Broken Promises
Chapter 7
Imam looked over his shoulder quickly, guilt and fear fighting for all of his attention. Cassidy was behind him, out of the vid-phone camera's view, and Riddick stood behind the screen, towering over Imam, who was sitting somewhat hunched over in the chair sitting in front of the computer. Riddick nodded slowly, encouraging Imam to go ahead and make the call, even though his eyes and facial expression were dark and menacing.
In all honesty, Riddick was pissed. He'd stayed with Jack and Imam for three years after the crash, helping them save enough money to stay ahead and even send Jack off to pilot school. He didn't know she'd dropped out and kept cashing the financial aid checks to get out on her own. All he knew, and all he cared about, was getting her out of the situation she'd dug herself into with both him and Cassidy.
On the other hand, he knew that Jack's life was her own – she could do with it as she pleased. He couldn't help that, and he even realized he respected that. He just loved Cassidy too much for Jack to take the hit on her elsewhere. And he even had to admit that hiring him to kill Cassidy and Cassidy to kill him was a pretty imaginative plan.
Cassidy stared at Riddick from across the room, watching the fuzzy vid-phone screen in her peripheral vision. He glanced over at her from time to time but didn't say anything, and didn't give her any hint as to what he was thinking at any particular moment. But from the look on his face, he was pissed and nervous about how this might possibly go down. She knew that if this Jack chick was smart enough to hire them to kill each other, she might just anticipate the plan backfiring, especially knowing now they had an intimate relationship, and have an alternate plan in place for just this occasion. But unlike Imam, Cassidy didn't give off the slightest air of nervousness. She had her game-face on right now; her business face.
The screen flashed green quickly before Jack's face came into view. Imam waited for the picture to stabilize and the three high-pitched tones to sound, indicating that the call was stable enough to continue with the conversation. Imam feigned his old self, before any of this had happened, so as to avoid alarming (or alerting Jack) into thinking something was up.
"Imam," Jack said quickly. "I wasn't expecting a call from you."
"It's been to long, my child," Imam said with a convincingly bright smile. "How are you doing?"
"Eh," Jack said, her virtual image shrugging slightly. "Not too bad."
"And how is school?"
"Imam," Jack whined. "Why do we always have to talk about that?" Imam laughed and nodded. "I was actually in the middle of something when you called. What's up?"
"I have great news," Imam said quickly, as though he just couldn't wait to tell her. Jack's eyebrow rose, waiting for the 'great' news. "Mr. Riddick has returned for a short stay." Jack's face darkened, her brows furling together. "He can't wait to see you. Do you think you'll be able to make a trip home soon?" She cleared her throat.
"I don't suppose he has a friend with him," she suggested.
"No, Jack. Just him. He is disappointed you are not still here, but when I told him you were still in school he was very proud, albeit somewhat surprised that you'd stick with it," Imam added with a proud grin. "He always knew you were strong-willed. But he's glad you're making your own future."
"Yeah, I'm making my own future all right," Jack mumbled. "Is he there right now?" Imam's face wavered for a second, but he caught it before it got to the point where the expression could be broadcast to Jack. Thank goodness for fuzzy pictures vid-phones had on extra-planetary connections.
"Well, Jack," he started slowly, trying to come up with something quickly. "He decided to sleep for a while. I don't know where he was staying, but he said the transport was a long one." Jack looked surprised.
"Oh."
"He really wants to see you, Jack," Imam added quickly, hoping she would comply quickly. He didn't think he could keep up his act very much longer. He watched Jack reach for something that turned out to be a planner.
"How long is he gonna be there?" she asked, flipping through the pages of her schedule.
"I'm not exactly certain. He said something about one of his old friends trying to catch up with him," Imam added to make it clear to Jack that Riddick was alone (even thought he wasn't), "but then something about the friend getting caught by the authorities and having to leave the planet quickly to avoid his own capture. I don't know how long he can stay, given that he's still wanted, but he should be safe here for a while. Do you think you can make it soon?" Jack sighed.
"I'll call and see if I can get on the next transport out there. I'll have them forward the information to you." Imam nodded, plastering an excited expression on his tired old features.
"We are both looking forward to seeing you, child."
"I miss you, too, Imam." And with that, the screen faded to snow and then completely black. Imam sighed, leaning back in his chair. The bridge of his nose was pinched tightly between two fingers.
"You have coerced me to lie, Mr. Riddick. To my own daughter," he sighed.
"She's not your daughter," Cassidy corrected quickly. "Adopted isn't the same." Imam shook his head, not feeling like getting into a discussion, much less about the lack of virtue in lying for any reason.
"Think of it this way, Holy Man," Riddick said, "You did what you had to do to protect us and her. If people find out she took out a hit on us – the right people, anyway – she could be in even more trouble than she thought she was putting us in."
"I suppose you're right, Mr. Riddick," Imam relented. "But lying is still lying, and Allah forbids it."
"So why'd you do it?" Cassidy pressed.
"Because I have two wanted murderers in my house, neither of whom I completely trust," he said before standing and disappearing from the room. Riddick grinned at Cassidy, who just stared at him, the harsh expression making the grin melt off his face.
"I don't have a good feeling about this," she warned quietly.
"There's nothing to have a good feeling about," Riddick informed. "We just gotta play our cards right and hope to God she's smart enough to give this shit up."
"And if she doesn't?"
"Thank your lucky stars you're on New Mecca because that might be the only reason she doesn't take care of us herself." Cassidy nodded slowly, then left Riddick standing in the Com room alone. He sat down in the chair before the vid-phone. They had had a long transport – and a tense one at that. That wasn't a lie. Okay, so the part about him being alone was, but not the part about him really wanting to see her. He did, just not under these circumstances. He began to wonder what he could have done differently to have prevented this. Not leaving them wasn't an option – the mercs were closing in on his location. Visited more often? His reasoning for not was that he didn't want either Imam or Jack entangled in this web he'd created for himself. He didn't want mercs threatening them for information, or bribing them to get Riddick's whereabouts. Same problem with calling more often. He'd sent money, sent messages when he was sure they couldn't be traced. He was sure he'd done things the way they needed to be done.
And this still happened. Granted, if it hadn't, he probably would have been reunited with Cassidy. At this point, he didn't know what to think of the situation. At all. And that made him just a bit nervous.
Before he knew it, he was drifting off into a catnap mode…
