Chapter 6

If you must play, decide upon three things at the start: the rules of the game, the stakes, and the quitting time.

Carolyn made her way to the galley the next morning in search of a cup of caffeine. Saying that she hadn't slept well this week would be an understatement. When she arrived in the galley she could have cried when Rafi offered to make her a cup of Turkish coffee.

Omeed and Hicks found her there a while later savoring the strong brew. "You realize you're really not going to be able to sleep tonight, right?" Hicks asked plopping down in the chair beside her, Carolyn's only response a growl

"This came in over the comm. It was relayed to us from the Proxima System." Omeed said dropping a folder onto the table.

"Hmpft," thought Carolyn. She was sick of seeing these folders.

Sliding it towards her with a single finger she flipped it open to the tele-wire print out. "Evidently in anticipation of our visit they've cleaned him and his cell up" she paraphrased out loud before handing the paper over to Hicks and picking up the lone photo of Riddick in his cell. They had put clean clothes on him but left him barefoot and chained to the bed in the cell. Carolyn could only hope they bandaged his back as well, otherwise getting that shirt off was going to be painful for the both of them. She inspected the photo closely before handing it over to Hicks. "The swelling has gone down some but it looks like both eyes are still swollen shut. We'll just have to see when we get there. As of right now we assume that he can't and carry on."

Omeed simply nodded. When he took the photo from Hicks, Carolyn asked him to look over the photo once again with Yaamin and Badran to make sure that it was still the same cell and chains.

Whoever said that waiting was the hardest part wasn't lying, Carolyn thought. After spending all day driving everyone nuts going over everything in detail, several times, she retreated to her room with only a bottle and ghosts for company.


Dragging herself to the foot of the bed Carolyn clutched her head in her hands. "Lights dim," she called out, as she tried to look around the room. Bottles and shot glasses littered the table in the room.

About that time someone started knocking at the door. Pushing to her feet Carolyn made her way to the door slapping the release. The door swept open revealing Hicks who closed his eyes as the odor of the room assailed him.

"Hicks," Carolyn managed to get out while shielding her eyes from the bright light of the passageway.

"I have to say you actually surpassed my expectations of what I would find this morning," he said eyeing her

"Yeah, yeah," Carolyn said waving him in. "Just tell me you brought the good stuff."

"Turkish coffee and Doctor Ahmed's sure fire hangover cocktail," he answered setting the tray down and waving a syringe in the air.

Carolyn just glared at him holding her bare arm out. "Oww," she whined rubbing at the spot.

He grinned at her grousing. "I'll get this place picked up. Get some coffee."

Pouring herself a cup, Carolyn sat down at the table holding her head in her hands once again. "I'm getting too old for this shit. We seriously need to take up playing cards or something. What time is it?"

"Time for you to start getting ready." He said dryly. "We'll arrive at Leiden-9 in three hours. We have an appointment to 'see the merchandise' in four."

Hicks finished disposing of the trash in the room and sat the chair next to her reaching out to caress a slightly puffy cheek. "You know, you can come to me."

Carolyn smiled sadly. "I know that, Dewayne, but you're like a brother to me and I never want to be so needy or desperate that I put you or our friendship in a situation that it won't survive."

He patted her hand and stood to go. "Call me if you need any help."


Three and a half hours later Hicks was once again standing in front of Carolyn's door. "Carolyn, we need to go!" Just as he was about to start pounding on the door it slid open.

"Holy mother…." Hicks trailed off as he stared at the woman in front of him.

"What do you think?" Carolyn asked biting her lip. "Is it too much?"

"Is it even legal?" Hicks asked raking his eyes back up her body to her face.

"You know the plan. We have to get those guards out of the room for a few minutes. If all they can think about is this and the money in their hands it shouldn't be a problem."

Hicks stood slack jaw in front of her, eyes trailing down her body once again. "Yeah, I'd say their going to be distracted all right."

The sheer Choli she was wearing was sleeveless with a low cut front and her nipples had been tinted a dark red.

Her skirt was a combination of the colors in her painted tattoos, red, purple and gold in a type of shimmery material. It sat low, very low on her hips and was cut in a vee that stopped, well, just before things that Hicks shouldn't be thinking about, he thought swallowing hard noticing the legs peaking out of the side slits. Her wrap was of the same sheer material as her top so hid nothing but accentuated everything. He slowly circled her taking in the elaborate details of her tattoos. The butterfly on her back wrapping around her sides like a lovers hands and then the phoenix on her stomach that drew attention to both the cut of her skirt and the sheerness of her top, so that one didn't know exactly what to look at first; just knew that he wanted to.

Ending up in front of her once again he saw the stricken look on her face.

"No!" he said holding a hand up in a placating manner. "This is good Carolyn. I mean so good that even I'm tempted."

"You had me worried for a minute."

"You? Never! You're going to have all of them eating out of your hand." He held out his arm with a cocky grin. "Shall we Princess?"