CHAPTER: III

The next day was far less eventful. Corben dropped his little sister off at school and then continued his trip in his rickety old car this time significantly slower than usual. After some boring morning classes it was finally time for practice. As he caught, passed, ran, and dodged in conjunction with the play's his thoughts drifted back to the young Asian beauty whom he had almost splattered with his car a day prior. There was a package store only a block away from his school that sold the most lovely begonias. Corben considered himself a somewhat old fashioned guy and had used flowers and his status as a football player often to pick up girl's but, he was, in a way, far more intelectual than the rest of his teammates. And was seeking more than just a blonde airheaded cheer leaeder to laugh at his jokes and play with his hair. Then again he thought to himself "how much smarter could SHE be. I mean what kind of fashion statement was she making the "I know I got the goods but you can't have them statment" or the "look my daddy doesn't care how I dress" Statement.

"Hello Earth to Corb, what you doin man?" Corben's friend interupted his train of thought. "Sorry Matt I was driftin whats up?" he asked.

"Yeah Fergie told me about that sweet thing you saved on the side of the road yesterday."

"Ferguson told you about that?" Corben asked now very much interested in what Matt had to say.

"Yeah he said that you rescued some hot chick from a heat stroke or something and the cops thought you hit her with your car."

"That's pretty much the full story I'm gonna drop by the hospital today to see her, wanna come?" Corben asked his friend.

"Naw Michelle and I got something special planned tonight her parents are out of town dude." Matt said his face blushing with anticipation. "Ha ha" Corben chuckled. "Alright well stay out of trouble, I ain't takin care of your kids."

Matt slapped him upside the head "Oh, come off it I ain't that stupid besides when's the last time you got any?"

Corben slammed his locker and shoved his jersey in his blue Rebock duffel sitting on the bench. "To long" he said "I gotta go see ya around."

"Hey hey!" Matt called after him "Don't forget we got that game with stony brook this Saturday I'm gonna need ya for this one crazy!"

"I'll be there" Corben called over his shoulder waving to his friend as he pushed out of the locker room and into the highschool parking lot.

"What do you mean she dosen't remember anything." Detective Augustus threw his hands in the air knocking the coffee cup to the floor with a low splash. "I mean exactly what I'm telling you boss" Valerio flipped the portfolio to the beginning and started again "the girl who identifies herself only as Rock doesn't know her real age, home of address, next of kin, or social security number. She's a ghost in the system in every sense of the word. Dr. Lennox said when she awoke she was speaking Japanese but, I wouldn't put my bet on illegal immigrant because I don't know any who speak English as well as she does. We can't rule out the possibility of human trafficking or sex slave trading but, without a full guynocological exam we won't be able to know for sure." Valerio looked in and noticed his chief hadn't heard a word he said but, instead was looking threw the plexi glass at the young girl who was getting yet another examination. "Chief are you listening?" The detective asked skeptically. "Yeah yeah" Augustus half heartedly said. The girl was cooperating for now but had told him personally that if they did not give her access to what she called an information source (he assumed she meant a computer with internet) soon that she would seek other ventures.

"I don't suppose" Detective Augustus began "this is just a theory but, some sexually abused young girls block out the terrible memories by burying them deep in there sub-concious do you suppose she really can't recall." He turned to face his partner "when she arrived who removed her clothes and put her in the hospital gown did they notice any damage to her genitals or other scar tissue?"

Valerio stared him in the eyes "Yeah I asked the nurse about that she said that aside from a small scar on her torso there was no damage to any of her private parts or noticeable bruising."

"So we can probablly rule out human and sex trafficking."

"Maybe she really is just a runaway chief ya know with parents who just don't give a damn." Valerio added trying to ease the head detectives mind.

"I don't know, when I was talking to her well, I served in Iraqi freedom for a short time you know Phantom Fury 1 and 2."

"What's this got to do with her?" Valerio interuptted.

"I'm getting to that!" The older detective shouted.

"Anyways after a few months of hard fighting you know the bloodshed the guts bodies torn to pieces, small children snuffed out, small animals squashed by tanks and HMMWV tires. Through all that shit I remember we stopped in Ramadi on our way out and I saw a young boy sitting next to a burnt up pile of corpses. Don't know why they put him there but, through all that shit I stopped and knelt down and broke bread with this kid ya know like doing this one act of kindness might save my soul and I looked into this kids eyes and I saw the same thing in his eyes that were in mine only reflected back at me. The eyes of a warrior, the eyes of a killer." Augustus exhaled and took out a cigarette to light it up. "When we talked to Rock last night she had those same eyes. Warrior's eyes."

Corben parked his car next to a handicapped spot as close as he could get it to the hospital and walked into the visitor center. The lady at the front desk looked up and smiled. "Can I help you?"

"Yes ma'am" he replied "I'm looking for a young girl they brought in room 402, the police said I would be able to see her."

"Oh yes" the attendant squealed "the detective mentioned you would be dropping by. Sign here and you can head on up. The two officer's are still up there so I'm sure they will be happy to see you in."

"Thank you very much" Corben replied he signed his name and made his way to the elevator. After exiting the lift Corben noticed the two detective's from yesterday standing beside a window and there was the girl. She was sitting on a bed in a room wearing nothing more than a plane hospital gown getting her blood pressure taken. He approached the oldest one Augustus and pushed out his hand to shake. "Good afternoon Detective how are you." Detective Augustus put up a fake smile. "Great how are Corben?"

"I'm fine ya know same old", he turned and peered in the room where the mysterious girl was now carrying on a conversation with a doctor. What he did not see was the two Detectives whispering to eachother.

Corben turned around in time to see them pull away from eachother "Corben we have a little bit of an issue and we think you can help." Detective Valerio said smiling at the young man. "The girl's name is Rock and she is having a very hard time remembering details about herself. We want you to talk to her see if she can remember anything, anything at all."

"Like what?" Corben asked.

"Anything" Valerio continued "you see aside from her name we haven't made any headway in finding out why she was laying in the middle of the road in the first place and as you can imagine we are quite busy. She is still a minor and tomorrow her case will be turned over to social services. If no evidence comes up about her true identity in a few hours we will have no choice but, to turn her over to custody of the state orphans society."

"She's an orphan" Corben was now confused what had he gotten himself into.

Detective Augustus stepped forward. "Where not sure weather it be amnesia, trauma, what have you she know's nothing about herself or her origins, we would appreciate it if you would talk to her and see if she can tell us at least who her parents are so we can send her home. Could you do that for us?"

"I'll try but, I'm no psychiatrist" Corben commented as Dr. Lennox got up and left the room. He shook his head at the two detectives and stepped forward "Nothing" Lennox said "I'm sorry."

"No problem" Detective Augustus said. "Keep her under close observation social services will be by tomorrow to pick her up meanwhile where gonna let this young man talk to her. Maybe she'll respond better to someone from her age group." Detecive Augustus finished and then nodded at Corben. He nodded back tucked the flower's under his arm and opened the door.