Chapter Six

"Is there a problem officer?" Riddick said politely. He eyed the officers through his goggles. One had Riddick’s height, but not his weight. The other looked like he’d just made the height requirements for the force. There’s wasn’t much meat on his bones, either. Riddick assessed that he was more than a match for both of them. However, he wasn’t entirely confident that he could take out the fifty or so other officers that milled around the front of the hotel.

*Only one thing to do,* he thought, *play nice.*

"You’re damn right there’s a problem," said the short officer, "you haven’t given a statement yet. Otherwise you’d have a blue card."

"And you ain’t got a blue card," the tall one said.

Riddick looked around. People milled amongst the cops, some holding blue cards, some not. The ones who weren’t were talking to officers with notebooks.

The short officer pulled out his own notebook, "I need your name Mister." He said, no-nonsense like.

"Richard Johns" Riddick said evenly. His eyes sought out avenues of escape. He found none, next to taking on the entire cities’ police department.

The tall cop looked him up and down while the short one jotted down Riddick’s ‘name’.

"You got any ID?" the tall one said, stepping into Riddick’s space.

He ignored the impulse to cut the man’s throat at his intrusion, and pulled a plastic wallet from his pocket. He handed it to the officer, and prepared his muscles for action. He waited, watching the man scrutinise the ID.

Riddick caught it as the officer tossed it back at him. *Looks like the outlay was worth it*, he thought. He had payed a substantial number of credits for an ID that would pass a visual inspection and several other, minor authenticity tests, and this one was obviously up to the task.

"What are you doing in this area of town? Are you lodging at the Northvilla?" *The short one’s asking questions again*, Riddick thought, *better answer them*.

"No, I was planning on staying there. Just got of the transport an hour ago." Riddick took in the flashing lights of the police vehicles, the yellow tape and the swarm of cops, indicating them for the officers, "looks like I came at a bad time. What happened?"

Both officers followed his gaze and the short one handed him a blue card, "someone decided to hold a fire fight in the alley next to the hotel. It‘s a miracle that no pedestrians were actually hit. A few tumbled over in the panic, but nothing serious."

"Looks like you picked the wrong area of town to lodge in," the other added, "well, since you weren’t here, we don’t need to ask any more questions. You got your blue ticket, so you can go now."

"Hey you!" the tall one called out, "you ain’t got a blue card!"

Riddick watched as the tall officer chased the ‘offender’, the short guy nipping at his heels. He looked at his blue card and at the officers around him. He felt like the luckiest criminal in the universe. He had blindly walked into a horde of cops and had emerged in one piece. He glanced up at the Northvilla. It would have to wait. He had his ticket out of the crowd and he was going to use it. *Why tempt fate? I’ll just have to come back later*

The ambulance hurtled through the streets. Casteel was jerked around in her seat more often than she could care for.

The medics had proclaimed the emergency over, the girls heart had began to beat and she was breathing. They looked at Casteel warily, as if expecting her to pull out a gauge and shoot them. She ignored them. She unbuckled the belt that had stopped her from bouncing off the ambulance walls and sat on a bench next to the girl’s head. She grabbed one the medi-kits and began to treat the small cuts that were all over the girl’s face and body.

Len had made such a mess of this girl. It reminded her of--, *no, don’t think about that,* she ordered her mind, *don’t.* She shook her head and focused on the girl, Jack. She was sure that she had heard Len call her that. Interesting name. She mopped up dried blood from the corner of Jack’s mouth, aware of the staring eyes of the medics.

"You can help if you want," she said wiping away more blood. There was so much of it, she noted as she saw the movement of the medics, as they too began to attend to the cuts.

"What happened to her?" one of them ventured.

Casteel sighed, contemplating how much she should tell them. "Abusive boyfriend. Said he’s marry her and took her off planet, away from her parents. Wasn’t the Prince she thought he was and she tried to leave." Casteel looked at Jack, almost able to feel her pain at the moment of betrayal. *Things like that can shatter a person.*

"I was hired to track her," she lied, "and I got there in time to save her from worse than this." She motioned her hand to Jack’s stomach.

Both medics looked at the girl, *sadly*, Casteel thought, *because on this planet they see this all too often.*

"What did you do to the guy? The boyfriend?"

"I’m not through with him yet." Casteel said.

The ambulance stopped suddenly and they all lurched forward. The driver popped his head through the partition, "Falstone Private," he called.

Riddick returned to the Northvilla several hours after being detained. Inside it was much shabbier than it looked. It was very dark though, the way Riddick liked it. He walked up to the registration desk and rang the bell. He rang it several times before an old man emerged from a door marked ‘Closet’.

"Now, now. No need to go a-breaking my bell, son. What can I do for you?" he looked at Riddick, taking in his broad frame, muscular build, "or maybe it’s what you could do for me? You need any work? I’ve a got to move some furniture, but I’m a fossil and my wife keeps a telling me and I can’t do it on my own."

He looked up at Riddick hopefully.

"Sorry, old man. I’m looking for someone-my sister. She’s a run-away, she’s got- "

"We got a planet full a run-aways. You could pick yourself a new sister off the street if you wanted. This is a very immoral planet, a yes it is." The old man said.

Riddick sighed, "my sister has brown hair, probably to her shoulders now, unless she’s cut it. She’s fifteen, thin, tall, uh about this tall," he said indicating her height with his hand, "and she probably checked in under the name Jack."

"Well we got a records, but like I said, I’m an old man and I can’t shift things around the way I used to," he said hopefully.

Riddick ran through his options. This was the last hotel on his list. The other two hadn’t checked out, although one manager said that he had seen a young girl matching Jack’s description a week ago. Had thought it was weird that a run-away could actually have the money to afford a room. He’d turned her away, laughing. Riddick had to use all of his discipline not to strike out at the guy.

So, he had to know if Jack was staying here. If she wasn’t, he didn’t know what he would do. He had to know.

"Can’t you just get your records? Don’t you file them?" he said, slightly confused by the man’s dribble.

"Heaven’s no! My son, now he’s usually the manager, nut after the shooting today, he wasn’t a too cooperative with the po-lice, and they got all law-like and searched his office." He pointed to the door marked Closet. "Found themselves some contraband and took him away. Now I’m a in charge and everything in the office is topsy turvey. So if you want me to help you, you’re going to a have to help me first."

Riddick looked at the old man and at the ‘closet’. Turning some furniture over for potential information about Jack. He could do that.

"Alright then, Old Man, you have a deal."

He followed the old man into the closet, half expecting to find brooms and buckets. Instead, he saw a spacious office. Well, he could guess that it would be spacious, if it wasn’t for the overturned furniture. It must have been quite the search, he thought as he silently began to turn the furniture over, guided by the old man, who seemed to want everything just so. Through the entire process the man offered commentary. Not just on moving the furniture. But on whatever touched his mind at any given time. Verbal diarrhoea was something Riddick would not usually tolerate, but his desire to find Jack quelled any barbs that he may have spat at the man.

Finally finished, Riddick sat down on the desk. The old man, true to his word, retrieved a book from the filing cabinet and gave it to Riddick, "all the information you should need about who stays in this hotel is here. Normally no body but me or my son get to look at it, but I’d like to see a run-away reunited with her family, so you can a look."

Riddick flipped through the pages, looking for anything that would indicated that Jack had stayed here. He found it on page 96. Second floor room changed to a fourth floor room. Jack Riddick. He stared at the name she had given. Unsure what to think of it, he closed the book.

"I found her," he said handing the book back to the man.

"Who’ve you found? Derek, just what is this man doing in the office?" A woman stood on the threshold of the office framed in the doorway. She looked about as old as the man and therefore, Riddick deemed her harmless.

"Now, now, Love, this man’s looking for his sister. She’s a run away. And it looks like he found her." The old man, Derek said.

"Found her have you? What floor, what room? I’ll escort you there myself, just to make sure you are who you say you are." The lady looked challengingly at Riddick.

"Fourth floor, room 18." He said.

Her manner changed abruptly and she gripped the doorway hard, as if she feared she would collapse.

"What is it?" Riddick asked, unsettled by the change in behaviour.

"Oh dear. A girl, about this tall," she said, indicating a point on her own forehead. "Brown hair, quite pale?" She took in Riddick’s nod. "I registered her, when she arrived. Very quiet girl. Oh, dear," she said, walking over to him and putting her hand on his. "I’m sorry son, but just after the gun fight today, I peeped out the window of my room, which is next to the alley, and I saw a young woman carrying your sister out of the alley." She patted his hand, "you’re sister was covered in blood and she wasn’t conscious. She was taken away in an ambulance."

Riddick pushed the woman’s hand away from his. Jack was in the hospital. *Blood everywhere? Unconscious?* He didn’t want to think that.

"You’re sure it was her? Jack?" he said, feeling desperation begin to creep into his usually calm mind.

"Yes, Jack, Jack Riddick. I’m sor__"

"Where would they take her? The ambulance?" he said.

"One of the public hospitals. Gentrel maybe? You should go there." She said.

Riddick left without a word. He had to get to Jack. Find out what had happened to her. Then he was going to hunt down the fucker that dared to mess with any friend of his.