Chapter 3
The hunt
Third off was a man. Again.
Total passenger capacity of 30. But the manifest only listed eight places filled, including crew. The names were no help and neither had his scope been so far. Riddick readjusted his stance on the rooftop.
Fourth, fifth and sixth were all men. One of them matched the pilot's mug. He flipped the lid of his water and sculled it. The seventh passenger out was a boy, maybe four years old. The eigth, and final, was another man, trailing after the youngster with a washer.
Riddick ran the scope over the passengers again, but they were all men. Right down to the adam's apples.
He frowned, that bitch better not have been leading him on. Flicking over the scope to bio-sensor, he ran it over the ship. They were carrying a fair amount of food in the cargo hold, probably to make up the profit for the lack of people wanting a ride. No heat signs, or carbon sigs of humans though. Riddick sighed and scanned around the edges, maybe they'd already leapt out a back entrance and snuck into hiding. His scope caught the leg of one of the passengers in the view but he kept looking. Moving down, this time the lard-arse, fourth off, was on the side of the view. Riddick moved the viewer down, before realizing something had been wrong. He moved it back up to re-examine what had caught on his subconscious.
He'd seen a heat signature like this before. And that time, he'd been looking for it.
"Clever girl."
* * *
Maev tried to ignore the itch. No, itches.
The sun beat down unflinchingly. Heat exuded from the bleached ground. Steady steps brushed the suit against her in just the right, infuriating way to rub against her hips. It was her breathing that set the voicemorph at her throat to scratch.
Around her, the market was crawling with people buying up provisions, small parts and snacks. Maev snapped the lid off her waterbottle and sipped some more. She almost spat onto the concrete. The water was hot, warmed by the sun.
And then there was the thick, humid heat. Beating into her from every direction, she felt like she was melting underneath the suit. Rivulets of sweat were pooling at her lower back and along the centre of her chest, settling into her undersuit and causing even more rubbing.
Auto-evisceration is looking better all the time.
A sign caught her eye and Maev sighed in relief.
An hour later she was stretching in front of a mirror in a private suite. She'd been worried the suit wouldn't survive the cryochamber, but it had done remarkably well. The plastiskin held realistically, giving the appearance of a middle-aged, obese man grinning back at her. The thermostat was low enough to turn the humidity to snow.
"Hmm," Maev flopped onto her bed sleepily, still in costume.
Not long now.
He waited longer than she'd expected. When she finally felt the jab of pain as a needle punctured her back, she was almost too far asleep to inject the counter-drug. As her prey slid out from under her bed, she let her eyes drift shut.
She tuned out the image in her mind. His face, dark and blurry, staring down at her. It was too much like last time.
Instead her thoughts turned to her body.
Breathing slowed.
Pulse dropped away.
When his arms dug under her body to lift her, she was a leaden sack. Completely relaxed.
* * *
Riddick heaved the body onto the bottom bunk and looked her over. Ugly bastard had almost given him a hernia. He pinched at the plastiskin over her face and wondered what this Maev-bitch looked like underneath it all. He left her for a moment as he locked his ship up and brought back the vitals-monitor from his medkit.
She was stretched out as he'd left her, looking like a beached dugong with worse taste in clothing. Riddick thought for a moment. He'd never tried to remove anyone from one of these suits before. Hell, he only knew of two he'd even seen. Making yourself more than double your bodyweight just wasn't as fashionable as it might have been in the dark ages.
Quick check.
No zippers.
Riddick frowned and pulled out a shiv.
Where there's a sharp, slicing implement, there's a way.
He started under her collarbone, pushing his fingers into the plastiskin and pulling it up as much as he could. He inserted the shiv into it and pulled back sharply when red swelled up under the cut. Riddick lifted the shiv to his nose. Whatever the redness was, it sure wasn't blood.
Even so, a little more carefully, Riddick went back to slicing down along her midsection. He shrugged off a tingle along his spine as paranoia. No- one was watching him.
Red fluid continued to swell out of the cut but he ignored it. He went as far as her pelvis and noted the attention to accuracy of the bodysuit with a grimace. Pushing his fingers into the slice in the suit he pulled apart viciously.
1.1.1.1 Shhhhhrrrrp
The suit opened back, exposing a sizeable cavity.
"Blow me."
Riddick gaped. *That*'s what he hauled half a mile back to his ship. The amount of machinery stored inside the suit had to be more than her bodyweight. He bent down to get a closer look.
"Nice view?"
Riddick started back instantly. But the gun against his head indicated, not fast enough.
The sight of a man with his stomach split open, revealing an array of weapons tucked inside, was too absurd and Riddick couldn't fight back the grin.
"Nice to see you find this amusing."
"If the laughs continue, I might let you live," Riddick growled.
"You're not exactly in a position to bargain."
Maev ordered him up against the wall, legs and arms spread well into view. She kept her gun trained on him, a red dot blinking happily between his eyes. She was too far away to attack and too trigger-happy for him to try. Riddick watched attentively as she wrestled herself out of the suit, slicing parts as she went. Her gun-arm was always too steady.
"You're using the wrong gun."
Maev shot him a nasty glare. She grunted as she pulled the last of the leg- coverings off and switched hands, to remove the rest of her suit.
"No, this would do a nice job of X-ing out your torso," she retorted in a masculine voice still.
She wrestled with the last of the plastiskin on her arm and it shrugged to the floor, like a snake shedding its skin.
"Exactly. Riddick bits ain't gonna get you paid as high."
His taunting hadn't quite gotten to her yet, he noted with disappointment. She pushed her fingers into the seal at her collarbone.
"My employer couldn't give a fuck if you're alive or dead."
Riddick tsked and shook his head, "Trickeration won't get you anywhere. Would've gotten trigger-happy on my ass as soon as you could if the fee was equal either side of life and death."
"Maybe you're giving one of us too much credit."
Maev pulled the the mask off, stripping off the voicemod and letting her hair fall down in a tight weave to her waist.
Riddick's mind emptied, the taunts evaporated, leaving him just watching her. He'd seen the suit revealed piece by piece. It was the entirety that struck him though.
Tall, but not quite level with him. Auburn hair that framed her face where loops had escaped the ribbon threaded through her hair. Her body was lithe, toned as that of any mercenary, but still with curves feminine enough not to mistake her gender.
It was her face that struck him most. Sweeping angles, intense eyes and pale skin contrasting the deep hues of a celtic tatoo twisting over one eye. Not so much beautiful as malevolently striking. She squinted at him and cocked her head.
"Lights."
Riddick had time to register the surprise at hearing her real voice before the lights blinded him.
1.1.1.1.1 Soft and low.
"Cryochamber," Maev ordered. She eyed him warily and waited for him to lead the way.
With his eyes squeezed shut, Riddick stepped forward carefully.
"I'll need my glasses."
"Walk," she grunted in reply.
Shrugging, Riddick walked past her and sensed her back away to keep her distance. She followed him in the same way to the pair of cryochambers in the cargo-hold of the 'Obsidian Sun'.
"Get in."
Riddick turned around, opening his eyes after a moment. The light wasn't as bright here as the rest of the ship. Maev glared at him and gestured to the empty pods with the gun.
"Can't."
"Sure you can."
Riddick tilted his head, "They're both coded. I'd need the password to get in."
The merc's face screwed up in disgust, "Who puts locks on their fucking *cryopods*?!"
"Those who figure they might have a gun-toting merc on their arse?" He was chuckling under his breath, Maev could sense. The man had no subtley. And far too much preparation.
1.1.1.1.2 Damn boy-scout.
She sighed, "Just enter the code to get in, Riddick."
"I dunno. High-stress situation. Got me all nervous and my memory's suddenly shot," he smirked. Holding up a hand, he shook it theatrically before raising it to his chin in a gesture of exactly what she could do with her orders.
Thoughts were running through her head, just beneath the skin. Mercury eyes stared, but couldn't read them. She waved the gun to the left, something Riddick did understand. He obliged and moved.
1.1.1.1.3
1.1.1.1.4 Left hand on the gun. Weaker.
The merc's right hand was dancing over the keys, trying to break it.
1.1.1.1.5 Eyes down.
Her teeth caught on her bottom lip as she gnawed in thought.
It was almost too easy as Riddick dropped to his knees and dragged the gun over his head. Her hand clenched automatically but the shot went into the wall sending sparks and shrapnel flying. Throwing the gun wide, he launched himself at her legs.
Maev grunted as he connected and floored her. His arms were like a bear-hug as he pulled her down. But she knew this part too well. She'd read up on every single fight and kill Riddick had on record, studied them and memorized them. It was her job to know this part.
She didn't try to fight his grip, but pulled out a spare gun and shiv from holsters on her back, one for each hand. Riddick heaved her down to him, face to face with a victorious leer. Immediately the gun sprang into his vision and Riddick grabbed it, pushing the shot wide as he almost crushed her wrist. Maev sliced her shiv into his shoulder as deep as she could.
"Fuck!" Riddick released her as the bolt of pain wracked him.
Maev was on her feet several metres away. She was panting with adrenaline but was uninjured so far. Riddick took his hand from the gash to look at it.
"Cut to the bone," she drawled.
Riddick pounced again and watched her flip backwards to avoid him. He took out his own shiv and smiled at her. Like fangs, his teeth gleemed in the dim room.
She attacked next, executing a kick at his head and driving the blade towards his chest. Riddick ducked backwards, catching her leg and spinning her over. Maev twisted in the air to right her foot and sprung back on her hands. Running forwards, Riddick spun and drew a backhand slice along her stomach as she landed. The metal in his hand sung as it grated on other metal. Surprised, he snapped his head around. Her hands were still above her head as she had landed from the handspring. For the first time he realized what she was wearing. A dark bikini support, overlayed with a full- body lantium-weave. The strands of metal formed a web over her body. It was essentially incredibly light, flexible chainmail.
She grinned cockily at his surprise.
1.1.1.1.6 Slicing moves were out.
To injure her, Riddick would have to stab.
Maev kicked at his shiv-hand, ducked underneath the block and elbowed his solar plexus as she got close and personal. Immediately, she was retreating. He was too strong for her to linger near. As the light-weight, she had to make fast attacks, faster retreats.
"Now this doesn't seem very fair," said Riddick, "You've got a Lantium."
Maev shrugged,"You have a Y chromosome, I have a shiny suit. Call us even."
She darted in again, but Riddick was ready this time. A backhanded swipe caught her ribs, enough to make her flinch into Riddick's waiting grasp. He tugged her arm as she squirmed and flung her against the wall. Her back slammed into one cryochamber, cracking the plexiglass door. He lunged at her again and stabbed viciously down. Maev rolled to the side, causing Riddick to miss her chest but gash her leg.
"Aaah!"
She curled into a ball and tossed herself back over, focusing her mind away from the pain. At least he'd missed her femoral artery. Riddick caught another shiv wound in his bicep as he tried to pin her.
The scent of iron was filling the air now. Deep red was coagulating on his arm as cherry red spurted from her leg, filling floor tiles.
1.1.1.1.7 Paint by numbers.
Strange how humour seemed to fill what might have been his conscious.
She staggered up to her feet and assumed a fighting crouch as Riddick circled her. He jabbed at her tauntingly and the merc flinched. She wasn't afraid, he realized somehow, just a wary fighter. She dropped and executed a beautiful feint and sweep, tugging his ankles out from under him. Riddick broke his fall with his wrists. He looked up at her, dark hair spilling over her eyes as she angrily brushed it away. Both bodies were wet with sweat and blood.
Riddick waited.
For her muscles to relax, for his breathing to slow.
Then he roared, as he ran to her, ignoring the small hand motions she made with her blade. Her shiv-hand was slammed over her head, against the wall as the force of his entire body crushed hers against it too. The artery along his arm throbbed as he held her arm with a strength she couldn't fight. His face was set in a snarl and his breath came out in growls.
Maev felt the metal at her throat. He'd pushed just deep enough to draw blood and the cut was stinging with sweat.
Every breath he took only compressed her lungs more and the air on her face was hot. His entire body was hot. She felt like she was drowning in lava.
"Any last words?" he whispered hoarsely.
"A question," Maev panted.
Riddick nodded. She licked her bottom lip and took a steadying breath before going on.
Maev looked into Riddick's eyes, "What did Carolyn answer when you asked that?"
His face contorted. Confused. Pained. Gradually, the resolution came.
He could see it now. See it in her face and her manner. In the way she knew him like no merc could understand just from police reports and autopsy files. In the eyes that shone with hate, but once with hero-worship. His voice sounded like a stranger.
"Jack."
'Maev' smiled. She moved faster than she had to. If smurfs had exploded from the walls at that instant, Riddick wouldn't have been able to react. He hadn't even noticed her retrieve the smaller gun before he'd slammed her against the wall.
"Surprise," she sneered.
White light exploded in his iris.
Then came the black.
* * * * *
The hunt
Third off was a man. Again.
Total passenger capacity of 30. But the manifest only listed eight places filled, including crew. The names were no help and neither had his scope been so far. Riddick readjusted his stance on the rooftop.
Fourth, fifth and sixth were all men. One of them matched the pilot's mug. He flipped the lid of his water and sculled it. The seventh passenger out was a boy, maybe four years old. The eigth, and final, was another man, trailing after the youngster with a washer.
Riddick ran the scope over the passengers again, but they were all men. Right down to the adam's apples.
He frowned, that bitch better not have been leading him on. Flicking over the scope to bio-sensor, he ran it over the ship. They were carrying a fair amount of food in the cargo hold, probably to make up the profit for the lack of people wanting a ride. No heat signs, or carbon sigs of humans though. Riddick sighed and scanned around the edges, maybe they'd already leapt out a back entrance and snuck into hiding. His scope caught the leg of one of the passengers in the view but he kept looking. Moving down, this time the lard-arse, fourth off, was on the side of the view. Riddick moved the viewer down, before realizing something had been wrong. He moved it back up to re-examine what had caught on his subconscious.
He'd seen a heat signature like this before. And that time, he'd been looking for it.
"Clever girl."
* * *
Maev tried to ignore the itch. No, itches.
The sun beat down unflinchingly. Heat exuded from the bleached ground. Steady steps brushed the suit against her in just the right, infuriating way to rub against her hips. It was her breathing that set the voicemorph at her throat to scratch.
Around her, the market was crawling with people buying up provisions, small parts and snacks. Maev snapped the lid off her waterbottle and sipped some more. She almost spat onto the concrete. The water was hot, warmed by the sun.
And then there was the thick, humid heat. Beating into her from every direction, she felt like she was melting underneath the suit. Rivulets of sweat were pooling at her lower back and along the centre of her chest, settling into her undersuit and causing even more rubbing.
Auto-evisceration is looking better all the time.
A sign caught her eye and Maev sighed in relief.
An hour later she was stretching in front of a mirror in a private suite. She'd been worried the suit wouldn't survive the cryochamber, but it had done remarkably well. The plastiskin held realistically, giving the appearance of a middle-aged, obese man grinning back at her. The thermostat was low enough to turn the humidity to snow.
"Hmm," Maev flopped onto her bed sleepily, still in costume.
Not long now.
He waited longer than she'd expected. When she finally felt the jab of pain as a needle punctured her back, she was almost too far asleep to inject the counter-drug. As her prey slid out from under her bed, she let her eyes drift shut.
She tuned out the image in her mind. His face, dark and blurry, staring down at her. It was too much like last time.
Instead her thoughts turned to her body.
Breathing slowed.
Pulse dropped away.
When his arms dug under her body to lift her, she was a leaden sack. Completely relaxed.
* * *
Riddick heaved the body onto the bottom bunk and looked her over. Ugly bastard had almost given him a hernia. He pinched at the plastiskin over her face and wondered what this Maev-bitch looked like underneath it all. He left her for a moment as he locked his ship up and brought back the vitals-monitor from his medkit.
She was stretched out as he'd left her, looking like a beached dugong with worse taste in clothing. Riddick thought for a moment. He'd never tried to remove anyone from one of these suits before. Hell, he only knew of two he'd even seen. Making yourself more than double your bodyweight just wasn't as fashionable as it might have been in the dark ages.
Quick check.
No zippers.
Riddick frowned and pulled out a shiv.
Where there's a sharp, slicing implement, there's a way.
He started under her collarbone, pushing his fingers into the plastiskin and pulling it up as much as he could. He inserted the shiv into it and pulled back sharply when red swelled up under the cut. Riddick lifted the shiv to his nose. Whatever the redness was, it sure wasn't blood.
Even so, a little more carefully, Riddick went back to slicing down along her midsection. He shrugged off a tingle along his spine as paranoia. No- one was watching him.
Red fluid continued to swell out of the cut but he ignored it. He went as far as her pelvis and noted the attention to accuracy of the bodysuit with a grimace. Pushing his fingers into the slice in the suit he pulled apart viciously.
1.1.1.1 Shhhhhrrrrp
The suit opened back, exposing a sizeable cavity.
"Blow me."
Riddick gaped. *That*'s what he hauled half a mile back to his ship. The amount of machinery stored inside the suit had to be more than her bodyweight. He bent down to get a closer look.
"Nice view?"
Riddick started back instantly. But the gun against his head indicated, not fast enough.
The sight of a man with his stomach split open, revealing an array of weapons tucked inside, was too absurd and Riddick couldn't fight back the grin.
"Nice to see you find this amusing."
"If the laughs continue, I might let you live," Riddick growled.
"You're not exactly in a position to bargain."
Maev ordered him up against the wall, legs and arms spread well into view. She kept her gun trained on him, a red dot blinking happily between his eyes. She was too far away to attack and too trigger-happy for him to try. Riddick watched attentively as she wrestled herself out of the suit, slicing parts as she went. Her gun-arm was always too steady.
"You're using the wrong gun."
Maev shot him a nasty glare. She grunted as she pulled the last of the leg- coverings off and switched hands, to remove the rest of her suit.
"No, this would do a nice job of X-ing out your torso," she retorted in a masculine voice still.
She wrestled with the last of the plastiskin on her arm and it shrugged to the floor, like a snake shedding its skin.
"Exactly. Riddick bits ain't gonna get you paid as high."
His taunting hadn't quite gotten to her yet, he noted with disappointment. She pushed her fingers into the seal at her collarbone.
"My employer couldn't give a fuck if you're alive or dead."
Riddick tsked and shook his head, "Trickeration won't get you anywhere. Would've gotten trigger-happy on my ass as soon as you could if the fee was equal either side of life and death."
"Maybe you're giving one of us too much credit."
Maev pulled the the mask off, stripping off the voicemod and letting her hair fall down in a tight weave to her waist.
Riddick's mind emptied, the taunts evaporated, leaving him just watching her. He'd seen the suit revealed piece by piece. It was the entirety that struck him though.
Tall, but not quite level with him. Auburn hair that framed her face where loops had escaped the ribbon threaded through her hair. Her body was lithe, toned as that of any mercenary, but still with curves feminine enough not to mistake her gender.
It was her face that struck him most. Sweeping angles, intense eyes and pale skin contrasting the deep hues of a celtic tatoo twisting over one eye. Not so much beautiful as malevolently striking. She squinted at him and cocked her head.
"Lights."
Riddick had time to register the surprise at hearing her real voice before the lights blinded him.
1.1.1.1.1 Soft and low.
"Cryochamber," Maev ordered. She eyed him warily and waited for him to lead the way.
With his eyes squeezed shut, Riddick stepped forward carefully.
"I'll need my glasses."
"Walk," she grunted in reply.
Shrugging, Riddick walked past her and sensed her back away to keep her distance. She followed him in the same way to the pair of cryochambers in the cargo-hold of the 'Obsidian Sun'.
"Get in."
Riddick turned around, opening his eyes after a moment. The light wasn't as bright here as the rest of the ship. Maev glared at him and gestured to the empty pods with the gun.
"Can't."
"Sure you can."
Riddick tilted his head, "They're both coded. I'd need the password to get in."
The merc's face screwed up in disgust, "Who puts locks on their fucking *cryopods*?!"
"Those who figure they might have a gun-toting merc on their arse?" He was chuckling under his breath, Maev could sense. The man had no subtley. And far too much preparation.
1.1.1.1.2 Damn boy-scout.
She sighed, "Just enter the code to get in, Riddick."
"I dunno. High-stress situation. Got me all nervous and my memory's suddenly shot," he smirked. Holding up a hand, he shook it theatrically before raising it to his chin in a gesture of exactly what she could do with her orders.
Thoughts were running through her head, just beneath the skin. Mercury eyes stared, but couldn't read them. She waved the gun to the left, something Riddick did understand. He obliged and moved.
1.1.1.1.3
1.1.1.1.4 Left hand on the gun. Weaker.
The merc's right hand was dancing over the keys, trying to break it.
1.1.1.1.5 Eyes down.
Her teeth caught on her bottom lip as she gnawed in thought.
It was almost too easy as Riddick dropped to his knees and dragged the gun over his head. Her hand clenched automatically but the shot went into the wall sending sparks and shrapnel flying. Throwing the gun wide, he launched himself at her legs.
Maev grunted as he connected and floored her. His arms were like a bear-hug as he pulled her down. But she knew this part too well. She'd read up on every single fight and kill Riddick had on record, studied them and memorized them. It was her job to know this part.
She didn't try to fight his grip, but pulled out a spare gun and shiv from holsters on her back, one for each hand. Riddick heaved her down to him, face to face with a victorious leer. Immediately the gun sprang into his vision and Riddick grabbed it, pushing the shot wide as he almost crushed her wrist. Maev sliced her shiv into his shoulder as deep as she could.
"Fuck!" Riddick released her as the bolt of pain wracked him.
Maev was on her feet several metres away. She was panting with adrenaline but was uninjured so far. Riddick took his hand from the gash to look at it.
"Cut to the bone," she drawled.
Riddick pounced again and watched her flip backwards to avoid him. He took out his own shiv and smiled at her. Like fangs, his teeth gleemed in the dim room.
She attacked next, executing a kick at his head and driving the blade towards his chest. Riddick ducked backwards, catching her leg and spinning her over. Maev twisted in the air to right her foot and sprung back on her hands. Running forwards, Riddick spun and drew a backhand slice along her stomach as she landed. The metal in his hand sung as it grated on other metal. Surprised, he snapped his head around. Her hands were still above her head as she had landed from the handspring. For the first time he realized what she was wearing. A dark bikini support, overlayed with a full- body lantium-weave. The strands of metal formed a web over her body. It was essentially incredibly light, flexible chainmail.
She grinned cockily at his surprise.
1.1.1.1.6 Slicing moves were out.
To injure her, Riddick would have to stab.
Maev kicked at his shiv-hand, ducked underneath the block and elbowed his solar plexus as she got close and personal. Immediately, she was retreating. He was too strong for her to linger near. As the light-weight, she had to make fast attacks, faster retreats.
"Now this doesn't seem very fair," said Riddick, "You've got a Lantium."
Maev shrugged,"You have a Y chromosome, I have a shiny suit. Call us even."
She darted in again, but Riddick was ready this time. A backhanded swipe caught her ribs, enough to make her flinch into Riddick's waiting grasp. He tugged her arm as she squirmed and flung her against the wall. Her back slammed into one cryochamber, cracking the plexiglass door. He lunged at her again and stabbed viciously down. Maev rolled to the side, causing Riddick to miss her chest but gash her leg.
"Aaah!"
She curled into a ball and tossed herself back over, focusing her mind away from the pain. At least he'd missed her femoral artery. Riddick caught another shiv wound in his bicep as he tried to pin her.
The scent of iron was filling the air now. Deep red was coagulating on his arm as cherry red spurted from her leg, filling floor tiles.
1.1.1.1.7 Paint by numbers.
Strange how humour seemed to fill what might have been his conscious.
She staggered up to her feet and assumed a fighting crouch as Riddick circled her. He jabbed at her tauntingly and the merc flinched. She wasn't afraid, he realized somehow, just a wary fighter. She dropped and executed a beautiful feint and sweep, tugging his ankles out from under him. Riddick broke his fall with his wrists. He looked up at her, dark hair spilling over her eyes as she angrily brushed it away. Both bodies were wet with sweat and blood.
Riddick waited.
For her muscles to relax, for his breathing to slow.
Then he roared, as he ran to her, ignoring the small hand motions she made with her blade. Her shiv-hand was slammed over her head, against the wall as the force of his entire body crushed hers against it too. The artery along his arm throbbed as he held her arm with a strength she couldn't fight. His face was set in a snarl and his breath came out in growls.
Maev felt the metal at her throat. He'd pushed just deep enough to draw blood and the cut was stinging with sweat.
Every breath he took only compressed her lungs more and the air on her face was hot. His entire body was hot. She felt like she was drowning in lava.
"Any last words?" he whispered hoarsely.
"A question," Maev panted.
Riddick nodded. She licked her bottom lip and took a steadying breath before going on.
Maev looked into Riddick's eyes, "What did Carolyn answer when you asked that?"
His face contorted. Confused. Pained. Gradually, the resolution came.
He could see it now. See it in her face and her manner. In the way she knew him like no merc could understand just from police reports and autopsy files. In the eyes that shone with hate, but once with hero-worship. His voice sounded like a stranger.
"Jack."
'Maev' smiled. She moved faster than she had to. If smurfs had exploded from the walls at that instant, Riddick wouldn't have been able to react. He hadn't even noticed her retrieve the smaller gun before he'd slammed her against the wall.
"Surprise," she sneered.
White light exploded in his iris.
Then came the black.
* * * * *
