[I feel my world shake
Like an earthquake
Hard to see clear
Is it me? Is it fear?]
--- Lyrics to 'St. Anger' performed by Metallica
A Silver Lining Part 47
Quickly running back into his small apartment, Jack slammed the door closed behind him. Turning the light on in the main room, he shed his dark coat and moved to the bathroom down the hall. Roughly lifting that light switch, he growled deeply as he inspected his gruesome face. The makeup that had covered the swelling and bruising around had been all but scratched off when his latest 'friend' suddenly attacked him at seeing the knife he removed.
The long, bloodied scratched that ran across his face only aggravated the pain that came from the nose job that Damien was so kind to give him. Once the shock of the whole event began to ebb, the searing agony that came with the change hit Jack like a freight train. Having long nails digging into his nose certainly did not help.
Despite the fact that his nose had swelled even more than it had before, the assassin couldn't help but smile darkly at his image. He certainly did enjoy himself as he struggled with the little bitch. She had put up a better fight than he had expected. In the end, of course, she was not a match for him and soon felt his blade plunging into her over and over as she screamed.
The lovely thing about this slum of a city was that no one ever came running to help when there was a cry. If he was not expected to carry out the assassination attempt, Jack would have been more than happy to take permanent residence there.
When he started the sink water, he cupped his hands under the faucet and carefully splashed it against his face. After gently patting his dampened skin with a washrag, the assassin examined his cleaned face. The deep bruising surrounding his swelling nose were as grotesque as they had been before he applied the makeup that he had Damien and his accomplices pick up for him. And the pain... well, he could certainly deal with that. Pain was something that he had come to live with over his life.
"Certainly not going to win any beauty awards any time soon," Jack smirked as he turned his head from side-to-side to have a better look at his reflection. That certainly was not important. There would always be ways of covering up the dark bruising. The swelling could then be passed off then. And so, he could still have his freedom. He could still have his fun.
Making sure to carefully clean the thin scratch marks on his face, the young killer removed the crème makeup from the sink edge to apply a fresh layer to his face. Satisfied once the bruises could not be found after another inspection, he grinned and stepped from the doorway. Retrieving his coat from the floor in the main room, he slipped out of his apartment.
The night was still young. And with little over a whole day before he left for the Earth, Jack was going to make sure that he enjoyed the remainder of his stay.
* * * * * *
For the second time that evening, Dawn applied a fresh coat of shimmering lipstick on her mouth. It had been a busy night, at least busier than it had been in almost a week. Already, she managed to get two clients in and the night was still young. Maybe this time she might actually get her rent in on time.
As she pressed her shiny pink lips together, the blonde young woman took a close look at her reflection staring back. The bruise that her last gent gave her during their 'session' was easily covered to match her pale skin. She couldn't complain about the young man hitting her as he had. She certainly had worse encounters before.
Her brown eyes were a bit sunken thanks to the dark circles under them, but she would still be able to attract someone. One thing that Dawn credited herself with was the fact that she could always get a wandering eye's attention. It certainly helped with business.
Quickly pulling her hair up in a ponytail that just brushed the base of her neck, the young prostitute practiced her most playful smile on her reflection. Adjusting the thin straps of her sequence-trimmed dress of deep blue, she slipped into her black heels and grabbed the matching blue clutch from her closet. With one last look at the whole picture she made in the wall mirror, she was satisfied and headed for the door to her small, rundown apartment.
Out in the hall, Dawn turned to close the door behind her just as she heard another door close at the opposite end of the hall. She heard the jingling of keys on a chain and from the corner of her eye, she watched her unknown neighbor lock his door before she did the same. His heavy footsteps made their way towards her on their way to the stairway that was located at her end of the corridor.
"Hello beautiful," a deep voice that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end greeted as the footsteps neared.
Slowly turning, she met the green eyes of the tall man walking past her. His black hair blended in with the dimly lit surroundings of the hallway. His eyes moving up and down her body, Dawn felt naked under that stare that continued as he walked on by.
There was something about his presence had Dawn frozen, her back pressed straight against her closed door, her brown eyes following her neighbor all the while he stalked past. Not wanting him to think that something was wrong, she flashed him her practiced grin as if to thank him for the compliment.
Then he smiled. All the while, his eyes were still on her as he gazed over his shoulder without missing a stride.
Dawn bit back the sharp gasp that stuck in her throat as her eyes widened when he finally looked away. Panting heavily, she felt the sweat beading on her forehead. Silently, the neighbor crept out of her sight as he moved through the doorway at the end of the hall. "My God," she breathed, her voice cracking past her dry throat.
The sound of the stranger's footsteps faded in their descent down the rickety steps. Biting her lip, Dawn moved after him as her legs shook. Quietly following the unknown neighbor from a few yards behind, the blonde young woman watched him slip into the parking lot beside the apartment complex. Hiding beside the building, she tried to keep her breathing calm and waited.
It was a few minutes before the engine of a car roared to life, its headlights piercing through the blackness within the parking lot. The black car that rolled out into the street with the mysterious man in the driver's seat moved past the unseen prostitute.
With a sharp gasp, Dawn covered her mouth in recognizing the vehicle, the missing piece to the puzzle. It was the same car that Celeste's murderer drove. As the car turned down the street, her brown eyes looked to the license plate before it rounded the corner and disappeared from sight.
Tears of panic filling her eyes, she stumbled back into the darkness of the alley behind her. Nearly falling when her heels slipped in her scramble, she braced her hands against the brick wall beside her for support. Her heart threatened to pound out of her chest as she panted heavily.
Swallowing hard, the blonde call girl knew that she had just looked into the eyes of the same man that had killed her friend. Despite the change in his facial appearance and the color or his eyes and hair, she knew that it was him. She would never forget the smile that he had on his face as he brutally took Celeste's life. Now she had seen the car and knew that she was not imagining the similarities.
Finally, Dawn had found her friend's killer... And all this time, she was living in the same building with him.
Unable to breathe at that realization, her shaking hands fumbled with opening her small clutch. When she finally recovered her cell phone, the frantic young woman entered one of the few numbers that she knew she could call for help. Her hand still shaking, she held the receiver to her ear as the phone rang.
"Hello," the familiar voice greeted, a security blanket wrapping around her.
Forcing herself to swallow past the lump in her throat, Dawn whispered brokenly, "Jasmine, I need to see you right away. It's an emergency."
* * * * * *
Spread out in the living room of a small hotel room, the small team of Preventers made notes as they silently went over the map of their section on the Colony that Lady Une had picked out for them. It was a much needed chance to take a break as well as catch up on their progress.
With a good start into their investigation after only a few hours, they were becoming realistically hopeful that they would have their portion of L6 combed through before long. That was, of course, as long as they kept their pace up.
After a brief discussion on where they were in the search, Sally asked the group around her, "Anyone too tired to keep this up tonight?" When there were no objections amongst the other pilots, the braided young woman sighed deeply, "Good. If we keep this rate up, we should have our area covered by this time tomorrow."
Stretching as he sat beside her on the couch, Wufei stated, "With any luck, we won't have to wait that long. Collins has been here for over a month now, so he had to take up some arrangements with a hotel or apartment complex. So, we just have to keep checking in with the staff working at all of the hotels and apartments."
The door to the hotel room opened as all eyes turned and watched Heero and Zechs entering the room. Once the door was closed after them, the tall man moved to stand beside his wife by the windows. Their friends were instantly, straightening where they were standing or sitting with expectant faces.
On the opposite side of the room, Duo pushed himself off the wall that he was leaning against when his lover approached and asked softly, "So what did Lady Une have to say?"
Something about the grim expressions on the two pilots had the remainder of their group on edge. Quatre looked warily from one agent to the other and inquired, "Did she hear anything from the other two teams that she sent after us?"
With a firm nod, Heero answered, "She said that they reached their locations about an hour ago. Their shuttles landed about an hour after ours." He smiled warmly when Duo returned after a brief disappearance into the kitchen to pour a fresh cup of coffee for him. Accepting the offered drink with a quiet word of thanks, he continued, "Progress for them is no different from ours-they're covering a lot of ground and quickly, but still no leads yet."
Anna wrapped her arms around her legs and hugged them to her chest as she sat on the floor. At the news, she ginned, "Well, at least they're moving. That's a lot better than nothing."
Sitting beside her, Trowa nodded, "So, we just keep up with our plan to talk to the hotel and apartment staffs that we come across when we break into our smaller groups again. There is always someone on staff at all times of the day, so we won't have to wait until morning to talk to a live person. At some point, someone will have to recognize Collins. He doesn't have any friends here that would just take him into their homes willingly."
Heero and Zechs shared a look from opposite sides of the room. Catching the exchange, Wufei frowned deeply, "What else did Lady Une tell you?"
There was another brief exchange between the two informants over who should be the one to give the remainder of the information. Finally, Zechs sighed deeply, "Unfortunately, Lady Une found that the few police stations she managed to contact have been withholding the information that she is giving them about Collins.
"Instead of working with the other district officers, they are treating them as rivals in capturing the biggest criminal staying amongst them in years. And so, they are keeping the knowledge to themselves so they can be the ones to bring him in for public recognition."
At that, Heero's eyes narrowed as he continued, "While a little friendly competition is not always a bad thing in a case like this, more than half of the police divisions in the section that we are investigating are not even aware of whom Collins is. They don't know that he is here and they do not know that we are looking for him."
Washing her face with her hands, Sally growled, "Great." As she lowered her hands, she shook her head, "And if they're making it a race between themselves and another district, they're going to be real happy that we're here."
Quickly taking a sip from the coffee Noin handed over to him, Zechs nodded solemnly, "Exactly. That in mind, we have to focus on visiting those stations that Lady Une has yet to reach directly before we look into the residential facilities." Holding up the small pad of paper in his hand, he announced, "We have the names and locations of those districts. Staying in the four smaller groups that we make up, there will be five stations between us to visit."
There was a mutual grumbling amongst the agents. "So much for all of the progress that we were making," Noin frowned deeply. "Now we have to police the police on top of everything else." All around, there were mumbled comments of equal frustration. This new tactic was going to bring their search to a crawl compared to how they were moving before.
Gazing over his friends, Duo felt his prior sense of doubt passing. As he straightened himself, he said, "Well, we can sit here and complain about it and waste more time, or we can just get back out there and work to find this asshole."
His cobalt eyes widening at the statement, Heero turned to blink in surprise at his lover. Slowly, a small smile of pride tugged his lips. When their eyes met, Duo grinned back and shrugged. With a small smile to her braided friend, Sally stated, "He's right. Let's just divide what we have left to search and get on with it." The other nodded and removed their notepads before dividing the cities and towns between themselves.
One-by-one, the miles of cities were assigned along with the police offices that were closest to those areas. When everyone had their appointed stations, Wufei announced, "All right. We'll check in with each other by 1400." Everyone nodded their affirmative before stepping from the room and breaking off into their smaller groups- Zechs and Noin, Heero and Duo, Trowa and Anna while Quatre teamed with Wufei and Sally.
As Zechs started the ignition of their rented car, Noin looked over the map in her hands and said, "Going by this, we'll be better off visiting the District Eight office since it's at the furthest end of the area we have to cover."
Pulling out into the street, Zechs nodded, "Sounds like a good place to start, then. Just lead the way."
* * * * * *
"I thought that you said that he looked nothing like the man you saw in the alley that night," Jasmine frowned deeply in confusion. "Granted, anyone can get colored contacts and dye their hair, but how can you be so certain that this was the same man if their faces have almost nothing in common?"
Dawn finished the tea that her friend had made for her. Not feeling safe at staying at her own apartment, she was relieved when Jasmine opened her door to her. Lowering the cup on the table between them in the small living room, she met her friend's gaze and sighed deeply, "I just know, Jas. I could never forget that smile of his. And the car he drove was the same one that he threw Celeste's body in."
She removed the small flyer from her clutch that she used to write on following her scare. Holding the green paper up, she stated, "I even have the license number."
Her hands folding before her as she leaned forward, Jasmine shrugged, "Maybe you just think it's the same car. You've been so determined in finding the actual killer that you're seeing what you want to see and not what's really there."
Glaring, Dawn rose from her seat and exclaimed, "It's him! And if you don't believe me, then I'll just have to find someone who will!"
At that, Jasmine raised a thin eyebrow. "And who are you going to go to for that?" she asked quietly. "Remember what happened when we went to the station together? How do you think they're going to take your story now when you tell them that in the matter of a day, the murder changed the shape of his face?"
The silence that followed screamed out as the reality of her words slowly sunk in. Slowly, her shoulders sagging, the blonde call girl sunk back onto the couch with a lost look in her eyes. "I don't know how it happened," she finally managed, staring out at nothing. "But I know what I saw."
Lowering her head, the Hispanic prostitute frowned sadly, "I know that you miss Celeste, Dawn, we all do. But you can't obsess over finding this guy when you know as well as I do that he's going to get away with this. No one with any authority around here is going to take you seriously."
Another lump formed in Dawn's throat. This time, she couldn't seem to swallow past it. "I-" she croaked. Forcing herself, she finally swallowed and whispered brokenly, "If you don't then you're right... no one will." Small tears filled her eyes and she bitterly wiped them away with a sniffle.
Jasmine quietly walked around the table to sit beside her friend on the couch. Gently wrapping an arm around her thin shoulders, she smiled, "Hey, why don't we just have fun tonight? Go see a movie, hit a bar or instead of working the streets for a change? Let's just not worry about anything for a change."
Wiping the last traces of her tears, Dawn resolved herself to believing that her friend was right. Maybe she was losing it. Ever since Celeste's murder, she did feel as though it was all she thought about. In the end, she had to admit that a normal outing did sound like what she needed. Taking a deep breath at last, she turned to face her friend and nodded, "All right."
* * * * * *
Zechs pulled the car up before the police station of District 7. All around, people were still walking about as they laughed and shouted, many of them swaying on their feet. Bottles were thrown and the blaring of car horns filled the air all to join in on the chaos. Several young men had scandalously dressed women on their arms as they headed for the hotels nearby.
With a deep frown, Zechs commented quietly, "I'll bet working as a law enforcer in this neck of the woods is a lot of fun. I could only imagine the kind of calls they get."
Looking up from the file that she was gathering up, Noin nodded and mumbled, "My sentiments exactly. In a short while, here, we'll be finding out for ourselves." She turned to face her husband and smirked, "So, just in case these guys give us a hard time, who gets to play 'good cop' and who's 'bad cop'?"
Unable to keep from smiling at the lighthearted question, Zechs chuckled deeply, "For their sake, I hope you're not the bad cop." That said, he removed his seatbelt and opened his car door to step out onto the street.
Noin winced slightly at the onslaught of smells that offended her when she opened her own door. Alcohol, oil, litter and many other unknown scents melded together to make the interesting aroma. Closing the door after her, she sighed deeply, "Lovely."
Side-by-side, the two agents climbed the short rise of stairs leading to the station's entrance. Holding the door for his wife Zechs followed after. With sure steps, Noin led the way to the front reception desk. The brunette officer there smiled with a firm nod to the guests. "How can I help you this, evening?" Her blue eyes widened with a gasp when the pair of plainly clothed visitors reveled their badges from under their long coats.
"Agent Fire and Agent Wind," Noin greeted with a warm smile. "We're just hoping to speak to the highest ranking officer here this evening."
Blinking her wide eyes, the receptionist fidgeted with her blue uniform and sputtered, "O-of course. Lieutenant is home for the evening, so Officer Dan Ashford is the highest ranking official here tonight. I'll go and get him right away." Even as she spoke, she pushed her char back from her desk to rise to her feet. Turning on her heels, she all but ran down the hall and around a corner.
Once she was gone, Zechs smirked at his partner, "I think we scared her." Before Noin could reply, they looked up as the desk clerk quickly returned with a tall young man. On the dark-haired officer's chest, the nametag 'Dan Ashford' was shining proudly under the lights as he approached the two agents. While he gave the Preventers a wide smile in greeting, they could tell that it was forced.
Extending his hand, the tall young man nodded firmly, "Officer Ashford. This is certainly a pleasant surprise, having you here." After exchanging two brief handshakes, he waved his hand, "Let's go talk in my office."
Quietly following him, Zechs and Noin exchanged a look that said neither of them really believed they were welcome. They put on their best smiles when Dan opened his office door to them, grinning, "Please, make yourselves comfortable." The pair nodded to him as they stepped in to take the two seats before his desk.
As the officer took his own seat across from them, Zechs stated, "We hope to keep this pretty brief. We have quite a bit of work ahead of us this evening. However, we are in need of your cooperation."
His green eyes widening, Ashford replied, "Oh. Very well." His hands folding on his desk, he leaned forward and smiled, "And what is it that would give the all mighty Preventers enough trouble that they would come to us for help?"
Both agents bit their tongues at the way that the snide young man phrased his question. It was a verbal slap in the face and they knew it. Refraining from knocking his cocky smile from his face, Noin smirked, "Actually, we were hoping that you could pass this image and name of a man that we know is staying on L6." She opened the file in her hands and tossed it onto the desk. "That file has everything that you would need to know about him. His name is Jack Collins and it is vitally important that we get him into custody."
The image and reports of the felon spilled out before Dan as he sat back in his seat. While he would have complained at the way she had callously threw the file at him, he nearly paled at the image of the man they were after.
Red hair. Blue eyes. Thin face with a strong jaw line. They were all features of the man that the prostitute he spoke to used to describe the man that killed her friend. While it was very likely to be a coincidence, Dan was sick to the stomach that it may not have been.
Swallowing hard, he grinned widely and looked back up to the pair. With a shrug, he told them, "Can't say that I've ever seen the guy. But, I will be sure to pass this along to the other officers so that they will be on alert. If he's staying anywhere in our district, I can assure you that we'll find him."
Zechs returned the smile and nodded, "Good. Thank you for your time." Pushing their seats back, the Preventers rose to their feet.
"Oh, uh," Ashford sputtered as he quickly rose from his own seat. "Allow me to see you out." He extended his hand when the two pilots turned to meet his gaze.
Ignoring the handshake offer, Noin smirked, "There is no need for the trouble. We're fully capable of seeing ourselves out." She turned and followed her husband though the door with a flippant, "Good evening to you, officer. And very good job in the way that you and your men keep this city safe."
Ashford glared heatedly at his closing door as his face burned at the comment, hearing the sarcasm in her voice. His anger quickly faded as he held up the image of Jack Collins for another, closer look.
Not a word was spoken between the couple as they made their way through the police station. The moment they closed themselves back into their car, Zechs's eyes narrowed on the facility. "He knows something," he stated firmly.
Noin nodded, "Yea." Taking up their radio, she announced into it, "Everyone, this is Noin. I think that we just got a break."
TBC...
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