Chapter 18.

"Christ what a cluster-fuck." Detective Frank Stewart sighed as he looked down at the pile of guns and weapons on the table.

"Sorry sir," Joe Antrim, a young rookie, smiled. "They were on the scene, and we figured it would be easier to sort everything out down here."

"Yeah, I'll bet. So what's the story here?"

"Well, we showed up responding to an attempted double homicide. The male, name of Joseph Sikes, was dead in the bathroom. Someone decided to ventilate his brain and made a hell of a mess. The woman, yet to be identified, was on the bed. It looked like someone tried to strangle her to death, but didn't finish the job all the way. She's down at the hospital, but she's not going to be too much help right now, she's still unconscious."

"So what are their stories?" Frank asked nodding at the files before him.

"Oh yeah, them. Well, Ian McLaughlin in room three says that he and his partner were tracking down some bounty head when they heard shots fired from the room that the bodies were in. He kicked the door in, and that's where this gets weird. He says that some kid was in there, covered in blood and holding a large gun. The kid points the gun at them and then flees the scene as they go in to check on the corpse and the woman. His partner, um… Toshimoko, I can't pronounce this last name, it's some weird Asian name. Well, anyway, his partner backs him up word for word."

"Really? You find any evidence of a kid on the scene?"

"That's the damnedest thing chief. There were little bloody footprints going away from the corpse, and a bloody handprint on the doorframe, but we couldn't track the footprints once they went into the grass."

"So they're saying the kid is the triggerman?"

"That's the thick of it." Joe nodded.

"How do the other two figure in?"

"They arrived on the scene after the kid fled. Turns out they were looking for her the whole time. The guy, Spike Spiegel, was the one to ID the body. He said that the kid had been living on the ship, and that the woman, Faye Valentine, had mistakenly turned the kid over to the dead guy and the woman earlier that day."

"And what does she have to say?" Frank was now getting a headache.

"Not much, she's in shock or something, just cries and says that it's all her fault."

Frank nodded as he looked down at the guns. "Great, she'll probably have the most information. Ok, well that just leaves one last thing. Who is registered to what?"

"Um, well, the Glock 30 is registered to Faye Valentine, the 84FS nickel plated Cheetah is the Japanese kid's, the two Taurus 92SPLs belong to Ian McLaughlin, and then we have our mystery gun."

"Mystery gun? Wonderful, I hate mysteries. What's up with that one?"

"That gun, is registered to a guy we currently have in lockup downstairs. We got it from Spike Spiegel. He's registered for a Jericho 941 that he claims went missing that morning."

"What's the other guy in for?"

"Kidnapping some little girl."

Frank rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Anything else I should know?"

"Until ballistics comes back, I can't think of anything."

"Great."

"Have fun with the cowboys." Joe grinned.

"Wait. They are all bounty hunters?" At Joe's nod, Frank cursed. "I was right, this is a cluster-fuck."

Jet woke to the sight of bars and groaned. He was hoping that all of this was just one bad dream, but reality came crashing in again. At least the knot on the back of his head was gone, he thought absently as he felt the still tender spot. Anxious to see what Spike had found out last night, he waited patiently for his friend to call and let him know. He didn't have long to wait, but a phone call wasn't what he got.

Vicious called Ms. Thompson as he stepped out of the ship into the warm Ganymede sun. At exactly two rings the vid clicked on. His secretary smiled warmly without loosing her professional edge.

"Good morning sir. How may I assist you today?"

"I would like to know the status of the bounty I placed and the results of the background information that I requested." He replied.

Vicious was still on edge, but he had at least gotten some rest on the two day journey from Mars to Ganymede. Shin was relieved to see that the dark lines under his eyes seemed to have lessened a bit during the trip. It seemed to make Vicious feel better that he was out looking for her himself instead of having to deal with a mountain of Red Dragon business.

"Yes sir," Ms. Thompson replied easily. "I have that information right here. Jet Black, former ISSP Detective, retired after loosing his left arm in pursuit of Udai Taxim. He was highly decorated and all attempts to sway him to our side were met with refusal. Since leaving the force, he took up bounty hunting on an old fishing trawler that he named the Bebop. The bounty was collected yesterday at roughly eleven a.m. Ganymede time. I have forwarded all of this information, including the address of the ISSP station where he is currently being held, to your PDA."

"And the girl?" Vicious could feel some of the tension leave his spine at the thought that her kidnapper had been apprehended.

"No word as of yet. I will continue to search."

Vicious nodded and killed the transmission. Shin stood patiently to his right as he waited for instruction. Vicious seemed to think things over for a moment.

"I want you to go to the jail and speak with Jet Black. Find out where my daughter is, Shin, I'm counting on you. I'm going to look for Joseph."

Shin nodded and called a cab as Vicious climbed into the waiting syndicate car.

Frank was getting nowhere with this bunch. Despite being locked in separate rooms, each one was telling the same story no matter which way the detectives came at them. Even using the old 'your buddy ratted you out' trick wasn't working. He took a sip of the sludge that passed for coffee around that department and got ready to go back in and hammer away at Spike again. That boy knew a lot more than he was saying, and he wasn't about to give any of it up. To Frank, that meant having to pull out a lot of nasty verbal tricks, but so far, nothing was working. Just as he reached for the handle to go in again, Joe came running down the hall.

"Hey chief!" Joe shouted, slightly out of breath. "The ballistics report came in and so did the M.E.'s file."

"Lay it on me Joe, what does it say?" Frank could use some good news about now.

"Well, the guy was shot with a 9mm parabellum, which drops the woman out automatically, her gun takes a .45. The Japanese kid's gun takes a 9mm short, so he was ruled out. The Walther P99 and the Taurus' both take regular 9mm, so that only leaves one gun left. Guess what that Jericho 941 takes?"

"Nine millimeter Parabellum."

"Got it in one Chief." Joe smiled.

"Ok, what did the ME have to say?"

Joe's eyebrows knitted together. "It backs up the story they've all been telling. The ME says that there were two types of blood found at the scene, the blood streak on the wall by the bed was type A positive, as was the handprint, the flecks by the clothes rack, and it was mixed into the type AB negative in the bathroom. The only one injured at the scene was the stiff, so that lends a lot of credibility."

"Ok, what would you do rookie?" Frank smirked.

"Cut them loose I guess, they all told the truth."

"Wrong kiddo, Spiegel is holding out, so were going to throw him downstairs for a bit and hold him. Let's see if that loosens his tongue any."

"But Chief, is that legal?" Joe seemed worried.

"Sure it is," Frank grinned. "We haven't gotten the ME's report back yet."

"But… Oh! I get it." Joe smiled as he slipped the ME's report into Frank's desk drawer. "Shame about that, the ME says the report won't be ready until tomorrow morning."

Shin walked into the station house and talked to the desk sergeant about seeing the prisoner Jet Black. He was directed to another officer who took him down to the cells, after a thorough search for weapons and contraband. Shin obediently turned over his weapon and followed the officer down to the cells. When the officer left, Shin began talking to the man in the cell.

"Hello Mr. Black." He said calmly.

Jet was lying on the bed and at the sound of the young man's voice he cracked one eye open and looked him over. "You're too young to be a lawyer, what do you want kid?"

"I represent the guardian of Obsidian Sikes." Shin replied.

Jet lit off the narrow cot like it was on fire and reached through the bars grabbing Shin by the front of his shirt. The young man sucked in his breath as Jet drew him close. A murderous rage was across Jet's features, and his eyes blazed blue as the sky before a summer storm.

"You represent that sick fuck?" Jet growled. "You tell him to come down here and I'll represent him in a way he'll never forget."

The door at the end of the hall opened and an officer came in escorting a handcuffed Spike. Both Shin and Jet stared open mouthed at their mutual friend. He looked like hell. He was slouched as if the weight of the world hung on his shoulders, the normally unruly green mop a complete mess, his yellow shirt wrinkled and unbuttoned down about three buttons, his tie hung at dejected angle loosely from his neck, and there was enough baggage under his eyes to make a trip to Pluto and back. Joe noticed them before Spike did.

"Hey! You! Let him go now!" He shouted at Jet.

Jet immediately let go, and Shin stepped back. Spike looked at both of them without his trademark lazy grin and then looked away as the cop lead him to the cell opposite Jet's. When the door was locked, Joe turned and warned Shin not to get that close again. With a glare at Jet, Joe Antrim walked back to his desk.

"Spike! What the hell happened?" Jet exclaimed as Shin continued to stare.

"I'm sorry, both of you." Spike said, causing Jet to look at him then at the young man, confused.

"What happened Spike?" Shin spoke Jet's thoughts.

"Joseph is dead."

"Good!" Both Shin and Jet growled at the same time.

"Wait, if you're not here with Joseph, then who the hell are you here for."

"He's with Vicious." Spike told his partner.

"Where is Obsidian?" Shin asked.

"I don't know. Faye showed back up, and when he came knocking, she didn't think twice about sending Sid home with her parents. Joseph did it again, but this time she shot him for it." Spike stood, holding the bars for support as he spoke. "She's hurt, and I have no idea where to find her."

"How bad?" Jet asked, when he got no reply his tone dropped and became frantic. "Spike, how bad?"

"Her blood painted all over the wall in the motel room. He tied her up and whipped her. I didn't get back to the ship in time."

Jet backed up and sat on the edge of the cot, face in his hands. Shin's completion took on a sickly green tinge. No one spoke for several minutes.

Shin finally broke the silence. "Jesus Christ, it was worse than we thought. Two days ago I went to her school, only to find that she hadn't attended in two years. The principal and the consular were both worried."

"Of course she wasn't in school." Spike laughed bitterly. "She was out all night jacking cars for Joseph."

"She what?" Shin was not looking forward to the conversation he was going to have to have with Vicious.

"Joseph had her working as a car thief. He beat her savagely, and Shin," Spike looked up at Shin so the young man would know he was telling the truth. "He raped her repeatedly."

"Oh god." Shin braced himself against the bars on Jet's cell.

Jet spoke up from behind him. "When I found her, she was worked over hard. I've actually seen people that have turned informant for the ISSP that are worked over lighter than what she got. I brought her back to my ship and we got her patched up with the help of the doc. I couldn't just turn her back out in the street, not with that monster waiting for her."

"And I couldn't very well walk up and tell Vicious what was going on. He would have lost it Shin."

"Why didn't she say anything? I don't understand."

Spike spoke up again his voice weary with exhaustion, "She was terrified that he would hate her. She couldn't take that. She was so fragile and so strong all at the same time, but one word of rejection from him would have killed her."

"Spike if she shot Joseph, what are you doing behind bars?" Shin asked slowly.

Spike looked up at him again. "She used my gun to do it."

Shin took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "First things first. I am having all charges against you dropped." Shin said to Jet before turning to look at Spike. "Then we'll worry about how to get you out."