It had been fifteen months since he had lost her. Lost the girl he had sworn, over and over again, to save no matter what. Since she had slipped right through his clumsy fingers. It ate him alive, day after day, leaving nothing left but a crazed killer, in search of only one thing – Jack.
Riddick had been through seven systems, had landed on too many planets to count, had killed so many people in search of her that he had dulled his favorite blade. And still her kidnapper eluded him. Hell, for all he knew, maybe she was dead and floating around in deep space somewhere. Or maybe she had gone readily – the details of the night he had lost her were blurred and fuzzy, buried by all the anger and blood and determination of the last months. Riddick was losing it but he'd been damned if he could give up now. There was just one more hunch he had to check out, one more snitch's story he had to investigate.
Yeah, that's what I've been saying to myself for the past six months.
But he couldn't let it go. Wouldn't let it go. He had to know, had to find out. Even if she was dead and buried, Riddick had to know. At least then he could rest a little before exacting revenge on her kidnapper. Because if that was the case, if Jack was dead, that was exactly what Riddick intended on doing – making someone pay. Dearly.
Maybe it was the past that caused him to act this way, weak and out of control. Maybe it was the debt that he owed her. Or maybe he was just losing his edge. For the past several months all he could think about was Jack, getting her back, having her around him again to kiss and hold and touch. It was all Riddick wanted - damn he needed it. He needed to hear her voice again, needed to smell her one more time. He had never felt a need like this before in his life. He could have walked away from anyone and anything in the past, but Jack was different somehow. Her loss was causing a mental assault that he had never dealt with and it was breaking him down, piece by piece. Every day without her made him weaker, less eager to get out of bed, less willing to eat. He had to find her soon to get his life back. His iron determination was being held up with toothpicks, and every moment without her saw to it that one of those toothpicks was flicked away.
He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, activating the copilot as he did so, and trying desperately to recall Jack's face again. It was like a picture in his memory, worn at the edges, the color faded, but still clear to him as if she was right there. Her beauty and innocence, mixed with a knowledge far beyond her years. A balance so perfect, so right, that it could fit no one else, that it would be attractive on no one else but her. He felt tears prickle the backs of his eyes and quickly opened them. Crying would do nothing but get his face wet – she was out there damn it and he would find her.
Currently he was traveling to the Paeron system, following a ship named Day's Night. The last gutter-rat he had sliced had given Riddick a description of the pilot – and that description had given Riddick chills. It was too close for coincidence. The tattoo's were right, the clothes were his style, everything seemed to match up. And it would only be a matter of hours before Riddick would know for sure, without a doubt, if Dio really was still alive. He would slice and dice the real Dio just like he did to Dio's look-a-like back at the apartment. It was stupid for Riddick to have assumed that a paranoid man like Dio had just walked around the every-day people as though he were invincible. Of course he would hire a look-a-like, a stand in just in case there was an "accident" or some other sort of assassination attempt. Just one more thing for Riddick to beat himself up over.
Riddick cancelled the auto-pilot and took the controls. The emit-tracks from the ship ahead were getting thicker – even hours out, the tracks would still be visible due to the obvious lack of natural elements that would normally clear tracks away, like what usually happened on land. Riddick cruised slowly for another thirty minutes or so, watching as the track-matter thickened even more. Yes, they weren't far ahead, maybe another thirty minutes at full speed. Pushing a lever and pressing a few buttons, Riddick's ship surged forward, rocketing toward his ultimate goal – exacting revenge and hopefully finding Jack alive and well.