Notes: The return! I am so very sorry it has taken me this long to
update, but this summer has been incredibly busy for me with limited
internet access. I'm going to get right on working on another chapter, and
reviewing those of you whose stories I've been neglecting. Please review
so I can get back into the swing of things with my writing! For those of
you who've been waiting with baited breath, I hope this chapter's worth it.
Chapter 6 The Journey Begins
"Depends," Riddick answered Alex as they both stared at the silver doors of the descending elevator. He paused, giving her a calculating look. "For the purposes you're talking about, you'd need something that can be outfitted to go undetected and can slip in and out of places fast. We're talking at least fifty, probably more like seventy-five thou with a hyperdrive, unless you've got any contacts that can lower that."
Alex nodded faintly, considering. Seventy-five thousand was a lot to her, but a great deal more than it would have been to her three hundred years ago. She could handle it. However, his last comment about any contacts got her thinking.
"There is one possibility," she said but then slammed her mouth shut as the doors slid open, revealing a tall, dark-haired man of about twenty-five whose hair was slicked back against his head. Alex barely suppressed a groan at the sight of Nikolas, the resident manager who just happened to be the landlord's brother. She had been putting up with his unwanted advances for four months, and couldn't use any violent methods of persuasion because if she did, she would be kicked out onto the street. He was a dishonest slimeball that somehow thought he was society's gift to women, especially Alex. It made her glad that only one of the five bolts on the apartment was a key the resident manager had, as the other four had doubtless stopped Nikolas from entering whenever he wanted. She avoided him at all costs, but at times she ran into him and had to put up with him.
"Heya baby," he said, putting on a smarmy sort of smile and placing his hand over the elevator door so it wouldn't close. "How you doin'? Haven't seen ya lately, I been thinking you should come up to my place and cook me dinner, then maybe I consider lowering your rent, eh?" He finished with a confident smirk, his voice dripping innuendo. Nikolas definitely was not the sharpest knife in the drawer, either.
Then Nikolas noticed how Riddick had stayed in the elevator instead of leaving, looking him over. "Hey you, you got a problem? The lady and I are talking here," he said, trying to sound menacing and looking over at Riddick.
Alex could almost feel Riddick's amusement behind her. She automatically put on her 'tolerant' smile, and started to say something that would head him off as usual, but stopped. The thought came like a breath of fresh air. She didn't have to put up with Nikolas anymore. Her smile then changed to that of a cat about to pounce on the unknowing mouse.
"Oh, he's with me, Nikolas." Her smile widened at his show of surprise. "In fact, I've decided it will no longer be necessary that I talk to you any more". With that, Alex ducked around to the other side of him and started to walk past.
Nikolas' smile changed quickly into an angry sneer. "Now listen here, bitch," he started to say, turning and catching on to her wrist. Big mistake, Alex thought. She had been readying herself for this and quickly twisted her wrist and grabbed onto Nikolas', pinching it in a viselike grip as his eyes betrayed fear, and then anger. But Alex didn't wait to let him do anything, she quickly ducked under the arm and twisted his arm behind his back, getting behind him, and kicked behind his kneecaps with the side of her foot, forcing him to kneel as she twisted the arm even more as he cried out in pain and shock. Her other hand swiftly flourished the knife from her back sheath in front of his eyes, and then held it to his throat.
"Now you listen, bitch," Alex growled, remembering all of the times he had harassed her. "You don't get to talk at me. You don't get to look at me. I hear from you again, and it won't matter who your brother is, there won't be enough left over for him to cry over." An empty threat, true, but it had worked because he was shaking.
"Get down," Alex said, pushing him to the floor, face down. "Lay here and don't look up until you've counted to one thousand. I might stick around to see if you do. Got it?"
It served two purposes. One was to make sure nobody knew where she was going, and two, to just scare the hell out of him. To Alex's guilty pleasure, Nikolas nodded and closed his eyes as he lay face down onto the floor. She almost snickered at the thought that he might not be able to count that high. Almost. The other half of her was scared witless at what she was doing.
She had forgotten about Riddick. As Nikolas began counting, Alex slowly stood up and saw Riddick edge silently around the man on the floor, his face a mixture of a smirk and puzzlement. 'I bet you're dying to know what the hell that was about, Richard B. Riddick,' Alex thought to herself. It had felt quite satisfying to smack that asshole Nikolas around, but Alex quickly reined in that feeling before it made her overconfident and not cautious enough. Just because she could handle one semi-tough spur of the moment didn't mean she could handle them all. That was her key, to be cautious, and always have a plan. It brought her up a little short, that now she would have to allow for Riddick's plans as well as her own, but quickly began to calculate what sorts of stops they would possibly make in order to find Jack.
The next step, though, was to somehow explain to Josef that he was losing one of his bartenders without having him go ballistic. He was a good man, Josef, just a trifle rough around the edges. More bark than bite, really, Alex thought to herself as she blinked walking out of the building. As she passed over its threshold for the last time, she almost paused to look back, but instead hefted her bags again and strode out purposefully towards the Black Orchid. Walking the streets she had so many times before, it came to her that she was pushing it all away, except for cold reasoning, or else the loss of Jack would be overwhelming. One little connection fostered into so much, and Alex knew that if she thought of Jack, or her deal with a convicted killer walking alongside her, it would be too much.
"Just go with it," she muttered under her breath, not even audible for Riddick to hear. Christ, Riddick. Still a mystery, still untrustworthy, but would he keep to the deal? Twenty thousand creds, and access to a ship, was a lot to put on the table.
She glanced at him as she made the first turn on the way to the Black Orchid. "I've got to talk to my boss, and he may be able to help us out to find a ship," Alex said, thinking of the few times the bar hadn't been busy and she had made small talk with Josef. When it was obvious he wasn't losing money by talking to her, he certainly liked to shoot the breeze. Alex hadn't given away a lot about herself, but had learned some things about Josef. "I'm not sure, but I think he used to be a highup in the freighter landing sector of the station," at this, Alex motioned to the ever-present satellite now visible in the eastern sky. Highlighted by light from the twin suns, the dim memories Alex had of the station was that its sterile gray environment blurred past her as she, Imam, and Jack were shuttled from one of the enormous cargo ships to the landing ship. It had felt so good to step foot on the ground after the voyage, even though it had only been a few weeks. She was meant to roam on the ground, not be cramped in some tiny cabin.
Startled out of her reverie by Riddick's acknowledging, "Hm," tinged with disbelief, she started to back up her point. "He knows much more than most of the spacers that come into the bar who like to talk, and those are the real ship-hoppers." She swallowed. Yeah, real salt-of-the-earth types. More than a little rough around the edges, as she'd had to fight off a few who couldn't see past her chest.
Riddick seemed slightly placated by that, his expression a little more smoothed. They turned down another street, so different in the daytime than the previous night. Alex pushed away the fatigue as she realized how little sleep she'd had, and how the caff was starting to wear off.
"I also need to ask your.boss.where the nearest untraceable netlab is, unless you know?" Riddick drawled, a bit sarcastic at the end but he seemed to preoccupied to insult her further. Hopefully he, like Alex, had a mind swirling with possibilities and plans, but he knew what he was doing.
Alex shook her head, again it stinging her that there was something she couldn't be proficient in. Yet. "No, I don't. I used to know-" she trailed off, terrified that she had almost admitted to something from her previous life, where she had known computer systems like the back of her hand. "I don't," she finished more harshly. "I'll pick up stuff quick, but I don't know these systems."
He nodded thoughtfully in reply. Alex bit the inside of her cheek, hopefully unnoticed. How could she have slipped like that, letting Riddick, of all people, in on her biggest secret and what she fought hard to lock away? It did cross her mind, an interesting mental note, that this was quite possibly the first time they had exchanged more than a few words without each carefully considering what was said. Almost like they were true partners in this deal. Alex filed that away for later.
In what seemed no time at all she turned down the side street and passed the Orchid's now unlit sign and locked double door with a harshly outlined black flower on the front. Josef was always there early in the day to keep the books honest, and so she swung down the alley to the back door. Thankfully the back door was fairly close to the entrance of the alley, for further down the refuse got so thick that the almost cat-sized rats didn't bother skittering out of the way for humans. Getting out her key "for emergencies", she knocked once, then inserted it in the lock and hit the entry code into the keypad. The door's security system clicked off, and Alex opened the door onto the surprisingly clean back hallway. Josef was always one for cleanliness, and the Orchid, though dark, was usually very clean.
Ty, as usual, the bar owner's shadow, hastily got up from where he had been reading a paper on the stool next to the door. Quite possibly larger than Riddick, he was an ex-miner on the ore deposits which had made Moltai into the hub it was today. His bulk, mostly muscle, made him certainly no one to be trifled with, but Ty was something of a softie, especially for Jack's bubbly personality. More than a few times Jack and Ty had played poker in the weekend afternoons when Alex had to work early.
"Hey there, Ty," Alex said with a tense smile. She watched his one glance take in her bags as he smiled back, and then his gaze shifted to Riddick, who was wisely waiting outside of the door. It was almost funny to see the two of them size each other up. Men, Alex mentally sighed.
"He's with me," Alex said, causing Ty to look back at her and wave Riddick in, all business. "Josef in the office?"
"Yah," he muttered in a voice raspy from ore dust as he made way for Alex and Riddick to enter, then shut the door, temporarily blinding Alex as she got used to the dimmer light. "He's in a good mood, brought in a lot last night." He nodded his head at her bags. "You on your way to the combat gym? Where's the kid?"
The sudden reminder hit Alex in the stomach, but she grit her teeth and tried to make the feeling pass. "Why don't you come in with me to talk to Josef?" she said quickly to cover it. "Isn't like the alarm won't go off if someone jimmies the lock."
Ty might have seemed like a big dumb ox, but he wasn't, and was definitely perceptive. Concern briefly flashed in his eyes, but for what, Alex wasn't sure.
"Yeh, sure," he said. "He comin' too?"
Alex nodded, then inclined her head for Riddick to follow and went down the hallway to the tan office door. The first door required a key-entry, which Ty supplied, going in first and announcing that Alex was there. Josef was shutting the door to the second room, his money room, as Alex stepped through the door. He looked up and smiled with a glint in his eye, which disappeared in an instant as he saw the big man behind her. When she was on the clock, he was all business and let her take care of herself, as he found out she could do with no problems. But increasingly, she had seen that in the private sector, he had become more friendly and seemed to think it his responsibility to look after her and Jack. It was really only because of this that she had come to the Orchid one last time, and dared ask him for the little help he might give.
The grin was back on his grizzled, hardened face, but a little forced, and his hand strayed near his hip where the stunner lay at all times. "Alex, m'dear, to what do I owe this? I've just been totaling up yesterday's take, excellent, excellent. Who's yer friend?" the question dropped. With it came all sorts of overtones, even an offer of help, if he was a threat, an attempt to assess the situation.
Which really only served to piss her off. What was it about men that made them assume a female, even one equipped with a sword and four known knives about her person, was unable to fend for herself? She almost sighed, reminded herself she was about to quit a good job with a boss she almost considered a friend, and resolved herself to explain the situation.
"This is an acquaintance from off-planet," she began, letting Josef and Ty know that he was not necessarily a friend, but no enemy, and not from Moltai so he was not a Loku tough with something over her. She paused a minute, fumbling for the name Riddick had given her this morning as what he went by. "Josef, Ty, meet Kale Resta." Thankfully, she had not tripped over her own tongue.
Riddick nodded in greeting at the other two men. Josef went behind his desk and motioned for her to sit on the small overstuffed sofa across from it. Ty tried to be unobtrusive and get a glass of water from the pitcher on a table behind the desk so he was behind and slightly to the side of his boss. Bodyguard in many respects. Alex had often wondered what exactly Ty had done before mining, perhaps participated in the Freighter Wars she had read about between factions and the United Coalition's army. Earth's Governing Council's reach became strained this far out.
Alex took a deep breath before beginning. She had thought about exactly how much to divulge on the walk over, and thought that she had come up with just enough truth to allow. These two were, after all, the only two besides Jack and Imam she had some modicum of trust in.
"Kale brought to my attention a serious matter involving my stay here, and it has now become apparent that I must, unfortunately, leave Moltai to pursue that. I am so very sorry, Josef," she added. Her face had unknowingly broke into a very genuine, pained expression which stopped her now ex-boss from breaking into a tirade and consider what was going on with his most successful bartender to date. "I can't tell you exactly what because you should not become involved with these people, but I can tell you that I must leave as soon as possible." There. Her tiny speech was out.
Josef let a low breath whistle through his teeth. That one slip her facial expression had made in a woman who never let emotion show gave him a clue as to the cause. The bags they both carried, three of them for two people.
"What about the kid?"
Her reaction to that confirmed his questions. Josef Kiwana prided himself on being able to read other people, especially his own employees, and had seen the cold, frigid ice-queen Alex Bennet warm up because of one thing-- the kid which she protected and which looked up to her with adoration in her eyes. Everything dropped away when he asked about Jack and he saw naked pain in her face.
Alex's eyes looked at the floor, seeming to compose herself. "They took her," she said in a low, husky voice.
Josef leaned back in his chair and Alex brought her eyes back up to meet his. Now the green eyes stared at him with a sadness hardening to anger. The big man standing near the door, this Resta, was watching him closely for a reaction after this news had come to light. If Kale Resta was his real name the Josef was a fish. From the man's stance and clothing, the glasses he wore even inside, probably an ex-con or someone with a reason to see in the dark. Killer, that one, he thought to himself, having seen the type a hundred times before. Josef had no idea why he was helping out this strange pair, man like that kept to himself. But if he was on Alex's side she'd be taken well care of. And at the mention of the kid, Resta had shifted uncomfortably himself. Cared about the kid, too, did he? Yes, Alex had a good partner working with her.
"Goin' after her then?" he asked, knowing the answer.
It was the question Alex had hoped for, because she had suspected for a long time that Josef had known how deeply attached she was to Jack, and if he understood what it meant to lose her, it wouldn't matter quite as much that she was leaving. She nodded, and fingered the sword she had put down when she sat to calm herself. A hunch that she had about Josef had paid off, and her employer for almost a year was willing to be not her employer but her friend.
"I know I'm leaving you in the lurch, and I apologize," she murmured. "But there is one more favor I have to ask you. There is a need to go offplanet in a ship which Mr. Resta will be piloting and I will be purchasing, and I was hoping you could give me a few names down at the station docks"
Now there was a surprise to Josef. This acquaintance of hers was getting more interesting by the minute. How she came to be mixed up with him, he might not ever know, but a pilot? And where the hell was she going to get enough credits for a ship? She didn't make that much serving drinks. One big mystery, but from her expression and what he knew of her, she wasn't going to let anything get in her way or explain more than she had to. Oh well, best help her out like he had planned to once she said she was leaving. Funny thing, that, but she was the only one in a long string of workers that had struck a chord with him, sort of like a daughter he hadn't had.
"Yeah, I can give you some names. Fred Towa's probably the best one, he deals in small but decked-out ships and if you mention my name, my full name, mind, then he'll cut you a deal." He smiled at her, sad to be losing her. You don't know what you have until it's gone, he thought.
Her companion spoke up for the first time, and his rumbling bass sent a shiver down the hardened man's spine. "I also need the location of a untraceable netlab," he said, in a voice that said he was accustomed to getting what he wanted. A dangerous man, the very air around him crackled when he spoke. "She says you would know where that is."
Surprisingly, it was Ty who quickly spoke up. Damn man had always had a bit of a hope that Alex'd warm up to him a little, but he sure had a spot for that kid in his heart. "I can tell ya," he said, "but it's costly 'less you're a regular." Josef had turned to see a bit of an angry expression on his bouncer's face, but an eagerness to help. He seemed slow and stupid, but was faster than Josef on the 'net and had shown Jack a few tricks when Alex didn't know. "Tell 'em Ty Mercado sent you, pass number 8744, and they won't rob ya blind. It's 41756 109th street, 'Lex, remember the old parts shop next to the abandoned warehouse?" When Alex nodded, he continued, "You go get her, 'Lex," more forcefully than he intended.
Resta seemed surprised with the quick offer of assistance and pass number, and nodded slowly, as if half considering, half mentally filing away the name and number.
"Thank you both," Alex spoke up. "I can't compensate you in any way, and I'm not sure I'll see you, but I'll try my best to bring her back to see you sometime," she said, shocked by the reactions they had both had and the help they were prepared to offer. Maybe more than "almost" friends, she thought. Too much had she been cold to everyone else.
"Looked like the 'tender's a bit bored over at the Nightflower, by the way," Alex said as if in passing, remembering the expression on the bartender's face when she and Riddick had gone in for caff, just a few hours earlier. "Might want to come over here instead of serving caff in the god-awful hours of the morning." A slow smile spread on her face, though she didn't really feel happy, she felt better than she had all day. She stood, and Josef rose and moved around his desk to meet her.
"Good bye, Josef," she said, extending out a hand to shake his. He took it, then pulled her towards him and gave her the last thing she expected in the world-a hug.
"You take care of yourself, girl," the older man muttered into her ear, then let her go.
A strange look passed across Alex's face, and then she smiled the first real smile she had in a long time. It lit up her face like a Christmas tree, totally changing her face, softening it and letting the cares drop away. It was beautiful to see for Josef, her finally letting herself be happy.
"I will, Josef. Ty." She said, nodding at the both of them in turn. "I can let us out okay." And with that she turned and opened the door, walking past Resta and into the hallway.
"Take care of her, Kale Resta," Ty told the man, the yearning look in his eyes all too apparent to Josef who had known her for years. But Josef had known that Ty would probably not have her. Not that one. Resta, silently as ever, nodded and followed the girl in black out the door.
As the office door closed behind the both of him, Josef walked over to the couch and sunk into it as Ty leaned against the desk.
"Well," Josef started. "Want to go on over to the Nightflower and try and wrestle away one bartender for tonight?" Josef smiled and shook his head. "What a pair, my friend, what a pair."
Chapter 6 The Journey Begins
"Depends," Riddick answered Alex as they both stared at the silver doors of the descending elevator. He paused, giving her a calculating look. "For the purposes you're talking about, you'd need something that can be outfitted to go undetected and can slip in and out of places fast. We're talking at least fifty, probably more like seventy-five thou with a hyperdrive, unless you've got any contacts that can lower that."
Alex nodded faintly, considering. Seventy-five thousand was a lot to her, but a great deal more than it would have been to her three hundred years ago. She could handle it. However, his last comment about any contacts got her thinking.
"There is one possibility," she said but then slammed her mouth shut as the doors slid open, revealing a tall, dark-haired man of about twenty-five whose hair was slicked back against his head. Alex barely suppressed a groan at the sight of Nikolas, the resident manager who just happened to be the landlord's brother. She had been putting up with his unwanted advances for four months, and couldn't use any violent methods of persuasion because if she did, she would be kicked out onto the street. He was a dishonest slimeball that somehow thought he was society's gift to women, especially Alex. It made her glad that only one of the five bolts on the apartment was a key the resident manager had, as the other four had doubtless stopped Nikolas from entering whenever he wanted. She avoided him at all costs, but at times she ran into him and had to put up with him.
"Heya baby," he said, putting on a smarmy sort of smile and placing his hand over the elevator door so it wouldn't close. "How you doin'? Haven't seen ya lately, I been thinking you should come up to my place and cook me dinner, then maybe I consider lowering your rent, eh?" He finished with a confident smirk, his voice dripping innuendo. Nikolas definitely was not the sharpest knife in the drawer, either.
Then Nikolas noticed how Riddick had stayed in the elevator instead of leaving, looking him over. "Hey you, you got a problem? The lady and I are talking here," he said, trying to sound menacing and looking over at Riddick.
Alex could almost feel Riddick's amusement behind her. She automatically put on her 'tolerant' smile, and started to say something that would head him off as usual, but stopped. The thought came like a breath of fresh air. She didn't have to put up with Nikolas anymore. Her smile then changed to that of a cat about to pounce on the unknowing mouse.
"Oh, he's with me, Nikolas." Her smile widened at his show of surprise. "In fact, I've decided it will no longer be necessary that I talk to you any more". With that, Alex ducked around to the other side of him and started to walk past.
Nikolas' smile changed quickly into an angry sneer. "Now listen here, bitch," he started to say, turning and catching on to her wrist. Big mistake, Alex thought. She had been readying herself for this and quickly twisted her wrist and grabbed onto Nikolas', pinching it in a viselike grip as his eyes betrayed fear, and then anger. But Alex didn't wait to let him do anything, she quickly ducked under the arm and twisted his arm behind his back, getting behind him, and kicked behind his kneecaps with the side of her foot, forcing him to kneel as she twisted the arm even more as he cried out in pain and shock. Her other hand swiftly flourished the knife from her back sheath in front of his eyes, and then held it to his throat.
"Now you listen, bitch," Alex growled, remembering all of the times he had harassed her. "You don't get to talk at me. You don't get to look at me. I hear from you again, and it won't matter who your brother is, there won't be enough left over for him to cry over." An empty threat, true, but it had worked because he was shaking.
"Get down," Alex said, pushing him to the floor, face down. "Lay here and don't look up until you've counted to one thousand. I might stick around to see if you do. Got it?"
It served two purposes. One was to make sure nobody knew where she was going, and two, to just scare the hell out of him. To Alex's guilty pleasure, Nikolas nodded and closed his eyes as he lay face down onto the floor. She almost snickered at the thought that he might not be able to count that high. Almost. The other half of her was scared witless at what she was doing.
She had forgotten about Riddick. As Nikolas began counting, Alex slowly stood up and saw Riddick edge silently around the man on the floor, his face a mixture of a smirk and puzzlement. 'I bet you're dying to know what the hell that was about, Richard B. Riddick,' Alex thought to herself. It had felt quite satisfying to smack that asshole Nikolas around, but Alex quickly reined in that feeling before it made her overconfident and not cautious enough. Just because she could handle one semi-tough spur of the moment didn't mean she could handle them all. That was her key, to be cautious, and always have a plan. It brought her up a little short, that now she would have to allow for Riddick's plans as well as her own, but quickly began to calculate what sorts of stops they would possibly make in order to find Jack.
The next step, though, was to somehow explain to Josef that he was losing one of his bartenders without having him go ballistic. He was a good man, Josef, just a trifle rough around the edges. More bark than bite, really, Alex thought to herself as she blinked walking out of the building. As she passed over its threshold for the last time, she almost paused to look back, but instead hefted her bags again and strode out purposefully towards the Black Orchid. Walking the streets she had so many times before, it came to her that she was pushing it all away, except for cold reasoning, or else the loss of Jack would be overwhelming. One little connection fostered into so much, and Alex knew that if she thought of Jack, or her deal with a convicted killer walking alongside her, it would be too much.
"Just go with it," she muttered under her breath, not even audible for Riddick to hear. Christ, Riddick. Still a mystery, still untrustworthy, but would he keep to the deal? Twenty thousand creds, and access to a ship, was a lot to put on the table.
She glanced at him as she made the first turn on the way to the Black Orchid. "I've got to talk to my boss, and he may be able to help us out to find a ship," Alex said, thinking of the few times the bar hadn't been busy and she had made small talk with Josef. When it was obvious he wasn't losing money by talking to her, he certainly liked to shoot the breeze. Alex hadn't given away a lot about herself, but had learned some things about Josef. "I'm not sure, but I think he used to be a highup in the freighter landing sector of the station," at this, Alex motioned to the ever-present satellite now visible in the eastern sky. Highlighted by light from the twin suns, the dim memories Alex had of the station was that its sterile gray environment blurred past her as she, Imam, and Jack were shuttled from one of the enormous cargo ships to the landing ship. It had felt so good to step foot on the ground after the voyage, even though it had only been a few weeks. She was meant to roam on the ground, not be cramped in some tiny cabin.
Startled out of her reverie by Riddick's acknowledging, "Hm," tinged with disbelief, she started to back up her point. "He knows much more than most of the spacers that come into the bar who like to talk, and those are the real ship-hoppers." She swallowed. Yeah, real salt-of-the-earth types. More than a little rough around the edges, as she'd had to fight off a few who couldn't see past her chest.
Riddick seemed slightly placated by that, his expression a little more smoothed. They turned down another street, so different in the daytime than the previous night. Alex pushed away the fatigue as she realized how little sleep she'd had, and how the caff was starting to wear off.
"I also need to ask your.boss.where the nearest untraceable netlab is, unless you know?" Riddick drawled, a bit sarcastic at the end but he seemed to preoccupied to insult her further. Hopefully he, like Alex, had a mind swirling with possibilities and plans, but he knew what he was doing.
Alex shook her head, again it stinging her that there was something she couldn't be proficient in. Yet. "No, I don't. I used to know-" she trailed off, terrified that she had almost admitted to something from her previous life, where she had known computer systems like the back of her hand. "I don't," she finished more harshly. "I'll pick up stuff quick, but I don't know these systems."
He nodded thoughtfully in reply. Alex bit the inside of her cheek, hopefully unnoticed. How could she have slipped like that, letting Riddick, of all people, in on her biggest secret and what she fought hard to lock away? It did cross her mind, an interesting mental note, that this was quite possibly the first time they had exchanged more than a few words without each carefully considering what was said. Almost like they were true partners in this deal. Alex filed that away for later.
In what seemed no time at all she turned down the side street and passed the Orchid's now unlit sign and locked double door with a harshly outlined black flower on the front. Josef was always there early in the day to keep the books honest, and so she swung down the alley to the back door. Thankfully the back door was fairly close to the entrance of the alley, for further down the refuse got so thick that the almost cat-sized rats didn't bother skittering out of the way for humans. Getting out her key "for emergencies", she knocked once, then inserted it in the lock and hit the entry code into the keypad. The door's security system clicked off, and Alex opened the door onto the surprisingly clean back hallway. Josef was always one for cleanliness, and the Orchid, though dark, was usually very clean.
Ty, as usual, the bar owner's shadow, hastily got up from where he had been reading a paper on the stool next to the door. Quite possibly larger than Riddick, he was an ex-miner on the ore deposits which had made Moltai into the hub it was today. His bulk, mostly muscle, made him certainly no one to be trifled with, but Ty was something of a softie, especially for Jack's bubbly personality. More than a few times Jack and Ty had played poker in the weekend afternoons when Alex had to work early.
"Hey there, Ty," Alex said with a tense smile. She watched his one glance take in her bags as he smiled back, and then his gaze shifted to Riddick, who was wisely waiting outside of the door. It was almost funny to see the two of them size each other up. Men, Alex mentally sighed.
"He's with me," Alex said, causing Ty to look back at her and wave Riddick in, all business. "Josef in the office?"
"Yah," he muttered in a voice raspy from ore dust as he made way for Alex and Riddick to enter, then shut the door, temporarily blinding Alex as she got used to the dimmer light. "He's in a good mood, brought in a lot last night." He nodded his head at her bags. "You on your way to the combat gym? Where's the kid?"
The sudden reminder hit Alex in the stomach, but she grit her teeth and tried to make the feeling pass. "Why don't you come in with me to talk to Josef?" she said quickly to cover it. "Isn't like the alarm won't go off if someone jimmies the lock."
Ty might have seemed like a big dumb ox, but he wasn't, and was definitely perceptive. Concern briefly flashed in his eyes, but for what, Alex wasn't sure.
"Yeh, sure," he said. "He comin' too?"
Alex nodded, then inclined her head for Riddick to follow and went down the hallway to the tan office door. The first door required a key-entry, which Ty supplied, going in first and announcing that Alex was there. Josef was shutting the door to the second room, his money room, as Alex stepped through the door. He looked up and smiled with a glint in his eye, which disappeared in an instant as he saw the big man behind her. When she was on the clock, he was all business and let her take care of herself, as he found out she could do with no problems. But increasingly, she had seen that in the private sector, he had become more friendly and seemed to think it his responsibility to look after her and Jack. It was really only because of this that she had come to the Orchid one last time, and dared ask him for the little help he might give.
The grin was back on his grizzled, hardened face, but a little forced, and his hand strayed near his hip where the stunner lay at all times. "Alex, m'dear, to what do I owe this? I've just been totaling up yesterday's take, excellent, excellent. Who's yer friend?" the question dropped. With it came all sorts of overtones, even an offer of help, if he was a threat, an attempt to assess the situation.
Which really only served to piss her off. What was it about men that made them assume a female, even one equipped with a sword and four known knives about her person, was unable to fend for herself? She almost sighed, reminded herself she was about to quit a good job with a boss she almost considered a friend, and resolved herself to explain the situation.
"This is an acquaintance from off-planet," she began, letting Josef and Ty know that he was not necessarily a friend, but no enemy, and not from Moltai so he was not a Loku tough with something over her. She paused a minute, fumbling for the name Riddick had given her this morning as what he went by. "Josef, Ty, meet Kale Resta." Thankfully, she had not tripped over her own tongue.
Riddick nodded in greeting at the other two men. Josef went behind his desk and motioned for her to sit on the small overstuffed sofa across from it. Ty tried to be unobtrusive and get a glass of water from the pitcher on a table behind the desk so he was behind and slightly to the side of his boss. Bodyguard in many respects. Alex had often wondered what exactly Ty had done before mining, perhaps participated in the Freighter Wars she had read about between factions and the United Coalition's army. Earth's Governing Council's reach became strained this far out.
Alex took a deep breath before beginning. She had thought about exactly how much to divulge on the walk over, and thought that she had come up with just enough truth to allow. These two were, after all, the only two besides Jack and Imam she had some modicum of trust in.
"Kale brought to my attention a serious matter involving my stay here, and it has now become apparent that I must, unfortunately, leave Moltai to pursue that. I am so very sorry, Josef," she added. Her face had unknowingly broke into a very genuine, pained expression which stopped her now ex-boss from breaking into a tirade and consider what was going on with his most successful bartender to date. "I can't tell you exactly what because you should not become involved with these people, but I can tell you that I must leave as soon as possible." There. Her tiny speech was out.
Josef let a low breath whistle through his teeth. That one slip her facial expression had made in a woman who never let emotion show gave him a clue as to the cause. The bags they both carried, three of them for two people.
"What about the kid?"
Her reaction to that confirmed his questions. Josef Kiwana prided himself on being able to read other people, especially his own employees, and had seen the cold, frigid ice-queen Alex Bennet warm up because of one thing-- the kid which she protected and which looked up to her with adoration in her eyes. Everything dropped away when he asked about Jack and he saw naked pain in her face.
Alex's eyes looked at the floor, seeming to compose herself. "They took her," she said in a low, husky voice.
Josef leaned back in his chair and Alex brought her eyes back up to meet his. Now the green eyes stared at him with a sadness hardening to anger. The big man standing near the door, this Resta, was watching him closely for a reaction after this news had come to light. If Kale Resta was his real name the Josef was a fish. From the man's stance and clothing, the glasses he wore even inside, probably an ex-con or someone with a reason to see in the dark. Killer, that one, he thought to himself, having seen the type a hundred times before. Josef had no idea why he was helping out this strange pair, man like that kept to himself. But if he was on Alex's side she'd be taken well care of. And at the mention of the kid, Resta had shifted uncomfortably himself. Cared about the kid, too, did he? Yes, Alex had a good partner working with her.
"Goin' after her then?" he asked, knowing the answer.
It was the question Alex had hoped for, because she had suspected for a long time that Josef had known how deeply attached she was to Jack, and if he understood what it meant to lose her, it wouldn't matter quite as much that she was leaving. She nodded, and fingered the sword she had put down when she sat to calm herself. A hunch that she had about Josef had paid off, and her employer for almost a year was willing to be not her employer but her friend.
"I know I'm leaving you in the lurch, and I apologize," she murmured. "But there is one more favor I have to ask you. There is a need to go offplanet in a ship which Mr. Resta will be piloting and I will be purchasing, and I was hoping you could give me a few names down at the station docks"
Now there was a surprise to Josef. This acquaintance of hers was getting more interesting by the minute. How she came to be mixed up with him, he might not ever know, but a pilot? And where the hell was she going to get enough credits for a ship? She didn't make that much serving drinks. One big mystery, but from her expression and what he knew of her, she wasn't going to let anything get in her way or explain more than she had to. Oh well, best help her out like he had planned to once she said she was leaving. Funny thing, that, but she was the only one in a long string of workers that had struck a chord with him, sort of like a daughter he hadn't had.
"Yeah, I can give you some names. Fred Towa's probably the best one, he deals in small but decked-out ships and if you mention my name, my full name, mind, then he'll cut you a deal." He smiled at her, sad to be losing her. You don't know what you have until it's gone, he thought.
Her companion spoke up for the first time, and his rumbling bass sent a shiver down the hardened man's spine. "I also need the location of a untraceable netlab," he said, in a voice that said he was accustomed to getting what he wanted. A dangerous man, the very air around him crackled when he spoke. "She says you would know where that is."
Surprisingly, it was Ty who quickly spoke up. Damn man had always had a bit of a hope that Alex'd warm up to him a little, but he sure had a spot for that kid in his heart. "I can tell ya," he said, "but it's costly 'less you're a regular." Josef had turned to see a bit of an angry expression on his bouncer's face, but an eagerness to help. He seemed slow and stupid, but was faster than Josef on the 'net and had shown Jack a few tricks when Alex didn't know. "Tell 'em Ty Mercado sent you, pass number 8744, and they won't rob ya blind. It's 41756 109th street, 'Lex, remember the old parts shop next to the abandoned warehouse?" When Alex nodded, he continued, "You go get her, 'Lex," more forcefully than he intended.
Resta seemed surprised with the quick offer of assistance and pass number, and nodded slowly, as if half considering, half mentally filing away the name and number.
"Thank you both," Alex spoke up. "I can't compensate you in any way, and I'm not sure I'll see you, but I'll try my best to bring her back to see you sometime," she said, shocked by the reactions they had both had and the help they were prepared to offer. Maybe more than "almost" friends, she thought. Too much had she been cold to everyone else.
"Looked like the 'tender's a bit bored over at the Nightflower, by the way," Alex said as if in passing, remembering the expression on the bartender's face when she and Riddick had gone in for caff, just a few hours earlier. "Might want to come over here instead of serving caff in the god-awful hours of the morning." A slow smile spread on her face, though she didn't really feel happy, she felt better than she had all day. She stood, and Josef rose and moved around his desk to meet her.
"Good bye, Josef," she said, extending out a hand to shake his. He took it, then pulled her towards him and gave her the last thing she expected in the world-a hug.
"You take care of yourself, girl," the older man muttered into her ear, then let her go.
A strange look passed across Alex's face, and then she smiled the first real smile she had in a long time. It lit up her face like a Christmas tree, totally changing her face, softening it and letting the cares drop away. It was beautiful to see for Josef, her finally letting herself be happy.
"I will, Josef. Ty." She said, nodding at the both of them in turn. "I can let us out okay." And with that she turned and opened the door, walking past Resta and into the hallway.
"Take care of her, Kale Resta," Ty told the man, the yearning look in his eyes all too apparent to Josef who had known her for years. But Josef had known that Ty would probably not have her. Not that one. Resta, silently as ever, nodded and followed the girl in black out the door.
As the office door closed behind the both of him, Josef walked over to the couch and sunk into it as Ty leaned against the desk.
"Well," Josef started. "Want to go on over to the Nightflower and try and wrestle away one bartender for tonight?" Josef smiled and shook his head. "What a pair, my friend, what a pair."