Det. Cook walked with Officer Shapiro through the hospital lobby. Even though he was a rookie and sometimes got a little annoying, the kid kind of grew on him. And word around the firing range that he's a hell of a shot.
"Excuse me," Shapiro asks the petite redhead behind the desk. She looks up a him and he was simply taken aback by her face.
"Can I help you boys?"
"Yes, um, we were looking for a Jade West. Has anyone checked in under that name?"
The lovely girl in the white coat thought about it and checked a yellow chart on the desk nearby. "Nnnnnope. Nobody by that name."
"Well, then anybody fitting the description of an average height brunette with blue-green eyes?" Cook suggests.
She shakes her head, smiling sympathetically.
Shapiro steps in front of the senior cop and hands the woman a card. "If you find out anything please contact us."
"Is this girl in trouble?"
"Quite," Cook quips.
"There's an APB," Shapiro adds. "If you do see her, please be careful. She may be dangerous."
The fiery-haired girl strokes her hair flirtatiously. "I will. Thank you."
As the pair began walking away, they heard a high-toned voice shout out "Be safe!"
They turn around and see the young woman covering her mouth embarrassed.
Back in the car, Cook looks over at the passenger side and sees Shapiro leaning his head against the window, palming his forehead.
"Hey, Shapiro."
"Yeah."
"You liked her, didn't you?"
"Shut up and drive."
"She was kinda cute, huh?"
"Shut…up."
Bernardo Grimaldi opened a tall door cautiously.
"Lyriz? Are you there?"
A deep voice came bellowing from…somewhere. "Come in, Bernardo."
The mob boss obliges. On any given day, it would be him that nervous people would be preparing to be in audience with. He hated being on the receiving end of a dressing down.
The voice came back "Sit."
Grimaldi began, "I came to tell you about…"
"I know why you're here." A shit brick house of a man in a fine suit enters Grimaldi's sight. "You think I don't know what's going on in my city?"
Those words made him sick. His city? Like hell. But Grimaldi swallowed his pride. "I just figured that you'd want to hear it from me."
The large man, apparently named Lyriz, puts up his hand in a stop motion. "I'm not interested in your apologies."
"Now see here," Grimaldi now standing erect. "I don't apologize. I don't even accept them. And I give the orders…"
"You can stop right there," Lyriz' tone grew more dire. "We had a bargain, did we not?"
Grimaldi nods.
"We give you guys protection and snuff out undesirables. And let me say that my guys are neater and more efficient than some nut or hitman."
He nods again.
"There was just one small caveat. You had to make sure that the spawn of West did not succumb. My men protected your men but your guys couldn't supervise a couple girls."
Before Grimaldi could realize what happened, he is picked up off the ground by his head.
"I am a firm believer that when the system is broken, a change in management makes a world of difference. Isn't that right Andre?"
A dark-skinned vampire appears. He stands there, arms folded.
"Mr. Grimaldi, you know what I intend to do about the little problem you caused?"
The silent vampire in the corner winced as Lyriz squeezed the kingpin's head until his hands touched one another. The limp, headless body lands with a thud.
"Now I'm going to need somebody to be my eyes and ears for the business side. As you can see, one cannot trust these vile humans. Would you do it?"
"I would be honored, Lyriz."
"Thanks, Andre. You're a good guy. Find this girl quickly. Use caution. Remember, she's a fresh one. She'll be stronger and more unpredictable."
"No prob." Andre says confidently when he turns to exit.
Lyriz looks over the recently deceased Bernardo Grimaldi and proceeds to a desk with an intercom. He holds down the button.
"Bea, send somebody up here to clean this up."
Jade was frustrated. She wasn't finding any hits and talk of a fugitive with her name and description has made her scarce. Whenever there were flashing red and blue light, Jade would jump into something to keep her hidden.
She overheard one of the news outlets suggesting that she was on drugs. That made her think for a minute. The meth lab downtown. The mob owned it and they sometimes utilized junkies for various shit assignments. Could one of them figured out where she lived? The condition of the murder scene screamed that it was committed by someone not in their right mind.
It took some time but she finally found the location of the abandoned textile factory where they made the drugs. Jade walked up to the doorman that sat with a shotgun.
"Hey, little lady. What can I do for ya."
"You can let me in."
The guard chuckles. "No can do."
Next thing he knew he came to with a pounding headache in a dumpster across the street.
Jade marches down the hallway with purpose, holding the shotgun given by the guy at the door. She sees a woman standing, staring at the wall lost. Jade whacks her in the back of the head, knocking her unconscious. She then came across two guys much larger than the guard. Once they hit the ground, Jade walked away and broke the shotgun into pieces. She was getting tired of holding it.
Pushing open a green door, Jade uncovers the massive room where all the chemistry happens. Dozens of workers, some junkies and some illegals, all making the deadly methamphetamines. One thing that struck her was a little girl, about 8 or 9, with brown hair sitting in a chair away from the test tubes and conveyor belts. What was she doing there?
Jade moves in closer, secretly.
When a strung-out woman staggers into the lab, the little girl tugs at her clothes.
"Mom, I want to go home."
"We will, baby. Mommy just needs to get some more medicine."
Jade couldn't help but picture her sister. Another innocent kid thrusted into this corrupted world where she would never have a normal childhood. And if things go really wrong, she'll never grow up.
"FREEZE!"
Jade was caught off guard by the shout ringing across the warehouse. All the assembly line workers looked up and scattered. Dozens of blue men rushed the lab, guns raised.
"DON'T MOVE. IF YOU RESIST, WE WILL OPEN FIRE!"
It was coming from some kind of speaker outside. Just her luck, she broke into this place just when a sting was underway. One of the junkies grabs the girl and holds a gun to her head.
"Don't mmmmoove. You move, she dies." The cops stand down as the kidnapper makes his escape. The mother was so hopped up on drugs that she just fled when she heard the police arriving, leaving her daughter behind.
The meth head made it to the roof and is immediately blinded by the spotlight from the helicopter hovering overhead. He starts firing wildly into the air, frightening the child. After emptying his gun of bullets, he throws down the weapon and looks behind him to see Jade. He lets the girl go, allowing her to slide down the roof's slope, leading toward the edge. Meanwhile, the junkie makes a run for it and tries to leap to the next building but misses.
Jade runs frantically for the girl who is screaming. She falls over the side and Jade leaps into the air to intercept her. She gets a grip on the kid but sense the neighboring building and holds the girl close to her chest, bracing for the impact.
With a loud crash through broken glass, the two end up in the other building. Jade ends up on her back, still with a firm grip on the girl. She lays flat, feeling the dozens and dozens of shards in her flesh.
"You can open your eyes now," Jade rubbing the girl's head to comfort her.
She slowly opens her eyes and looks at her rescuer.
"Are you hurt? Anything broken? Glass hit you?" Jade asked concerned.
The girl shakes her head.
Jade carries the girl down the dilapidated stairs in case they decided to give way. Once on the ground floor, the two exit to the melee of sirens, flashing lights and random shouting.
Jade places the girl carefully on her feet and kneels in front of her.
"Where's my mom?" she asks.
Jade looks past her and can see from far away the junkie mother being placed into the back of a squad car.
"Your mom is…not feeling well. But see that man over there?"
The girl looks over at a tall, muscular officer.
"That man is a policeman. He will help you. He'll take you someplace safe."
Without saying a word the grateful child hugs the vampire tightly. Jade usually couldn't stand such gestures of affection but she's just a kid. Admittedly, that moment she hugged her almost made her tear up but she would never admit it to anyone. Least of all to herself. The girl then walks away, takes one look back smiles before continuing out of sight.