Mac Turner sat in a folding chair drinking a can of coke, eating a bag of potato chips, staring at blank glass. When Detective Williams returned to the room he asked for a cigarette.
"No smoking."
"How long will this take?"
"As long as it does. So you were a Ranger?"
"Yeah."
"You suffer from that PSTD?"
"PTSD. No I do not" Mac laughed.
"What's funny?"
Mac stopped laughing. "Come to think of it nothing."
"I should kick Your ass."
"I'm sitting right here."

About a month before he mustered out of the Army Mac went to a bar in Columbus with his buddy Wade Brown. Wade was trying to convince him to re up.
Mac and Wade had been friends since basic training. Wade told him there's a war coming around the bend. "I can feel it."
Mac grinned. "You might be right and I don't care."
"I call bull shit."
Mac laughed.
"Grenada was the most fun we ever had."
"It was embarrassing."
Wade laughed. "You have a point. But there's another one coming trust me."
"Bla bla bla."
"What the hell else you gonna do?"
"Go to collage."
"That's funny."
"I know."

A couple months before Mac flipped his life upside down he met a girl on the fourth of July at Lake Eufaula.
She was sitting alone on the grass watching the fireworks. He sat down beside her and asked if she wanted a beer. "OK," she said.
He handed her a can. "What's a pretty girl like you doing sitting here by yourself?"
She laughed. "My friend ditched me for a guy. They're over there," she said and pointed at a cluster of trees. "Or they were."
"Where are you from?" Mac asked, lit a cigarette and opened a can of beer.
She opened her can, took a sip and pointed across the Lake. "Right there, you can almost see it. Can I have one?"
He handed her a cigarette and lit it.
"You're in the Army?"
He nodded. "Yeah I am."
"How do you like it?"
He chuckled.
"I like Army guys."
"Why's that?"
"I don't know. You have a job and it's kind of important. I don't know. I just do. That was a good one," she said and pointed at the sky.
"Yeah it was," Mac said. They smoked, drank and looked up.
"I love the fourth of July," she said.
"Patriotic?"
"Not really. It's summer and the fireworks here are so great and everyone sits beside the lake."
Mac laid down. She did as well. They watched the climax. "That was awesome," she said.
"It was pretty neat."
"Pretty neat," she said and laughed.
"Do you work?"
"Sometimes."
Wade walked up."We're taking off," he said.
"I'll give you a ride," she said.
Wade smiled. "You're a lucky dog," he said.
"Damn right he is," she said.

When Mac reflected on that night he always thought it was the best time he ever had.
"If you don't give up your accomplices this is going to go down hill real fast," Detective Robinson said."
"Where's your friend?" Mac asked.
"He's not my friend. He's my partner."
"That makes me like you a little better. Is this good cop bad cop bullshit?"
"It's if you give up your partners we can make a deal."
"No deal."
"You are looking at serious jail time."
"I know."
"How come you haven't asked for a a lawyer?"
"What good would a lawyer do me?"
"Not much."
"I'm not telling you anything."
"That's not smart."
"So be it."

They walked about a third of the way around the lake to her parents house. It was a semi mansion surrounded by trees on a substantial lot. There were three cars in the driveway. "Wait here," she said. I have to change and get my keys. Stand over there behind those trees."
"Wait one second. I want to get one last look at you in that bikini," Mac said.
She laughed and posed suggestively for a moment before going in the house. That will do, Mac thought.
She returned. "Do you want to drive?" she asked.
"Up to you." She tossed him the keys. They stopped at a liquor store and bought a bottle of whiskey and a six pack of beer and Coke. She directed him to a motel about half way from where they were and where he had to be in the morning. He wasnt sure how he would get there or if he even cared if he did or whether it really mattered."They have patios and a killer view," she said.
"Sounds great."
"Do you have money?"
"I have enough."
"Get us a room."
The room wasn't fancy but it was nice. She opened the back door. "Come out here," she said. He obliged. She kissed him. "What do you think?" she asked.
"It's nice," he said.
"Why don't you get some ice and I'll make us drinks."
They sat on the patio and smoked and drank for about an hour. "Let's go to bed," she said. "The night's getting away from us."
They made love. Mac fixed them each a drink. He turned on the television and laid beside her. "What's your name?" she asked.
"Mac."
"I'm Mary."
Mac laughed. "I hadn't realized we didn't know each others name."
Mary smiled. "Now we do. Nice to meet you Mac," she said and laughed.
Mac continued laughing. "Yeah it was great."

Mac yelled, "I'll cover you," and threw off a few series of three round bursts. Wade was fifty yards closer to the car Mary was waiting in.
"Fuck that. You come to me. I'll cover you," Wade yelled and aimed his rifle and started firing rounds over the heads of entrenched officers. Pivoted and repeated.
"I won't make it. Get her out of here," Mac yelled and methodically opened a door for Wade to wiggle through. Wade hesitated for a second before realizing that Mac was right and ran toward the car. When Mac saw the car leaving he kept up the cover fire until it did the car no further good. He put the rifle down and waited for cops to offer him a chance to surrender. When they did he accepted their conditions and trusted Wade to get Mary out of trouble. He knew if he was in Wades position he could do it and that Wade was his equal in situations like the one he was presently in.
Mac woke in his cell from a dream that was also reality and thought about Wade and Mary pulling over and deciding what to do next. They knew he wouldn't rat them out however only a fool would count on that they also must have realized the game was up. They concluded leaving the city was their best option according to the letters Mary sent him after he was sentenced and incarnated. She told him they cashed out and drove to Wades parents house in Michigan and hung out their until she became bored and flew to Phoenix to visit her sister and wait. She said she hasn't seen Wade since he took her to the airport. She contacted a lawyer who put her in touch with a money man who concocted a way for her to buy a house outside of Phoenix. She applied for a part time job at a Jewelry store and worked two days a week and started to wait for him to get out of jail. We can take up where we left off she wrote. Behave yourself so you can get out early, she added. It seemed kind of far fetched to Mac however it also gave him something to look forward too. They would have enough money to do as they pleased as long as they didn't think to big.

"I have one more question," Sargent Robinson said.
"I'll answer if I can," Mac said.
"Why did you aim over their heads?"
"It wasn't their fault I ended up on that street up shit creek."
"Well I thank you for that."
Mac chuckled. "You're welcome. It would have made it worse for everyone involved."

On the way to Michigan Wade stopped at a bar in Ohio or Indiana or Wisconsin and Mary and Wade were drunk and stumbled across the parking lot to a motel and Mary tried to give Wade a kiss. He rebuffed her and they slept on separate beds and woke up and continued their journey. "Why didn't you kiss me back," she asked. He didn't answer. "I know you wanted too. It wouldn't have meant anything out side the hear and the now at the time."
"I'm not going to Fuck my best friends girl after he sacrificed himself so we could get away."
"That's nobel. But you wanted too right."
"Of coarse I did."
"You should have as I said it wouldn't have meant anything."
Wade laughed. "In the here and the now at the time."
"The reason it wouldnt mean anythig is I love Mac."
"That's another reason not to have done it. Is there any beer left?"
She handed him a can. "Or a reason to have."

Mary sat in her house and wondered why she offered herself to Wade. It wasn't physical. She thought he was kind of attractive and a OK guy but that wasn't reason enough at the time. I was probably scared, she thought and poured a glass of wine. She had a few sort of boyfriends since she arrived in Phoenix but anytime she or the guy started getting serious she sabatoged the relationship. She needed a man sometimes and sometimes she didn't but in her own way remained loyal to Mac. Mac was the only guy she ever truly wanted or needed and somehow she knew that the moment he asked her if she wanted a beer.

Mac was shooting hoops. Washington walked up picked up the ball under the basket and tossed it to Mac. "You think you're Lary Bird?" Washington asked.
Mac laughed.
"So you were a Ranger?" Washington said.
Mac passed Washington the ball. Washington threw it back, Mac hit a high arching shot from the top of the key.
"Not bad for a white boy," Washington said.
"What do you want?" Mac said, received a pass and sunk another.
"I have a problem you might be able to help me with"
"I'm not interested."
"How you know that?"
Mac chuckled. "I'll take my chances," he said and walked to a bench and sat down. Washington followed him.
"So make your pitch."
Washington took a seat and told him about a snitch that arrived a couple days prior that he needed takin care of and that he had an endless supply of weed and that he would be able to arrange a monthly vist of a girl that he knew and he could also get him a room to spend a couple hours alone with her.
Mac laughed.
"So what say you brother?" Washington asked.
"I'm not your brother."
Washington grinned. "So you ain't."
"Give me the specs."
"The specs standin' there by the fence talkin' to the midget."
"Big kid."
"That a problem."
"Not really."
"Didn't think so. Besides he's a pussy."
Mac laughed. "Why don't you do it then?"
Washington smiled. "Cause I'm the head nigger in charge."
"You better fuckin' be."

Diane Lacy sat in a room and waited. She lit a cigarette and opened a magazine. A guard opened a door and a man walked into the room. He sat across from her and offered his hand to shake. "Mac," he said. She took his hand and said, "I'm Diane."
"How do you know Washington?" Mac asked.
"He's my cousin."
Diane stood, walked across the room, stopped beside a bed, dropped her cigarette on the floor and took off her blouse. "How do you know him?"
Mac lit a cigarette. Diane finished undressing and turned around. She completed a circle. "Do you like what you see?"
"I didn't think this through," Mac said.
Diane laid on the bed. "Didn't think what through?"
Mac stood, picked up a chair, walked across the room and sat beside the bed. "Are you a hooker?"
Diane laughed. "Why should I answer your questions when you don't answer mine?"
"I don't really know him. To be honest he used me. And I do like what I see."
Diane smiled. "It's not hard. I wasn't a hooker until five minutes ago." She giggled. "It's not so bad."
"Why are you doing it?"
"That's a good question. I wasn't asked. I was told, but I need the money anyway. And Richard told me your cool." Diane smiled. "So are you?"
Mac laughed. "So cool I'm ice cold."
"Why don't you let me thaw you out."

Mary was bored and lonely. She was sitting in a bar getting hit on by a cute but idiotic guy who bought her enough drinks to get drunk but she cut him off before she dropped her standards. But only just barley, she thought, walked outside, got in her car and saw a pay phone. She called Wade. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing. What do you want?"
"I want you to vist me. Or let me vist you."
"Why?"
"I don't know. Why are you such an asshole."
"I'll see you tomarrow."
"Really?"
"Why not."

Wade called Mary from the airport and asked for her address. She told him she would pick him up . He told her, he rented a car. She gave him her address but told him to meet her at a bar. The bar was on the corner of the street he would take a left on to get to her house anyway, she said. Wade drove around Phoenix for awhile to become aquanted with the city. The only thing he liked about travaling is seeing the places he travaled to and he always spent time looking for the character of it. He liked doing that alone. If you are with someone you get distracted. He took the freeway to the end of the city and about ten miles beyond. He stopped at a bar, had a beer and listened to a couple of fake cowboys talk about how fucked up the country is. He paid his bill and said, "if it's so bad why don't you do something about it."
"What?" One of the fake cowboys said.
"If it's so bad why don't you do something about it."
"Why don't you shut the fuck up and go back where you came from." The other fake cowboy said.
"I just might," Wade said, left a five dollar bill under his empty bottle, walked outside and stared at a mountain that looked kind of like an Indians face.
"Hey asshole."
Wade turned around and grinned.
"You think you can just waltz in here insult us and go on your merry way."
"Yeah, I thought I could."
"Well you can't."
The fake cowboy took a swing, Wade ducked, kneed him in the balls and brought his elbow up into his nose. The fake cowboy fell hard on the pavement. His friend threw a wild punch Wade avoided and he repeated almost exactly what he'd done about five seconds before. "You rednecks had enough?" I shouldn't have done this. Although it's no skin off my teeth. Why am I in such a bad mood. I know why I'm in such a bad mood, Wade thought.

"What took you so long?" Mary said, ran up to Wade and gave him a kiss.
"I got lost."
"On purpose."
Wade kissed her again. I ain't going to fight it anymore, he thought.
"I'm already drunk."
"That's OK."
"Where did you get lost?"
"A place called New River."
"That place sucks."
"You been there?"
"Once. A friend of mine grew up there and I tagged along with her to a party. How did you end up there?"
"I'm was checking out the lay of the land. That's where the car took me."
"The car took you?"
"Yeah."
"Let's get out of here. I have everything at my house we need."
"Everything?"
"Everthing."