"What's his problem?" Alastair asked, craning his neck at the guy standing across the way.

The man in question was tall and quite bulky. His clothes were bedraggled and Alastair could smell him from where he was standing.

"Apparently he got attacked last night." Laura smirked.

True enough, the guy had a broken nose and his face looked like it had been slammed into a wall.

"What attacked him? A grizzly bear?" Alastair mumured, and Laura snorted out a laugh.

It was wrong to be laughing at the guy, but he was a known drug dealer and an all-round awful human being. He'd been in and out of prison and was incredibly violent. In fact, he was starting early this morning. This was all they needed.

"Excuse me, sir, but can you stop shouting at my colleague." Alastair intervened when the dealer looked like he might punch the other officer.

"I got attacked last night." The man slurred. "And I wanna know what you pigs are gonna do about it."

Alastair supressed the urge to knock the guy out, but it seemed like someone had already done that last night.

"Can you describe your assailant to me?" He asked.

"He was tall, probably about my height. He had long hair." The guy rambled off a list of traits.

Laura stood next to Alastair and frowned. She looked like she didn't believe a word of it, instead she settled for writing it down.

"Any other defining features?" Alastair asked.

"Yeah, tattoos, lots of 'em."

"What preceeded the attack?" Laura spoke up at last.

"Speak english." The man scowled.

Laura sighed then, "Did anything happen to make this guy attack you?"

"Nothing, really. I was talking to his girlfriend, but she was totally into it."

"I can well imagine." Laura chuckled.

They noted down some more details whilst promising to call the guy and nip round later to see this long-haired guy. Then the dealer said something and both police officers paused.

"She was the girl from tv." The dealer snapped.

"This girl." Laura said, holding up a picture of Rini Maeda.

"Yeah, that's her, I think."

They left him then and went to Alastair's office. They hadn't heard anything from Luna, and no other videos had been posted from Sphinx.

"Should we go to this block of flats and see if it is Rini Maeda." Laura craned her neck to look out the window.

"Yes, I believe we should."


***********************


Someone hammered on the door and I sat up really quickly. Was it dealer-guy coming back to exact his revenge? I noticed that I was in Ashley's bed again and that he wasn't here. I got up, slinging the blanket off then making the bed.

On getting to the lounge, I noticed that CC had answered the door and a guy was stepping into the flat. He was middle-aged with brown hair. He was wearing a suit and a very charming smile. He wrinkled his nose as he stepped over the threshold.

"Did you guys have to choose this place? It's like a meth-head's wet dream." The guy chuckled.

"It was all we could find." CC said, by way of apology.

He shut the door and the guy's eyes landed on me. He grinned then, stepping over and taking my hand in his.

"My name is Leo Coleman, or Andre," He shrugged. "Don't introduce yourself. You're Rini Maeda."

"You've seen me on tv." I stated, and he nodded.

Ashley walked out the bathroom, running a towel through his hair. He murmured a polite hello at Leo, then glowered at me.

Leo let go of my hand and went to sit on the couch. I walked over to the kettle and started to make coffee. Once finished, I handed Leo a mug and he smiled.

"We need a new place." CC said.

"You sure do," Leo laughed, nearly choking on the coffee. "Also, why is a missing student living here with you?"

"It's a long story." CC replied, sitting next to him.

"She your girlfriend?" Leo asked. CC shook his head, but his eyes went to Ashley. "Ooh, is she your girlfriend, Ash?"

Ashley narrowed his eyes into a cold glare. I looked at the floor, feeling the blood rush to my face.

"No, she is not my girlfriend." He snapped.

Great, thanks for that. I wasn't sure whether to feel offended or relieved. I chose offended, but me being offended was different to another person's offended. Any other person would have been angry, instead I looked down and sniffled.

"Awh, Ash, don't be rude. Look, you upset her." Leo said, standing and wrapping an arm round my shoulder.

"I'm sorry if that was rude, but having Rini here is a hassle."

"Ok, that was sort of an apology, I guess." CC said, rolling his eyes.

They sat and talked and it turned out Leo was a lawyer. He seemed like a genuinely friendly person, except that he was a criminal lawyer, literally. He was just as shady as his clients. He had no idea that Ashley and CC were terrorists though, and I wasn't going to bring it up.

"I think I know somewhere you guys can stay," Leo smiled. his attention then fell on me. "Is Rini going with you because maybe you should return her to her family."

"She doesn't have a family," Ashley said, and my heart throbbed painfully. "She stays with us."

"And is that what she wants?" Leo questioned. "Far be it from me to tell you what to do, but you seem to dislike her, Ash. I mean, you dislike everyone so..."

"I like you, Rini." CC grinned at me.

"Thanks." I murmured.

Leo sighed then, standing and patting my shoulder. He made his way to the door, opening it partially and freezing on the spot. He shut it again and whirled round to face us.

"The police are here." He whispered, harshly.

"We need to go. Rini, get dressed and pack your stuff." CC said, standing and shoving things into a ruck sack.

I panicked then went to get dressed. I shoved everything into my duffel bag once dressed. When I came out we all rushed to the window.

"Through the window, really?" Leo sighed.

"Yes, through the fucking window, Leo." Ashley snapped, opening it.

CC helped me out first and then climbed out next, followed by Ashley and Leo. We carefully closed the window and snuck round the back of the flat, through an alleyway.

"What did you do?" Leo hissed, as we walked.

"I punched some druggie," Ashley said, plainly. "He was trying to hurt Rini."

"You don't say. You know, for someone that hates this young lady, you sure seem ready to assault people in her name." Leo seethed. I heard CC snicker and Ashley glared at him.

The alleyway came out near a park and we carried on walking. Now the only trouble was people recognising me. I dug around in my bag, pulling out a wooly hat and scarf, tying the scarf round my mouth so only my eyes were on show.

"We'll need to go to that place sooner than expected." Leo was saying, leading us down the road.

Notes