Chapter 9

Riddick sighed, shifting against the tree trunk as he tried to move away from the large root slowly starting to ride up his ass the more he relaxed. He shook his head, glancing over at Toombs, who was sleeping soundly. Two blue orbs appeared slowly as Riddick moved to a crouch, peering over the tops of the bushes.

"See somethin'?" Toombs whispered. Riddick nodded, holding a hand out to signal that Toombs be still. The merc swallowed thickly, reaching for the pack at his side that contained the guns and ammo. Riddick shook his head, and Toombs' arm paused, hovering in the air. A moment later, the blue eyes widened, Riddick launching himself at the merc. "What the fuck?" Toombs stammered as Riddick wound his fingers tightly in his hair, drawing his head away from the tree trunk.

"Never trust a fuckin' con," Riddick growled with a sardonic grin. Toombs took a breath to object, but the world went black as his head was slammed back against the rough bark, knocking him out cold. A throaty chuckle vibrated deep in Riddick's chest, and he shook his head, standing slowly as he scanned his surroundings.

---

Kat sighed, lifting her head slowly as the knob rattled. More time passed, and her brows furled, the knob just continuing to jiggle. It couldn't have been someone from Ray's crew – they'd have a key and just come right in. She stood slowly, suddenly wishing she'd not dropped the pen, though there was no way she could have kept it. A moment later, the door swung open and a large, dark figure stood. Her eyebrow rose, muscles tensing as the masked person entered the room, swinging the door shut behind him. As he took another step forward, she attacked, throwing a series of punches, desperately trying to give herself a window to escape through the door he'd left slightly open. That window closed as he slammed her into the wall, trapping her arms between her chest and his.

"What the fuck do you want?" she hissed, staring up at the figure's face. He held a finger to his lips and shook his head, quickly clamping a hand over her mouth as she took another breath to speak. Her brows knitted as she finished the breath through her nose, her eyes narrowing.

"Come with me, quietly," he whispered. She nodded against his hand, and he pulled it away but kept it hovering near her face in case she changed her mind. She pursed her lips together, and a hint of a smile crossed his lips. He nodded once, grasping her by the wrist as he went to the door, looking before darting out and across the compound. A few hundred meters outside the main wall, she slid to a stop, and he nearly jerked her arm out of the socket. He glanced back to her, pulling the mask off his face with a quizzical expression.

"Where's Toombs?"

"He's waiting for us at the ship," Riddick said quickly. "Let's go. Now." She stood her ground, scowling.

"Why didn't he come with you and take my ship? I've got the communications equipment and shit to make sure they don't follow," she said, gesturing behind her at the compound wall.

"Well, one," Riddick said slowly, "This way they won't know you're gone until they come to tell you the transaction is complete." Her eyebrow rose. "And two, they've got a tracer on your ship. We watched them install it yesterday." She stood there for a minute, mulling that over.

"So he's waiting at his ship where?"

"The next city." After a moment, she finally nodded, quickly catching up with his quick pace.

---

Toombs woke with a groan, a bird chirping loudly in the tree above him. He rolled to his side, slowly reaching to the back of his head and looking to his fingers, not surprised to see blood there. He shook his head, slowly pushing himself up to his feet, staring at the darkened compound. His eyes narrowed, and, against his better judgment, started for the small building, glancing around quickly and keeping to the shadows. His lips moved without a sound, but he swore inwardly as loud as he could. Her door pushed open easily, and there was a large pool of dried blood in the floor. The muscles in his jaw clenched, and his eyes snapped over to her ship.

---

Something just didn't feel right. Kat shook her head slightly, taking a tentative step onto the lowered ramp as Riddick just waltzed right up, his hand hovering over the switch to close the hatch, looking at her expectantly. She glanced back out over the meadow he'd landed in and back up to his face, just staring at him for a moment. He'd worn contacts, and between those and the shine, she couldn't get a read on his eyes. She let out a slow breath and walked up the rest of the way, watching the ramp rise and latch.

"Let's go," Riddick said roughly, pushing past her toward the cockpit.

"Where's Toombs?" she pressed.

"Fuck Toombs, darlin'," he drawled, turning back to her with a wide grin. Her eyes narrowed. "And don't get any ideas," he added, raking his eyes over her. "You know I'm stronger, faster, and just all around better. I wouldn't even try if I were you."

"You're not me," she hissed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You're right," Riddick said slowly, letting the lewd smile drop from his face only to be replaced with his scary face. She only blinked quickly, but her eyes never wavered from his. "You wanna push it?" Her brow arched slowly, head tilting at a tiny angle. He saw her shoulder twitch and reached out, twining his hands in her hair. She clawed at his arms, drawing blood, but his grip only tightened, forcing her backwards and against the latched ramp. Her eyes widened as he pulled her forward, kissing her forehead before slamming her back against the metal hull. Stars swam before her eyes, and the darkness closed in. "Didn't think so," he gruffed, watching her slide down the wall to the floor.

---

Toombs sat in her chair, closing his eyes as her scent hit his nostrils. Don't have time for this, he scolded himself, shaking his head as he snapped his eyes back open. His fingers flew over the controls, but paused as a prompt popped up asking for his username.

"Fuck." Which name would she use? He sighed, glancing up at the horizon to gauge the amount of time he had before daybreak. Not long. He tried 'Katrina', but got a red flash on the screen and three beeps before the prompt reappeared. "Shit." Next came 'Taylor', but the same thing happened. "Son of a bitch." Finally, he tried his own name, brows arching in surprise as the screen flashed green and the engines hummed to life. "Well, I'll be damned." He quickly flipped a switch, changing to silent mode, and the engines quieted. The ship lifted off the ground slowly, and he directed her out over the woods, slowly arcing upwards into the sky. He waited until he was sure he was out of range before hitting the ion drive, the ship lurching forward into the atmosphere.

---

"Hey Ray?" Raymond looked up from the book poised in his hands and sat up, swinging his legs to the ground as the leather couch groaned. "She's gone." The messenger swallowed thickly as Ray's eyebrow rose slowly.

"And the work?"

"Complete. They didn't find out until they went to find her." Ray nodded slowly.

"Let it go. We have the money, and that's all that matters. She wouldn't have come back to us for anything anyway," he commented.

"Let it go?" the man repeated, a quizzical expression on his face.

"Yes, Marks, let it go," Ray said more firmly. "I'm not going to waste my time, money, or personnel to track her down just because she left before the work was complete. She kept up her end of the bargain, and that's good enough for me. I don't give a shit whether she waited until our end of the deal was finished or not. Let it go." Marks nodded slowly, backing out of Ray's office and closing the door behind him.

---

When Kat woke, she knew she was in trouble. Her fingers were numb and somewhere above her head, and a dull throb pulsed through her brain. She inhaled sharply, taking the time to feel things out before opening her eyes to confirm. Somehow, she'd twisted her legs under her, sitting with one cheek on the ground, the other resting on an ankle, and her other leg bent to the side. She was probably set down on her knees and slid to one side, she figured. Her arm twitched, and she couldn't help but cringe at the sound of metal clinking together. Motherfucker chained me up, she thought heatedly.

"You think they're gonna come lookin' for you?" Kat's head snapped up, surprised at his voice.

"I don't know," she answered quietly. Her eyes followed his movements as he stood, walking to her and crouching in front of her. "Toombs will, though," she added after a moment, rubbing the back of her head on her forearm, her chains rattling again..

"Probably," he said, cocking his head to the side for a moment. "And then what?" Her eyes narrowed. "You'll run off with him and live happily ever after?" His snicker was bitter and sarcastic. "Wake up, doll," he chided, watching her throat contract as she swallowed thickly. "Once a merc, always a merc."

"He doesn't have anything on me," she snapped. "As of yesterday, I'm legally Katrina Marshall with no record and no history in the penal system. They could run my biometrics if they wanted to. Even DNA. All they'd get is a clean record for a girl who looks like the twin sister of Taylor West."

"Transitions are never completely clean, Kat," Riddick said, his voice suddenly gentle. "Files are time stamped, and if he went to them and said your files had been changed, if they tried hard enough, they could figure that out."

"He wouldn't," she insisted, though her voice wavered just a bit.

"I'm doing you a favor," Riddick said, standing slowly. "You can thank me later."

"Fuck you."

"You're not my type," he spat back, not turning around to see the look on her face as he returned to the pilot's chair. He knew she'd be pissed. He just hoped it worked.

---

Toombs sighed, running a sweep of the ship. He knew he had to disable the tracker on her ship without disabling the tracker on the remote still in her pocket, but he wasn't sure how. After a moment of thought, he just poked around in her read-only files for a while, hoping to get lucky and find she'd left herself instructions. A few minutes later, he found what he was looking for and disabled the device, quickly switching back over to the radar, satisfied to see the yellow dot still blinking, heading toward the Okolona system. He swore and shook his head, programming a course.

He left the cockpit with a heavy sigh, flopping onto her bunk. Her scent was stronger here, and he closed his eyes to concentrate on it. Curiosity got the better of him, and he lifted the lid of her laptop, blinking quickly as he saw himself. She'd set a picture of him as her desktop. That soft and uncharacteristic smile touched his lips, and he shook his head, snapping the damn thing shut quickly and rolling over to face the wall.

---

Kat sighed, still staring up at the ceiling. Riddick hadn't spoken to her for almost another whole day, and the silence was starting to get to her. She'd twiddled her thumbs, cracked her knuckles, adjusted the position of her legs, cracked her ankles, cracked her neck, stared at the ceiling, stared at the wall, and none of it kept her busy enough to stop worrying about what he was going to do with her. Finally, she rattled her restraints in a semi-tantrum, smirking as Riddick turned an ear toward her sharply.

"Chill," she groaned. "I'm fuckin' bored."

"Too bad," he grunted back. Her smirk fell to a glower, and she stared at him for a moment.

"You got a shower on this bitch or something?" she asked after a beat, glancing around the small ship.

"Toombs' ship, smart shit," Riddick snapped back. "And yes, there's one down in the belly."

"A shower in the belly of a ship?" she asked, half to herself. "That's weird."

"Only place with room for it," Riddick said, sighing as he stood and stretched, smirking as he watched her eyes slide over him quickly. "No real water, just to warn you," he said with a small shrug. "Sonic cleaner." She shook her head slowly. "Easier to maintain."

"You sound like you know a lot about ships," she said, quirking a brow at him. He took a few steps toward her, smiling as she didn't move to attempt to get away from him. She wasn't allowed much room to move anyway.

"You had one hell of an arsenal on that ship of yours," he countered. Her eyes darkened. "I ran a scan when we were tracking you down. See how close I could get without tripping anything." She nodded, but the wary expression remained. "Nice collection of communications shit."

"I like to keep in touch with certain people," she said cautiously, eyeing him as he took another few steps forward. "And know when others are on my tail." He cocked his head to the side, granting her point. She sighed, tearing her eyes from his. "Look, I'm not dumb, okay? Just quit fucking with me and tell me what's going on." He feigned innocence, receiving a glare. Finally, he cackled.

"You ask, I'll answer."

"Does that mean I'm going to believe you?" she fired back.

"Your call," he said with a small shrug.

"What happened to Toombs?"

"He took a nap and I took the opportunity to get you out," Riddick said flatly.

"A nap, huh?" She scratched her forehead with her thumb. "Cut the shit and tell me what happened."

"What do you mean?"

"You killed him, didn't you?" Even she expected that question to invoke a quiver in her voice, but it was just as flat and emotionless as his had been. He was obviously surprised at that, and she couldn't help but smirk and add a point to her column.

"No, actually, I didn't," Riddick said slowly. Her eyebrow rose. "I knocked him out and left him in the bushes." A weighty pause. "Where no one would find him unless he wanted to be found." She nodded slowly, licking her lips as she thought up her next question.

"What happened to my ship?"

"I don't know," he said quickly, defensively. "Did I blow it up? No. Did I sabotage it at all? No. But I can't guarantee that once they realized you were gone they didn't do something and start a sweep of the grounds."

"Meaning they could have found him by now," she interjected.

"It's possible," Riddick said. "But that all depends on how long he stayed passed out and how he felt when he came to." She nodded again, and he waited for the next stage of her interrogation of him.

"Now what?"

"Now what what?" She couldn't help but laugh, though it was sarcastic and harsh. He found himself smiling at the sound of it. Finally, she flopped back against the wall.

"First off, I find it hard to believe you'd just go and risk waking up Ray's guys to rescue me. I was fine. I panicked when Jackson and his goons magically showed up on my ship, but I handled it. Talked them out of killing me on the spot and proved to them I could make it in two days." Riddick nodded, slowly lowering himself into a chair across from her, leaning toward her. She quickly decided she didn't have enough room to lurch forward and try to bite him. He'd probably just knock her out again anyway. "I doubt very seriously you give two shits about me at all, especially considering you've got me chained to the fucking wall, so I'm just trying to figure out why the fuck you decided to get me out of there." He took a breath to answer, but she continued, sending him a look. "I also find it hard to believe you left a merc alive with a reason to be pissed off at you."

"Ex-merc," Riddick corrected with a smirk.

"Like you said, once a merc always a merc," she snapped. He shrugged. "I know he's not a merc, but that doesn't mean he won't get you back."

"No one gets me back." Riddick's voice had suddenly taken on a dangerous tone, and she found herself smiling, adding another point to her column.

"I just want to know what the hell you plan on trying to pull on me," she said, lowering her voice as well. His brow rose slowly, and he leaned back. "I remember back in New Harlem you said something about stealing me from Toombs," she commented, blowing her hair out of her eyes. "I'm not his in the first place. Not property, can't be stolen." Riddick snickered, her glare failing to faze him. "And just so you know where you stand," she paused, waiting until his eyes met hers. "It'll never happen, and if you try, I will kill you." He blinked quickly. "And don't think I couldn't. It's amazing what a cornered animal can pull off if she feels threatened enough."

"You don't have to tell me that," he said, a touch of respect in his voice. "But keep in mind," he added, pausing for effect. "You're the one that's chained up."

"And how long do you plan on keeping me this way?" she asked, rattling the restraints in demonstration. He quirked a brow at her, and a sickening feeling rolled her stomach.

"Until we get to the Okolona system." He stood and returned to his seat.

"You're gonna sell me, is that it?" He didn't respond, which only angered her even more. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" She ranted some more, receiving nothing from the man driving the ship toward the end of her life as she knew it. Finally, she shut up and resorted to fuming in silence. She had to get the upper hand somehow.