DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY DEAD OR ALIVE CHARACTER. THOSE CHARACTERS BELONG TO TECMO, LTD. AND TEAM NINJA. I AM IN NO WAY INTENDING ANY COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT AND I'M NOT MAKING A PROFIT FROM THE USE OF THESE CHARACTERS. ANY CHARACTER NOT A PART OF DEAD OR ALIVE IS MINE AND MINE ALONE.

Chapter Ten

Saturday, December 17

1:17 A.M.

Forest Park

Hayabusa had scarcely noticed the time when he arrived at the scene of the fight, carrying a satchel full of cameras at his side. All he had noticed at first was the fact that Jack's Jeep was gone and that he was almost an hour later than the time they had initially agreed on.

As he walked along, Hayabusa noticed the body in the clearing and ran over to it only to find that the man had been shot in the chest many times. It looked like a park ranger had been murdered viciously and without mercy. There was a large pool of blood to the right of the body, but there were no other corpses and there were no footprints other than Jack's and his own. However, right in the middle of the mess of blood soaked grass, there seemed to be signs of struggle, indicating that someone else was there.

Jack must've seen the entire thing and went to get the police. Or even worse, Jack had killed the man himself. Hayabusa shook his head at the thought. He didn't know Jack well, but if he knew anything about the man, he knew that he wasn't the type who would kill for no reason. He was sure there was an explanation of some sort.

Hayabusa began to walk back to Jack's apartment building. He would wait for him there and see if he could get any answers. But it was late, so he decided he would check everything out in the morning, but for now he was going to climb onto the roof where he had been staying and investigate the cameras he had found. When the storm hit, he had to find a new spot to stay, but it was still on the same building. There was a small overhang beneath a billboard on the opposite side of the roof where he had moved all his things.

The cameras were jet black and resembled small robotic spiders, all though he doubted they could move anymore after today's storm. However, he did believe that they were still recording and transmitting information. Hayabusa sat the satchel containing the other cameras next to his things, and proceeded to take one of them out of the brown bag.

The camera had a small red light that was blinking and a bright green one next to it. He guessed the green light showed the battery life or activated some sort of night vision. He smashed the lens so it wouldn't see his face or the location he was at, then he decided to talk to the spider in hopes of getting a message to the enemy.

"To whom it may concern, I will give a distinct warning. Your time is running short. Return Kasumi immediately and I will see to it you are not killed slowly. I will hunt you down, either way, but the life of the girl should be spared if you don't want to suffer."

Hayabusa nodded with satisfaction and threw the camera over the side of the building. He watched as the device shattered on the sidewalk below, scattering it's metallic insides over the frozen concrete.

Hayabusa thought about Jack and again wondered what had transpired in the woods tonight. The ranger's corpse had a gunshot wound in the heart and had still been warm when he had arrived. The excess blood on the ground to the ranger's right definitely didn't belong to the ranger, but there were no other bodies at the scene. Maybe Jack had been wounded at the situation, but it was an awful lot of blood for him to still be alive. What had Jack been doing in the field in the first place? He was supposed to be looking for tunnels, not strolling through the park.

Hayabusa decided that these questions could wait until tomorrow. He climbed into his thick warm bedroll and gazed up at the metal bottom of the large billboard, slowly drifting into a light peaceful sleep.


Saturday, December 17

1:20 P.M.

Streets of Downtown

Jack knew that he would have to break the speed limit considerably to get Kasumi to the hospital before she slipped away. The hospital almost twelve miles from the edge of the forest, but fortunately traffic was thin. He depressed the gas pedal and watched the speedometer's needle climb slowly to seventy. He stopped at ninety-five and watched as the scenery blew past him in a bright blur of neon signs.

Kasumi tried to move her damaged arm and sit up straighter, but Jack quickly stopped her. "No, you need your strength."

She coughed again and gazed at nothing, unable to focus. "So....tired," she managed to whisper faintly.

Jack looked over at her and gently shook her awake, trying not to hurt her any more than she already was. "Hey. Focus. Look at me."

He started snapping his fingers. Kasumi slowly looked at Jack's hand and concentrated all of her pain on the rhythm of his snapping fingers, struggling to focus her blurred vision. She was so cold and tired and all she wanted to do was rest. The jacket Jack had given her didn't seem to be keeping her warm anymore, and the gaping hole in her stomach burned like fire with each faint pump of her weakened heart. She was having a hard time keeping her eyes open and the beat of Jack's snapping fingers soon became a distant lullaby. The world seemed to dissolve in front of her teary amber eyes and she could barely breath.

Jack looked at Kasumi, observing her condition. There was much more wrong with her than he had noticed before. Instead of having just a few bruises and some serious gunshot wounds, Kasumi had extensive gashes all over her chest and arms. There were some particularly nasty ones on her waist and upper thighs, which were still bleeding through some soaked strips of cotton. Then he noticed that there was also a deep cut in her shot shoulder, dripping with blood and surrounded by a big black bruise. There were a few small puncture wounds in her legs and arms, which didn't look too serious, but they did look painful. Her long red hair was matted and wet, hanging heavily around her shoulders.

Then he turned his tearful brown eyes to her face and he noticed a dark bruise on her cheek. Her bottom lip was swollen and bleeding as well. The hole in her shoulder was deep, but he couldn't see an exit wound. Her right hand was marred by a deep stab wound, but it didn't look nearly as bad as the cuts on the rest of her body. On her right hip was a huge black and blue blemish and the entire joint was swollen.

Jack stopped snapping his fingers and gently held her good hand in his own. He noticed that she was freezing cold, but he wasn't surprised. She had lost a lot of blood. She responded by trying to close her fingers around his hand, but he could tell she was having trouble moving them.

Kasumi's vision dimmed and she closed her beautiful copper-colored eyes, listening to the faint rhythm of her heart as it began to slow. She could feel Jack's warm hand clutching hers, but everything seemed so distant now, so far away and irrelevant. The darkness infringed on her consciousness, and she welcomed it. The dark would bring her relief. Relief from the pain, the suffering, the cold, and the dark blemish the torture had left on her mind, never to be forgotten. But she had not given in. She had not told Smith anything, and that eased her mind.

Jack glanced away from the road and looked back at Kasumi, only to find her head drooping and that she had drifted to sleep once again.

"Kasumi! Wake up!" Jack yelled.

She drowsily opened her eyes and gazed at him with the same empty expression she had used in the park. It was as if she was unable to focus. Jack turned the heater up to full blast and directed all the vents on Kasumi's shivering form, knowing that if he didn't arrive soon, there would be no hope. Her breathing had become labored and shallow.

"Sorry....about....your....jacket," she muttered, barely audible. Blood oozed from the corner of her mouth and dripped from her chin.

Jack lamented for her, wiping away tears as he refocused his attention to the street. Kasumi was his only true friend, and he didn't know what he would do without her. He couldn't let her die, not like this.

"Don't worry about the jacket. You need to stay awake."

"But...I'm....so tired."

"I know you are, and you can rest soon. Just stay awake a little longer, okay?"

"Everything's....so dark...." She nodded off once more.

"Kasumi!" Jack yelled, but she didn't move.

He felt for a pulse and found it, but it was very weak and fading fast. She would be gone soon. Dead to the world. He shook her gently, but she never stirred.

The hospital was nearby now, but he would have to go faster to make it in time. He was extremely grateful that the traffic was so sparse. He pressed the pedal to the floor and shifted into high gear. There was a slight turn and Kasumi slouched limply against his shoulder like a sack of sand. The lights of the city blurred past him as he raced down the wet road. He could see the hospital complex in the distance.

When Jack arrived at the ER, he feared he was too late. He carried Kasumi's frail body through the large glass double doors and quickly hurried to the front desk. The man behind the desk gaped in surprise at the sight of Kasumi's mangled body.

"I need a doctor! Now!" Jack yelled at the receptionist.

"I'm sorry, sir, but we have no room available at this time. May I suggest you go to General Hospital."

"Look at her! Do you really think she has that long? She's going to die if you don't do anything and I'll hold you responsible if she does." Jack's voice was cold and threatening. "You don't want that, trust me."

The small man behind the desk stood up. "Is that a threat?"

"Yes, it is."

Suddenly, a doctor walked through the large wooden door behind the clerk's desk and spotted Kasumi, a horrified expression on his face.

"What happened?!" he asked loudly.

"No time to explain everything now," Jack said. "She's going to die if you don't help her."

The doctor nodded grimly. "We're short handed right now, but I'll see what I can do. But I have to tell you now, she doesn't look like she'll make it."

"Try, Dammit! You can't let her die like this!"

Jack watched as the doctor rushed a stretcher into the room from behind the swinging double doors. He gently lay Kasumi down on the stretcher and watched sadly as the doctor took her away, wondering if she would survive the night.

"Where are they going?" Jack asked the receptionist.

He glared up at Jack. "Probably to surgery." He handed Jack a metal clipboard. "I'm going to need you to fill this out."

Jack took the clipboard and walked to a vacant seat by a woman with a broken arm and proceeded to answer the questions. They were simple questions really, most of them easy for him to answer. He was surprised about how much he knew about Kasumi, but at the same time he knew so little.

Why was she taken? What exactly happened to her this last week? Was she raped? These questions and more flooded through Jack's brain as he filled out the queries on theclipboard. The more questions that presented themselves in his mind, the more he was filled with unbridled anger, darker than anything he had ever felt before. It was at that moment that he decided to hunt down everyone responsible for her pain, and bring them to justice.


Saturday, December 17

2:12 A.M.

Forest Park

Smith drove slowly down the darkened forest path savoring his victory. The girl would most likely be dead by now, or dying in a miserable heap somewhere in the cold night. He had wanted her to suffer immeasurably, but Duncan lacked the skill of inflicting pain, unlike Shark. His orders were to shoot her in the stomach and wait. Then he was to finish her off. A gunshot wound to the stomach is one of the most painful things you could do to a person, or so he heard.

When Smith arrived at the scene of the incident, he was shocked by what he saw. Duncan lay motionless about one hundred feet from the parking lot where he had emerged, his body riddled with bullet holes. How could someone as seriously injured as Kasumi, overpower Duncan? Then he knew that someone else had helped her when he realized that the girl had no weapon, unless Shark had given her one. But that was unlikely. Duncan was so stupid not to wear a bullet-proof vest on an assassination mission. You never know what will happen. Smith noticed that there was a considerable amount of blood at the scene that didn't belong to Duncan, and considerable was a big understatement.

"So you got a piece of her after all," he said to the empty shell of a man on the muddy ground.

It looked like he had gotten more than just a piece of her. She was probably dying in some stinking alley behind a fast food place. Smith grinned at the thought. He didn't appreciate resistance.

Smith suddenly realized that Kasumi had some help, which meant that she could still be alive, if the person helping her responded fast. He scanned the area for any indication of who the third person was, but there were really no clues besides the boot prints in the soft earth. They were large and he assumed that they were made by a tall man. He investigated the parking area where the tracks led, and spotted some skid marks leading out onto the road.

"Someone left in a hurry," Smith commented as he reached for his cell phone once again and dialed the local police.

"I would like to report a murder."

Smith grinned. The police would smoke out this third person. All he had to do was wait. Then he would make this new mysterious guy watch as he murdered Kasumi for the trouble she's caused.


Saturday, December 17

2:37 A.M.

Myamoto's Apartment

Myamoto had been working on the pictures for hours trying to find a way around the transmission. He had tried to trace the signal repeatedly, but it kept getting blocked by some kind of jamming bubble. The source of the jamming frequency seemed to be originating from the forest, but there was no way for him to find out where in the woods it was originating. He figured there had to be some kind of loophole or something to get around it, but he had to know where to look. And that was his problem.

He had found five pictures, including the one he had shown Jack, and the one showing the attack on the Japanese elite forces squad. The other three were photos of a group of men hunting, and a little girl picking some strange flowers he couldn't recognize. The last photo was of a girl walking alone in the woods. She had beautiful amber eyes and short lavender hair. She looked neither happy or sad, just content.

Myamoto scanned the identification database he had recovered and quickly found what he was looking for. The description of the girl in the photo said she had a cold exterior and never usually revealed her feelings. She wasn't social, and didn't have many friends due to some kind of trauma as a child. Myamoto guessed that whoever compiled all of this information had to be using some kind of elaborate wireless surveillance network to make such a distinct conclusion.

He scanned the list for the entry about the man in the photo that showed the attack on the special forces. There was a name listed with this one.

"Hayate," Myamoto muttered to himself. Another odd name.

He doubted Jack had found anything interesting in the woods, due to the fact that there wasn't much information to guide him. Myamoto knew that this girl named Kasumi must be very important to Jack, or he wouldn't have made such a huge deal out of finding her right away. He just hoped that his buddy wouldn't find her dead, as Myamoto was guessing he would. It was just too unlikely that after a week of being missing, she would be found alive. He decided to call him and see if he had discovered anything new.

"Hello?" Jack sounded tired and stressed out.

Myamoto paused a moment.

"If you're going to call me you had better have something to say," Jack said irritably. "Otherwise, don't waste my time."

"Sorry," Myamoto said. "I was wondering if you had found anything out there."

"In the woods? No. We didn't find anything. I think you're wrong about the tunnels." Jack said. His voice was doleful.

"What do you mean 'we?' Who's out there with you?"

"Um...no one. I meant that I was out there with you're assistance on the computer."

Myamoto had some doubts, but he would ask Jack about it in person. "You haven't found anything? Are you sure?"

"No, I didn't find anything. There was nothing there."

"You keep referring to the woods as if you're somewhere else. Where exactly are you?" Myamoto asked, confused.

Jack sighed at the other end of the line. "I'm at the hospital."

"What happened? Are you okay, man?" Myamoto asked.

"I'm fine, well, physically anyway. I found Kasumi and things are looking grim. I'd tell you the details, but its a long story. Can you call back tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure." Myamoto said as he hung up the phone. "I hope she makes it."

Jack sighed. "Me too."

Myamoto hung up the phone and just kind of sat in his chair, not knowing what to do next. She was found? That sounded like good news, and he knew it was, but why would someone want to kill her. It obviously wasn't the Shinobi, because he knew that if she was taken by them, they would've killed her immediately. So what else could it be? Something weird was going on and he was going to get some answers.


Saturday, December 17

2:41 A.M.

Charity Medical Complex

"Was that your friend?" the woman next to him asked politely.

Jack nodded sadly. "She's the only one I've got left."

The woman looked puzzled. "She's your only friend?"

"I have another friend, but he's not really a friend. He's more like an associate. I really don't know very many people here. And I don't have anyone in the States, so yeah, she's my only true friend," Jack said.

Myamoto was always friendly, but they never hung out together or talked like he and Kasumi had done so many times. He usually only talked to Myamoto when he needed help with something, but they have hung out a few times. They just weren't that close.

"My name is Akiko," the woman said. She kept staring at his shoulder.

He then remembered the shot that Duncan had fired at him. He had completely forgotten the wound. "I'm Jack Wallace."

"What happened to your shoulder? Does it have something to do with that girl you brought?" she asked.

"Yeah, but it's a long story and I'm sure you don't want to hear it."

Another doctor walked into the room and called out Akiko's name. After she had left Jack gave the clipboard back to the clerk and looked at the clock on the wall behind his desk. It was almost two forty five in the morning.

"Do you have any coffee?" Jack asked.

The clerk looked up from a magazine he was reading. "Yeah. It's over there." He pointed his finger at a small table by a large mirror to the left of the main entrance.

The coffee was weak, but it did slightly wake him up. He looked at himself in the large mirror, shocked at what he saw. His hair was disheveled and his green shirt was covered with Kasumi's blood. The wound in his shoulder had stopped bleeding and the bullet had passed completely through. He was surprised the receptionist hadn't noticed it, but he was working the graveyard shift and his attention was probably not at its best. Besides, his own blood could not be distinguished from Kasumi's. He looked and felt exhausted. Finally, after drinking a few paper cups full of coffee, Jack walked back to the clerk's desk.

"Do you think she'll be out of surgery soon?" he asked.

"I don't know. Do you have number where we can reach you?"

"I put it on the form." Jack said. "But I think I want to wait here until she gets out."

"Whatever," the clerk said.

The hours passed and Jack drank the rest of the lukewarm coffee. He wanted to be awake when Kasumi got out of surgery, and he wanted to be exhausted in case the news he received was bad. That way his sleepiness would dull the pain. He had arrived at the hospital at around one twenty-five and it was now close to five in the morning.

A doctor with a green blood soaked scrub came out of the door by the receptionist's desk, removing his latex gloves.

He looked at Jack. "Are you the one who brought in the red headed girl earlier?"

Jack got up from his seat and quickly walked over to the surgeon. He hoped for good news, but braced himself for the worst. "Is she okay?"

The doctor sighed. "She just got out of surgery. We had to put her in the ICU, and she might pull through. But with injuries as extensive as the one's she has suffered, it'll be awhile before we know for sure. I'm surprised she was strong enough to survive the operation, so she will most likely make it through her recovery."

Jack let out the breath he had been holding. "How serious were her injuries?"

The doctor shook his head. "Do you really want to know? It's pretty gruesome."

Jack nodded. "Just tell me, please."

"Her right leg was popped out of its socket, causing some muscle damage that will probably cause her pain for a few more weeks, but it should heal perfectly fine. The gunshot wounds caused her to lose a hefty amount of blood and there was not much I could do about that. There was a lot of bruising on most of her internal organs, and that will make her very sore if she regains consciousness."

"How sore are we talking?"

The doctor sighed. "It will be most painful when she takes a deep or sudden breath, but other than that it shouldn't be too unbearable for her. Just don't let her make any sudden movements for a while and she should be fine. There's a few tests we still need to run, but they aren't urgent."

Jack nodded. "Is there anything else I should know, doc?"

The surgeon paused a moment and looked Jack directly in the eye. "She won't have any physical scars from either the gashes or the bullet wounds, and they will heal relatively fast, due to a special medicine we've received. However, with this kind of severe trauma, she will have some severe mental damage. I suggest you listen if she wants to talk about her pain, or she could end up in a bad situation. And if she doesn't want to talk, try to get her to say something, because it's not healthy for her to hold everything inside. It could affect her recovery."

"Thanks, I'll make sure she's taken care of. Can I see her?" Jack asked.

The doctor hesitated a moment when he noticed Jack's shoulder. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I'm fine. Can I see her yet?" Jack repeated.

He hesitated. "Maybe you should tell me what happened out there first."

Jack paused. "She was kidnapped about a week ago, and I found her this way tonight. You can call the cops if you want, but I need to be with her. Please."

The doctor nodded. "I'll show you where she is."

Kasumi was being monitored by numerous machines. There was an IV dripping a clear fluid into her arm and she was covered with white bandages, already turning red with blood. She looked so frail and weak, and Jack was crushed by her pain.

The doctor pointed to a blue padded chair sitting next to a wooden end table. "If you want to stay with her, there's a chair you can use. If anything happens, press the red button on the wall over there to call a nurse or doctor. You can watch TV, but try not to turn it up too loud."

Jack nodded as the doctor turned and walked out of the room.

"Kasumi...." Jack said sadly. "What did they do to you?"

His stained jacket and Kasumi's ragged clothes were sitting on the chair the doctor mentioned before. He picked up his blood stained coat and threw it away. Then he tossed Kasumi's clothes as well, knowing that they were ruined.

As he and sat down next to her sleeping form, Jack was beginning to feel his shoulder wound. But he refused to leave Kasumi's side for a second, afraid of losing her forever. There was an electric blanket covering herfrail damagedbody, but her hand was still cold.

Jack held her hand once again. "I'll catch whoever did this to you, Kasumi. I swear I will."

About ten minutes later, Jack was fast asleep in the chair, still holding Kasumi's bandaged hand in his own.