be a good friend, and to show everyone concerned that women don't need men to lean on to do good police work.

That evening when Laura returned home from work there was a letter waiting for her. Her sister and husband were going to spend two months of the summer in Europe and Michelle, Laura's 16 year old niece, was coming to St. Louis to stay during that time. Laura would be picking her up in two weeks at the train station.

Laura smiled as she set the letter down on the desk. Michelle was a good kid and it'd be good to have somebody else around the house. The place had seemed really empty without Alex.