Abu looked away, his face lined in the poor lighting. The room was dim at best. Set up for Riddick? Jack sat down in the chair behind the desk and waited. Abu paced. He pretended to look over his books but he didn't see them.

"Two years ago you sent a message," Jack prompted.

"Yes," he said softly. His voice was low, heavy. "I sent a message at the behest of the Helion Council. I was approached by... people, who knew of my association with Mr. Riddick. They needed to find him, and they thought I might know a way to reach him."

He's holding something back. "You didn't mention me in the message," she pointed out.

He looked down. "No, they did not mention you and I thought it was best if they remained... uninterested."

Best for me. That's... sweet. "Who's looking for us?"

"The Elementals."

"Well... that's... unexpected." Jack rocked back in the chair balancing on the back legs, studying her fingers. "If the Elementals are involved, then this is a bigger problem than I thought. Not just a Helion problem but a universal problem." Abu tensed. "And there's only one universal problem that I know of at the moment."

He met her eyes directly for the first time. "Yes. They are coming. Here."

Jack brought the front legs of the chair back down. "How do you know?" She tried to conceal the burning curiosity in her eyes.

"We can't be certain yet, but the Elementals have been tracking their movements. They have attacked the Suel homeworld. It is obliterated, like the Coalsack planets before it. They are on a course for this region of space and this is the largest beacon in the galaxy. They may not come here first, but they will not pass us by." He sat down in the other chair, looking very worn. "The Silence is coming." He plucked off his glasses and rubbed a hand across his eyes. "I did not want to send for you or Riddick. I wanted to leave you in peace, but I was not given a choice. If the Elementals had not asked I would still have done it alone. He is our best chance, Jack."

Jack leaned forward resting her elbows on her knees. "All right, I'm going to assume the Elementals are right in thinking that. At least I assume it was the Elementals who thought it. They are in the business of odds." Compulsive gamblers in charge of the fate of the universe. Almost as good as Riddick being the hero. "What do you need him to do? He can't fight an army on his own."

"That I do not know."

Jack held back a sigh. "Imam... I left him on a ship in the middle of nowhere without telling him. I left a - I don't know what you want to call him. A psychopath. A sociopath. A cold-blooded killer - who is going to come here on a straight shot with the biggest chip on his shoulder known to man. I did it because I knew you needed help, and I knew if you were asking us, you needed it bad, and you're telling me that you don't know what I'm supposed to tell him when he shows up ready to do gods' know what to me?

"I'm not asking you to take responsibility for my choices but at least give me the facts so I can try to keep my ass in one piece when he gets here. Work with me."

"I don't have all the answers, Jack." He spread his hands before him. "I am just the messenger, but I can arrange for you to meet with the person who does."

Jack stood up. "When?"

His eyes flicked back and forth across his desk, once again not seeing a thing his eyes touched. "Half an hour. It will take that long for them to arrive."

Jack thought about it. "All right. Call them. Get them here." I've come too far to back out now. She pointed to the com pad on the desk. "Don't tell them anything but to come."

She stood and watched while he made the call.

"As-salaamu alaykum... Yes, this is Senator al-Walid... Yes... Yes... Tell her I would like her to come... No, not to my office. To my home... Yes... Yes, she will be secure." He glanced up at Jack on the other side of the desk who kept her face purposefully blank. No promises, Imam. "A half hour from now, if that is possible... All right... Yes, I will expect her shortly. I will see you soon... Good-bye."

"Good," Jack said as she crossed to the door. "Now, show me the upstairs. I want a room with exits. Lots of exits."

He frowned. "Why?"

"Imam, don't mistake my help as my trust. I have no reason to believe that your friends are my friends. I'm here to help if I can, but I'm not here to be taken advantage of." He opened his mouth to protest but she went on, "What's to say your friend isn't going to decide the best way to control Riddick is with me?" And it is.

Abu thought about it, opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it again, his face resolving into something like a decision. "There is a meditation and prayer room with full-length windows on two sides and access to the roof. It has many exits."

Jack nodded. "Curtains?"

"Linen gauze."

"Show me." He led her upstairs past the questioning eyes of Ziza and the fearfully certain eyes of Lajjun to a room that was fairly perfect for her needs. She could be outside and gone in less than a minute if need be. There was even a tree for easy access to the street, but if she needed to run Jack thought she'd prefer to take the rooftops. Easier for putting distance between herself and her pursuers. Like an Old Earth Boy Scout. Always prepared. Curtains could be thicker, but it should be fine.

"You can see the front door from here," Abu said, gesturing to the window closest to him. "You will know when they have arrived." He stepped closer to her, shifting his weight back and forth. "I - Thank you. For coming. For choosing to help us. I do not know how this meeting will end, but... thank you for what you've done. I know what Mr. Riddick means to you, and I know what you are risking to be here." He glanced up at her, and away, and then fled down the stairs.

Jack heard him arguing with Lajjun in heated whispers. Another whisper came to Jack from the hall. The whisper of cloth.

"It's not nice to spy on people," Jack called out softly, stepping back into the shadow of the wall.

Ziza peeked her head around the corner. She looked around the room, trying to spot Jack. "Hello? Where are you?"

Jack slipped behind the girl and leaned down to whisper close to her ear. "Does your mother know you're up here?"

Ziza jumped and spun around, her eyes wide with a strange combination of fear and delight. "I snuck away."

Crouching down to sit eye-level with her, Jack said, "She'll be angry when she finds out. Your mother doesn't want you talking to me."

"Why?"

Jack considered for a moment. "She wants to keep you safe."

"Are you dangerous?"

That Jack didn't have to consider. "Yes."

Ziza bit her lip, glancing behind her to be sure no one was watching. "Your name isn't really Kyra, is it?"

"Why do you think that?"

"You're the girl who ran away with Riddick, aren't you? To learn to fight monsters? My father tells me stories about you. He said you wanted to be strong and that you went away to learn how. He said-"

Jack put a finger to her lips, because Ziza's voice was getting steadily louder. "Someone's coming," Jack whispered. "Run back to your room, quick!"

Looking panicked, Ziza bolted down the hall, fairly quietly all things considered, but not quiet enough. Lajjun stepped into view with her eyes fixed on her daughter's room. She looked so heartbroken. It reminded Jack of her mother's face in the hospital.

"You know," Jack began congenially, "The park down the street looked lovely earlier this afternoon. I bet it would look even better by starlight."

Lajjun turned wide eyes to Jack, surprise and uncertainty warring on her face.

Jack went on, "It would be a good place to wile away an hour or so quietly. My business should be done by then. At least for now." Maybe for good. "Or maybe Ziza would like to spend the night with a friend?"

Lajjun cast about as though lost and looking for an anchor, but eventually her eyes came back to Jack, resolved. "I don't think that will be necessary." Her words were clipped, but her gaze had softened in a way that told Jack she was no longer the enemy. She wasn't a friend, but it was a start. "Would you like anything to drink?"

"A water would be fantastic."

"I'll bring it up."

"Thank you." Jack turned and studied the altar. It was non-denominational. Just a cloth over a low table with incense and two candles on either side. There was a prayer rug on the ground before it. Seized by a sudden urge, she lit a stick of sandalwood and knelt on the rug with her eyes closed, breathing deeply. She felt her mind grow still, and let her senses stretch out as she'd done in the pod so many times.

She heard the wind rustling the curtains lightly, the wax fizzing slightly as it burned in the candles, the restless shifting of Ziza down the hall in her room. She heard Lajjun leave the water by the door, and Imam pacing in the foyer talking to himself. She smelled the aroma of curry coming from the house next door mingling with the sandalwood. She felt the fibers of the rug under her fingertips, rough by nature and softened by use.

She let the seconds tick past. She waited.

There was a knock at the door.