Crash Landing

Sondra put her arm on my shoulder. "There's good in you Max, a lot of it."

"I appreciate that. I really do."

Then she lowered her voice. "And about that other thing I said to you, what do you say we get out of here?"

I finished my drink. "I'm right behind you."

* * *

"It's OK leaving my car here?" Sondra asked in the Royal Palms parking lot, referring to her late model Jaguar.

"I think so," I said. "You've parked next to my car before and I've made it known that cars in these spaces are off limits. No one's touched my car since I've lived here."

She went in the trunk to take out her overnight bag. "Sleepover?" she asked.

"You didn't need to ask."

We trudged up the stairs to the second floor. She went right to room 204 and waited for me to unlock it. She went in first and turned on the lights. The room was neat as a pin.

"Max, are we in the right room?" she asked.

"No, I had housekeeping come and clean it. Three bags of garbage."

"Thank you. Now I don't feel like a hooker turning a trick."

"Did you ever?"

"Of course not. But if I stayed in this place long enough . . ."

She put her overnight bag down and unzipped it.

"I brought a few things you might like."

"Like?"

She pulled a bottle of old scotch and two clean real glasses out of the bag.

"Like this."

"Bless you."

She poured each of a glass.

"To us," I said.

"To us," she repeated.

We took a sip. I took her glass from her and put it down next to mine.

"Now a kiss to seal it," I said. I tasted her scotch scented lips.

She started unbuttoning her blouse. I told myself I'd never get tired of looking at her. Her sheer blouse was tossed to the side.

"Did you want to take off my bra Max?"

I nodded and then reached behind her and kissed her while I took off her bra and dropped it to the floor. As our kiss lingered, my hands traced up the swale of her back to her shoulders, the texture of her skin like fine silk.

She dropped her skirt to her ankles, leaving her with just her panties and heels on.

"Help me with these," she said, tugging on the waistband of her skimpy panties. I was more than eager to comply. I got on my knees and pulled them down to her ankles. I helped her step out of them. I pulled her close to me and buried my face in her pussy and inhaled deeply, imprinting the scent of her musky sweetness into my mind.

"Umm, skipping the appetizer for the main course," she said to me.

"I am, but I'm saving room for dessert," I said while running my hands up and down her long legs while I feasted on her pussy.

After a few more leisurely licks I got on the bed on my back with my head near the headboard.

"Kneel over me and put your hands on the wall," I said.

She kicked off her heels and put one knee on each side of my head. Her pussy was inches from my face and I could see her breasts and her face. I used my hands to guide her hips lower until her nether lips were planted on mine. I snaked my tongue inside her while my hands roamed over her tight ass. She ground her sex into me. I could see her heavily lidded eyes as she milked her pleasure from my mouth and tongue.

"Fuck me, fuck me with your tongue," she urged in a one-way conversation. I was preoccupied with other matters, like making her cum.

I could feel her thighs vibrating.

"Ughhh . . . like that . . . just like that . . ."

She practically crushed my face when she came, blabbering something incoherent, her steaming cunt leaking droplets of her cum down my cheeks.

I pushed her off so I could draw a breath.

"Wow," I said. "I thought I was going to suffocate."

"I have confidence in your breath control Max."

"You little tart," I taunted her. "I'm just a sex object to you, aren't I?"

"Uh huh," she said. "My personal little fuck toy."

It was exactly what I wanted to be.

"Would you like dessert?" I asked.

"I was afraid you weren't going to offer after that face crushing. I'm sorry. It felt so good . . . and maybe I got carried away."

"Don't think that. The edgier the sex, the better I like it," I said. "You don't seem to have any inhibitions when it comes to sex."

"It's my Scandinavian upbringing Max. As a family we used to take saunas together naked. I've never felt ashamed about my body. Here in the Midwest people are a lot more hung up on that."

"You have nothing to be ashamed of," I said, admiring her nude body. "Now about dessert, lay on your right side, with your top leg bent at the knee and your bottom leg straight."

It was my favorite position for analingus. I could pull up her top ass cheek and expose her rosebud to my wicked thoughts. It was my little perversion that I couldn't get enough of. She assumed the position on the bed. She was already touching herself, knowing what was about to come.

I fondled her left ass cheek, then raised it up to see the crinkled brown skin of her asshole, gaping slightly. I pushed my tongue into the small opening, stretching apart the tight muscle and causing her to purr.

"Oh Max, you're such a naughty girl . . ."

I started touching myself as I ate her ass. It was a turn on for both of us.

"Ohh . . . ohhh . . ." she gasped as my tongue darted in and out of her ass.

Her fingers were a blur. They were making squishing noises as they rubbed frantically against her overheated cunt.

I let out a low throated growl as I pushed my finger inside her and rimmed her at the same time.

"Fucccckkkk!" she bellowed at the top of her lungs. It was a scream to wake the dead. The people in room 206 started banging on the wall.

She rolled on her back with her legs splayed, thoroughly fucked out. I couldn't help but try for a second helping, lapping at her wet pussy.

"Stop . . . stop Max . . . I can't take anymore," she said, rolling away from me. "It's too sensitive."

"Can't fault a girl for trying."

She sat up in bed. "Pour me a drink. Then I'll entertain your motion for reconsideration."

I hopped off the bed and poured each of us a healthy portion of well-aged scotch.

"Umm, this is delicious," she said, taking her first sip. I downed mine. My throat was parched. I chased it with a glass of water.

"So about that motion . . ." I said.

She took another sip and then put her glass on a nightstand. She spread her legs apart, revealing her light colored pubic hair, matted down with her cum and my spit.

"Your motion is granted," she said.

I knew what to do next.

* * *

When my eyes opened the next morning Sondra was already dressed.

"Early riser," I said to her.

"Gotta make a living Max," she replied as she slipped her heels on.

"Where to today?" I asked.

"I have a mediation this morning. I have to get prepared so I'm going to my office first."

"At 5 a.m.?"

"Early bird gets the worm Max."

"Want a fuck for the road?" I asked hopefully.

She gave me a dazzling smile. "I'll take a rain check. I think last night suggests a repeat performance."

"Now?" I asked hopefully, not being one to give up so easily.

"Max, you're incorrigible. Maybe tonight."

"Promise?"

"You want an attorney's promise? You know the old joke. How do you tell a lawyer's lying? Her lips are moving."

"I'll take anything I can get from you."

"Then I promise."

I pulled the covers over me. I was going to try to sleep for another half hour. "Go . . . go beat someone up in court."

"It's a mediation Max. That's where we try to settle."

"Then settle your case and come back to bed with me."

"Go back to sleep Max."

* * *

Lesley was waiting for me. I arrived about fifteen minutes later than I usually did. That was out of character for me. Lesley studied my face. I tried not to smile, but failed.

"OK Max. Something's up. You're fifteen minutes late and you can't stop that shit eating grin on your face. Who is it?"

Lesley was part detective, part psychologist. She could read me like an open book. I was also a horrible liar.

"All right. I was with someone."

She smirked. "OK, who was it?"

"Not telling."

"I'm telling Odette about your little visit to Lily. Maybe I'll tell her you had your hand up her dress."

"You wouldn't dare," I said, looking around the locker room to make sure no one was overhearing our conversation.

"Try me. Now tell me. You know I'm going to figure it out sooner or later."

"Swear you're not going to tell anyone?"

"Of course I swear," Lesley said indignantly. "I'm your fucking partner. I'm entitled to know every personal detail about your life. You know every detail about mine."

"You just threatened to out me with Billy."

"Aw Max, you know I was just funning you. I'd never tell her about Lily. Now spit it out."

I swallowed hard.

"Sondra . . . Sondra Karlsson."

"No fucking way."

"Way."

She stood back and looked at me with admiration. "Sondra's drop dead gorgeous. What's she doing with a mope like you?"

"Fuck you Lesley."

"Really Max. On a scale of one to ten, she's about a thirteen."

"It's my dazzling personality."

"That's not it," she retorted quickly, maybe too quickly.

"It's my kind heart . . . and maybe my big tits."

"That sounds more like it. Sondra . . .". She gave a low whistle. "You're playing in the major leagues partner."

"Don't I know it. I just hope I can hang onto her."

"You'll manage to fuck it up," Lesley said confidently.

"It's great to have you as a partner. I'm floating on a cloud and you're making it rain."

"That's what I'm here for Max. Moral support."

* * *

I was worried . . . very worried . . . about Lily. Despite her vow we'd never be together I still had a lot of affection for her. I knew it was fucked up to love my enemy but I couldn't help it. She, like Sondra, was highly intelligent, beautiful and cunning. Lily just happened to live on the dark side.

"Let's drive by Lily's place, just to check on her," I said to Lesley. It was a bright sunny morning and it would be good to make sure there was at least temporary peace in the West End. The Chili poisoning had everyone on edge.

When we got to Lily's, the grocery store still had its "Closed" sign in the window, even though it was two hours after its scheduled opening hour. I figured they would stay hunkered down until they felt they were safe (which might be never).

"Let's go around back and check the alley," I said.

Lesley wheeled the cruiser around the corner and drove slowly to the entrance of the alley. I expected to see the black Escalade blocking the alley's entrance and her two henchman manning their posts with shotguns. Instead, I saw one body on the pavement, laying in a pool of blood, and the other draped over the fender of the SUV, dead from a massive head wound, probably a large caliber weapon at close range.

"Call for back-up," I told Lesley. "I'm going in."

"You can't do that Max . . . it's too dangerous," Lesley said, and was right. The last time I cowboyed this situation Lesley got shot. But wild horses weren't going to keep me from going in by myself.

"You get a safe distance away Lesley. Promise? And I fucking mean it."

Lesley was well aware of her almost fatal gunshot wound the last time she chased me.

"OK Max . . . you be careful."

"Always."

* * *

I crept along the alley, weapon drawn. I felt the neck of the man on the ground. His throat had been slit and he bled out. No pulse. I noticed the man on the fender was Mr. Tattoo. Half his head was missing and there were cigarette burns on his arm. Maddy would rest easier in her grave. I went to the armored back door. It was ajar. They probably tortured Mr. Tattoo to make him open the door.

The air inside smelled of death. My guess was the killers were already gone. I found the door to the basement offices was also ajar, and the body of another guard was sprawled with his head at the bottom of the stairs and his feet three stairs up. He had also been shot in the head with a large caliber weapon.

My heart was racing in my chest as I went to Lily's office. Jasmine's body was laying across Lily's desk in a pool of blood and Lily was slumped over Jasmine's body. I detected a faint pulse in Lily's neck. I raised up her head. She'd been shot once in the chest and the front of her dress was an unholy mess. Her arms had at least a dozen cigarette burns on them as well. The wall safe had been ransacked. It wasn't going to be long before she was gone.

"Lily!" I shouted to her. Her eyes fluttered open.

"Max," she said in a reed thin voice. Blood gurgled out of her mouth.

"Who was it?"

"Max . . .". She struggled to push out the remaining words. "You know . . . you know . . . I loved you."

Oh my God. Why did she tell me that? Her words would haunt me for the rest of my life.

"Brat . . ."

"What?" I asked, inches from her face. I wanted to scream and then cry. I heard sirens wailing in the distance.

"Bratva . . ." she said, and then her head dropped to the desk. She was gone.

Bratva . . . Bratva . . . I'd heard that term before. Adrenaline was pumping in my veins. Focus. Bratva.

Then it hit me. Bratva was the Russian mafia. It wasn't Jumbo. It was a Russian gang. Lily may have been prepared for Jumbo, but there was a new and even more insidious and devious criminal element leaving a violent calling card for the City of Cincinnati.

Fuck.

* * *

There was blood covering my trembling hands. The stench of death was everywhere. My enemy (and lover) Lily Chao, was slumped over her desk, dead from a gunshot wound to the chest.

Damn her. Her dying words included a declaration of love for me. Did I love her? Did it matter anymore?

Her last word? Bratva . . . the Russian mafia . . . my head was spinning.

My partner Lesley Groesbeck stormed into the office with two other officers who arrived as back-up. Lesley shook me by my shoulders.

"Max . . . Max . . ." she said to me.

I'm sure I looked at her with a blank expression. I was on the verge of going into shock.

"W . . . what?" I asked her.

"Max . . . Lily's dead. We need to leave."

"Leave? I don't want to leave." I remember holding Lily's ice cold hand and not wanting to let go.

Lesley gently took Lily's hand away from me.

"Max . . . she's gone. It's not safe here." She led me out of the room.

We stepped around the dead body on the stairs leading up from Lily's basement office. The gravity of what had happened was graphic and real. Lily, and everyone in her headquarters, was dead. If Lily was right, a new player had entered the Cincinnati drug market, literally with a bang. This was a new level of cruelty and disdain for human life.

We stepped out into the sunlight. Officers were swarming everywhere, securing the crime scene. I was shivering. Lesley took her jacket off and draped it over my shoulders. My wits were slowly returning.

"Lesley . . . do you know what happened?"

"No Max. There's just a lot of bodies. Jumbo's going to be the prime suspect."

"Lily said Bratva," I told her.

"Bratva? That's the Russian mafia. They're not in Cincinnati."

"Apparently they are."

"Maybe Lily was mistaken."

"I don't think so. Lily was prepared for Jumbo. The Russians figured out how to bypass her security measures."

"That's an interesting theory Max. Proving it is going to be a challenge."

Shock was replaced by anger. Lily was dead and I wanted revenge.

"I've never backed off of a challenge in my life," I said to her.

"I know Max, but this time you might want to reconsider," said Lesley, seeing the violence wrought on Lily and her crew.

"I don't care Les. It's either me or the guys who did this."

Lily's killers were professional and ruthless. I hoped it wasn't going to be me.

* * *

Max will return . . . but to what?