CB: Dealer's Hand, -II-
I lean back in the bed, staring at the ceiling. I wait for some subtle tension to develop in my muscles, something to tell me there's a bomb somewhere and that I should be scrambling for my clothes and the door.
But nothing comes.
The communicator in my coat beeps and I fish it out. Jette.
"Spike, about Faye-"
"What about her?" He starts to speak, but I cut him off. "Yeah, I know. Thanks for the tip, Jette."
"You disabled the locator in the communicator?"
"Just like you'd have suggested, right?"
"Suggesting things out loud to you never worked before. Besides, I always thought you'd be smart enough not to need me to remind you of something so basic as that."
I chuckle. "Yeah, I guess you would."
He laughs with me for a moment.
"They took her, Jette."
"Which side?"
"The White Tigers."
"Could be worse."
I throw my legs over the side of the bed and stand, moving to dress myself, slowly, deliberately. I like the feel of the marks she and the sex left on my skin. The scent of her that lingers. "The Red Dragons can't be far behind," I add, pulling my tank top on. I shrug into my shirt and head over to the large mirror in the bathroom.
My reflection stares back at me, and I wonder how long I've been looking this lost. Did I look like this when I was talking to the Red Dragon that came after me on Venus? The one who tried to hurt Faye to get to me?
Well no wonder. I deserved to get knocked around if that's how I looked. "How's the ship doing, Jette?"
"The Bebop? It's fine. Why do you ask?"
"I don't think there's any use in me running from them anymore. Hiding isn't my style." I glance back at the bed, and pick up one of the cards, lifting it to my nose. It smells just like her.
"I was wondering when you were going to say that."
"Am I really so predictable?"
"Yes," he says. "I haven't moved the ship. Meet me in the harbor and we'll take off." I hear the noise of switches being flipped. "Spike."
"Yeah?"
"What about Faye?"
"It's the fastest way I can think of to getting her back," I say, turning off the communicator as I climb into my pants and look around, momentarily, for my shoes. Bending down to check under the bed, I find them, and as I pull them on, I find there's a card sticking in one of them.
The Ace of Spades.