Chapter Fifteen

He stood in the doorway contemplating what she had said - how far was he willing to go? For Jack - as far as was necessary. Would he die for her? He wasn't sure about that yet. All the emotion he was experiencing was too confusing to contemplate. He would have to save that for another time. It was enough dealing with Casteel.

"Can I have my shoe please?"

Speak of the devil...

He pulled it out of his waistband and handed it to her. She fell onto the bed and slipped it on. "We have a bit of a hike ahead of us. Ten blocks in sixteen minutes. You up for it?"

"Why ten blocks? Sixteen minutes?" Her use of 'we'' hadn't escaped his notice either. So, she had for the moment placed them on the same team - a good sign, for sure.

"Search radius in this district is ten blocks, response time is nineteen minutes maximum of thirty depending on how long it takes that woman to wake up and get to a phone." She said, tying the laces. "We've burned up some of that time getting here." She sprung up from the bed when she was done.

"Did a little research huh?" She was thorough. He bet she had the rest of her escape route already planned too, "well let's go."

She led him out of the room and not long afterwards into the street several hundred metres from her hotel. Once again he had a hard time keeping up with her - crowds parted to let her through, while he had to push people out of the way. Even his bad ass face didn't seem to scare the harried people out of his path.

He lost sight of her for several minutes and he feared that he'd lost his link to Jack. Someone grabbed at his hand and he reached for his shiv.

"Don't." He was relieved to hear her voice - he may have lost her but she hadn't lost him. He removed his hand from his jacket. Casteel kept hold of his other hand and led him through the street.

They were three blocks away from the hotel when they heard the sirens piercing the air. Casteel talked as they moved her eyes focused ahead, "perhaps the incident with Len earlier has the police on their toes. We probably have six to ten minutes now." He stopped in his tracks and Casteel yanked his arm until he was moving again, "can't stop now. Gotta keep moving."

"We've gone from nineteen to thirty minutes to six?" He pulled on her hand and forced her to spin around and face him. He grabbed her by her arms and held her in place. "We may have to rethink your plan. We've gone all of three blocks in five minutes."

"We have time. But if we keep standing here…" He didn't look like budging. "C'mon. Have a little faith," she said with an infectious bright, 'get up and go' smile. He felt the corners of his mouth tug. He wondered how often anyone saw her smile like that. She tugged at his hand and he followed obediently. How did she do that? He was following her like it was the most natural thing in the world. All of his arguments had died in his throat. As they crossed the street he began to wonder again if she was in some way psychic.

The sirens got louder and a police car whizzed past them. Followed by another and another. "We should get off the street now," he prompted.

Casteel calculated the distance that they had left. With Riddick in tow, it was an impossible thought that they would reach safety outside of the ten-block grid. She had to seriously consider dumping him and going on without him. She would certainly make it out. She could even stay within the grid and use her ID to get her out. Of course, that would also mean dumping Riddick.

She decided to stick with him for the moment, "alright. Once they've talked to that woman, they will be on the look out for a sharply dressed man. We have to get you some new clothes." She began to scan the crowd as she moved looking for a man the same size as Riddick.

Len sat down at the bar and ordered rum. He did his best to look dejected - something that was easy when your arm was broken and you had a boot print bruise on your back. He caught site of the barkeep eyeing his depressed expression and his broken arm. He knocked back the rum and ordered another.

"Bad day, huh?" another rum slid his way.

"You could say that," he said nursing the drink. The door of the bar swung open and a thin man wearing a tacky business suit walked in, "I'll have a drink for my friend too," he said, motioning to the man.

The suit sat down silently and nodded at the rum passed to him by the keep. Len paid up and turned his attention to his new companion. The barkeep noticed the gesture and wandered off to serve another customer.

"Who's in town?" Len asked quietly.

"What exactly are you after?"

"There's a girl I want to disappear from my life, permanently." Not true, anyone who went after Sarah would meet a quick death, but Len wanted her guard down if he was going to find Jack. He smiled when he thought of her. Too bad Sarah had interrupted them - it had been sweet. Jack had been sweet.

"I've got five guys who can cater to your problem. A fiver up front, of course."

Len pushed a bag along the floor with his foot. "I don't care too much about details, but I would prefer that she was cut up."

There was no chance in hell now that any of these thugs would succeed in getting close enough to use a knife, "I want her to suffer a little." He slid a photo of Casteel over. "Her name is Sarah - she doesn't look too tough. You think your guys can handle it?"

His companion looked at the photo. "They'll handle it and I think they enjoy it too if you get my drift."

Len got it. Fools all of them. "I don't know where precisely she is staying, but I would place a good bet that the Regency or Crown might be a good place to check. Your boys do scrub up well right? Well enough to get into the Regency?"

"They'll be fine. I'll be expecting the remaining ten grand when the job's done. I'll contact you." He stood and left.

Len smiled. Now for part two…