Chapter 5
Crane stood in an alley. It was one of those sorts that would always be home to a few drunks, so it was perfect to hide from the Ripper's eyes that way. He stood in the shadows; mist hanging about the streets like it was snow. No moon was out that night. Then, at about midnight, or so, she came walking past Crane's hiding place. Miss Reisert knew where he was, but made no move or action to suggest it. He did the same; knew where she was, but didn't act upon it. She acted oblivious and he kept in secret. She was dressed in a bright red dress, with spaghetti straps, a red gossamer shawl across her arms, and her curls hung elegantly across her shoulders. He had to admit, she looked even more stunning than usual, but he still knew that she was both dressed as a prostitute, and that she had a job to do (as did he). This was strictly business. He had seen this sort of sight many times before, so going hard was not an option. Besides, this time shouldn't be any different from usual, should it? The thing that he had to do right now was to keep an eye on her and keep her safe. Although he didn't know her that well, his job wouldn't allow for him to be at the scene of a crime when it was committed. He would kiss his job goodbye. Not a bad thing at this time, but it would also give him a bad name, placing him even further down the social food chain. Besides, he was growing rather fond of her. She had put her life on the line for the sake of others (and revenge). And she was beautiful…
She walked slowly down the street. There was no one else (besides those two) in the street for at least five minutes. When someone did appear, he walked at the same pace as she did. He was about a yard away when she first noticed him. She didn't know if it was her target or not, but she knew that it wasn't like her normally to stick around to find out. Her heart pounded as he came closer. Nearer and nearer he came to her. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion for her; it was like she was some sort of sacrifice for some sick cult, or something. She knew that she was a goner, so she started to count her blessings in her head and rid herself of all the evil thoughts that had swirled through her mind in past years. She forgot about revenge, anger, lust, that sort of thing.
The whole time, Jonathan watched her. He saw the fear in her eyes, and at one point, thought that he would lose control of himself and rush out to help her. He got rid of this thought quickly, but soon started to regret his decision. As soon as he saw the other someone, he stopped his mushy feelings for her and his heart sank. Although he would do everything that he could to protect her, he wasn't exactly your average body-builder. By the way that his coat hung on him, Crane suspected the other man to be quite a bit stronger than he was.
Closer and closer the figure came to her and she knew that she looked scared; she was too terrified not to look it. When he was directly next to her, he was first facing forward, but then, he swiftly turned to face her, his hat across his face, shadowing it. His hand came up in a flash. Before she knew what was going on, he single-handedly grabbed her neck and pushed her into a nearby alley (unfortunately, it wasn't Crane's). The movement of both the head and the hand was too fast for Lisa to fight back, let alone dodge. His grip was like a vice. She couldn't move, she couldn't cry for help, and she could hardly breathe.