THE MOTHER LODE BY ABRAXIS

Chapter 29 – Plans Within Plans

Riddick hadn't liked the setup of the operation from the beginning. While it might have been a great way to test Rafferty as long as only he and his men were involved, Jenna's putting the BC and her own people on the line was about the stupidest risk that he could think of. As things proceeded, his attitude went from bad to worse. The sum total of his experience and mindset was screaming for another stealthy raid like the one on the compound. Rafferty's plan was for an open landing on New Mecca with the BC and her crew playing the roles of an independent trader in luxury goods. It was his intention to legally purchase Sissua, if possible, and avoid any 'complications' and 'bloodshed'.

This qualification was uttered in a tone that left no doubt as to Rafferty's aversion to such uncouth behavior and exactly who he expected to stifle such urges. As far as Riddick was concerned, Rafferty had been away from the front lines too long; had forgotten that, while quick, quiet and dirty didn't look good on paper, it was the best way to get the job done and survive. He had given Rafferty one of his best 'I-don't-give-a-fuck, you-shit' grins and proceeded to make his own plans for when Rafferty's plan went to hell.

Two months ago, this would have been no problem for Riddick. His new identity was now securely in place. He could never be legally identified as Richard B. Riddick again. It would be a simple matter for him to disappear from New Mecca and assume the life of Elric (Rick) Wade, licensed Keller and hyper pilot anywhere he landed. All he would have felt obligated to do was to get a warning off to the Hole before he lamed out. Yeah, two months ago but not now.

Jack wasn't the problem. She knew enough to hunker down, stay safe and trust him to find a way to get back for her later. Jenna was a totally different thing. To protect her, Riddick had to protect the security of the group. To do that, he had to see that the BC and any member of the crew were either returned to the Hole or destroyed beyond any possibility of providing identification and tracing information. If he didn't do it, Jenna would feel obligated to try it herself.

His preference was for getting the BC, himself and, damn it to hell, Syrus back to the Hole in fairly good shape. Flaming Syrus' corpse to unrecognizable ash was an option he didn't want to think about. He was sure that Jenna would deal with it if he lost Rafferty and Nagia but he really didn't want to face the pain that losing Syrus would put in those beautiful eyes. Riddick had the feeling that it would hurt her as much as losing Ben, maybe even more. If Ben was her 'little brother/son', Syrus was at least a 'big brother' and probably the closest to a 'father' she had.

It had really pissed Riddick off to discover that the list of people that he was feeling responsible for was getting longer and longer. Part of him screamed "Why?" and another part, "Don't ask! You're not ready to deal with the answer." Pushing these disturbing thoughts to the back of his mind, he focused on mitigating whatever disaster Rafferty was going to walk them into.

The major problem would be that the BC would be grounded at a commercial port, surrounded by port security and dependent on port scheduling for a departure unless they wanted the Patrol alarms going off from the inner core to the outer settlements and the locals shooting at them the second they cleared the atmosphere. Riddick's answer to this was to memorize every fact he could get his hands on about the current port administration, layout and security procedures. He then expanded this to the city and its police force. His next step was to practice dry runs on the BC in the simulator until he could fly, shield and fight her, simultaneously, in his sleep. His last step was to do the same with the skimmer.

In the middle of this, he had to keep up with all aspects of Rafferty's plans and be fitted for both the proper off-world and local costumes. It was also his responsibility to see to the refit of the skimmer with seating for four and enough luxury additions to pass for a successful merchant's private runabout. For his personal plans, it also had to have a security cargo capacity for fine goods that would serve as a cover to smuggle a child if the operation turned snatch-and-run. He found that Jeeter's advice was invaluable in doing a proper job of this and ended up turning the modification job over to the little man.

Just about every hour of every day of the preparation, Riddick wished that he could have the tough alley rat at his back for the coming mission. He didn't trust Rafferty at all; a merc was a merc was a merc. Also, the man had been taken too easily at the compound. True, it wasn't him or his men in charge of the siege but, in Riddick's opinion, the man should have taken the precaution of setting up his own HQ away from the locals and in a more defendable location. It was just another proof to Riddick that Rafferty had lived soft for too long and had lost his edge. Any silent killing was certainly going to be Riddick's to do and if Rafferty proved too much of a liability, Riddick would have to take him out himself before the locals got their hands on him.

Syrus was an unknown as far as trust. It wasn't a certainty that his loyalty to Jenna would transfer to Riddick if it came to a choice between him and Rafferty. In fact, as tight as Syrus seemed to be getting with the red-head, it was pretty doubtful. He was also unproved as a fighter. He was fast and wicked on the practice floor in a one-on-one but that was no proof that he could be depended on in a street fight against long odds. Sometimes the best on the training field froze or ran in a real firefight. If things went to hell, he could be just as much in need of Riddick's protection as Nagia.

So Riddick scowled, raged internally, pushed himself to his limits and found his only peace in the silent comfort and acceptance of Jenna's arms. Then, he did what any good soldier did between prep and drop and slept in- transit, allowing Syrus to pilot the BC from the Hole to planet orbit, rousing only to supervise his taking her down to the berth at the space port.

Thanks to a dark brown dye job on Rafferty's flaming hair, chocolate brown contact lenses for Nagia's rare golden eyes, excellent costuming and Ben's perfectly forged identities for the BC and her crew, there were no problems exiting the space port, settling in to a comfortable suite in a hotel reserved for off-world visitors and two days of touring the local markets setting up their cover.

Syrus, with Nagia serving as translator when necessary, proved extremely capable in his role of the hard-dealing, bargain-hunting trader. Riddick decided that if there hadn't been some ancestors in Syrus' family tree who did time for sharp trading it was only because they were too sharp to be caught at it. Nagia, dressed in the more revealing, garishly colored robes denoting a body servant, did a credible job in the part of a concubine with a good amount of influence over her master. The list of suggestions for luxury items that would be appreciated by the rest of the group also helped. Sasha had done an excellent job of compiling that. After all, the members of the group were just the kind of 'spoiled', upper class patrons that a luxury goods merchant would have for customers.

As for Riddick and Rafferty, as bodyguards for the merchant, all they had to do was keep silent and look dangerous. This was not a stretch for either of them. The only deception involved was in keeping their knowledge of the local language secret. Rafferty believed that this would give them some warning should anything begin to go sour. Riddick hoped that he was right.

At the end of the second day of shopping, they retired to their suite and made sufficient orders from room service to suggest that they were settled in for the night. Changing into the concealing robes of the locals, they stealthily made their way out of the off-worlder area before availing themselves of the local public transportation. After more than an hour of switching back and forth between hired ground cars and rail trams, as well as traveling in pairs and switching partners, they finally arrived in the neighborhood where the contact that Nagia and Imam had agreed on, Ackbar Mosser, lived. That was when things started going pear-shaped as far as Riddick was concerned.

As Jenna and Mr. Sen had suspected after monitoring the local broadcasts, the events at the compound and the disappearance of Mira had been covered up and, since the Emir was still alive, those events had forced Sulleman to delay his plans to murder the man. However, Sulleman had been busy otherwise. Most of the older, loyal members of the Emir's household staff had been 'retired' or transferred to other of his estates. The same for any of Sulleman's own household staff whose loyalties or discretion were in the least suspect. Mosser, a freeman employed by a cousin of Sulleman's, Casmir, who was also a possible successor, had been immune to this purge but had lost his ability to move freely within the royal compound, finding himself constantly in the company of one or another of Sulleman's trusted toadies whenever he ventured out of his employer's quarters. This effectively cut off any contact he might have had with any of Sulleman's household, especially those that he would consider still trustworthy to approach with questions about Sissua.

The only suggestion that he could offer was that Nagia should attempt to contact the woman who had taken over her duties as herbalist to Sulleman's women's quarters. The woman, Peta, was free and the wife of Sulleman's personal physician, one Kalin Amiran. While her husband was Sulleman's, body and soul, Peta had taken much of her training from Nagia and, being a mother herself, might have sympathy for Nagia's attempt to rescue her own daughter. When Rafferty accepted this suggestion, Mosser vid-phoned Amiran and arranged an appointment for the concubine of his 'off-word merchant acquaintance' with the wife-herbalist for the following evening.

All through this process, Riddick's internal alarms were shrieking. First, they had no assurance of Mosser's true loyalties. While he might be a trusted friend as far as Imam was concerned, the man could have deeper loyalties to his employer. If not that, his own personal self-interest would certainly be better served from that direction. Also, while he seemed to accept their reluctance to discuss anything but the need to find Sissua, he continued to subtly fish for more information, particularly about Mira's present location. Becoming pawns in a game between two heirs-apparent wasn't an improvement from being the target of just one.

Added to that, by the man's own admission, he was already under suspicion and probably being watched even outside the royal compound. If the physician was part of Sulleman's inner circle, it was a good bet that he would report Mosser's request. As for the wife, Riddick was certain that she would put the safety of her own children above any regard for Nagia and Sissua. Riddick was beginning to feel like a jungle cat who could smell the steel cage buried under the leaves and vines.

He couldn't do anything about the threat of their initial contact but he would have handled the secondary risk differently. His choice would have been a visit with the woman, without her husband's knowledge, to use a threat to the safety of her family and possibly something from Syrus' drug store to get any information she had and to insure her silence afterward. When it came to a choice between basic instincts and higher principals, Riddick would bet on basic instincts every time. But this was Rafferty's show and he wasn't taking any input from Riddick. That forced Riddick to keep his silence but it didn't stop him from making plans of his own.

As soon as they returned to the hotel suite and the other three were settled for the night, Riddick slipped out again and made his own first contact. Taking the skimmer he headed for a popular off-worlder entertainment area. Once in the cover of heavy traffic, he engaged the skimmer's cloaking and exited the area in a visually acceptable manner but totally hidden from any remote tracking. As soon as he had assured himself that he had no old fashioned 'tail', he quick jumped into a virtually deserted warehouse district.

It was reassuring to find that his code to the hidden garage entrance was still valid and even more reassuring to find that his code to the entrance to the apartment above it also still worked. Even the fact that he walked in to find a disrupter trained between his eyes was reassuring in its own twisted way.

"Have I changed that much, Logan?"

The hand with the disrupter sagged a little. The tall, thin elfish looking man drew an almost feminine hand through his long, platinum blond hair. Watery blue eyes studied Riddick intensely. When the man spoke, the boyishly sweet tenor of his voice was a stark contrast to the ancient distrust in those eyes. Not for the first time, Riddick wondered just how old, or young, the man was.

"Nothing personal, Max, just being careful."

The use of the old alias produced an odd twinge of pleasure that startled Riddick. He smothered it. Business was business, personalities had no place in it. Of course, after almost four years of dealing with a twist like G maybe feeling some pleasure to be dealing with Rommy again wasn't so strange. But just because he was a straight player didn't mean that Riddick could let down his guard with him. Riddick forced himself back into focus as the man continued talking.

"Got to admit that the eyes did throw me. Never thought that you would really do it, give up your edge." The aim of the disrupter tightened again. "But what really worries me is that you parked a skimmer in my garage that I can see on camera but that the rest of my security systems tell me doesn't exist. I only know two sources for that kind of technology. So tell me something to convince me that you didn't buy those pretty eyes and a new life with a sell out."

Riddick allowed a friendly but still dangerous smile to curve his lips.

"Good to see you, too, Rommy. My contract is private but with heavy juice and they don't like the Company or the Forces any more than you do. I've got proof, that I know you'll appreciate, inside my cloak."

Romulus (Rommy) Logan blinked his rain-water eyes and then motioned toward a desk further inside the room.

"Put it there."

Between the two veteran criminals, the warning for Riddick to be very slow and careful with his moves didn't need to be spoken. After crossing to the desk, Riddick spread one side of his cloak open and kept both his hands in plain view as he dug into a security pocket and extracted a handful of gems that he had appropriated from the stash of G's loot. Placing the gems in a pile on the desk, he moved back to his original position just inside the door.

At the sight of the glittering pile, Rommy relaxed. Crossing to the desk he sat down while motioning Riddick to a companion chair. But, he didn't release his grip on the disrupter, merely laid the hand holding it in his lap with the weapon still aimed at Riddick as he crossed the room and lounged into the chair offered.

"Fairly elegant proof unless the powers-that-be finally grew some real street-smarts." The fingers of his free hand idly stirred the pile, unconsciously sorting the gems by quality and type into various categories of value. "So much more appealing than lumps of artless currency. Now, tell me what I have to do to transfer as many of these beauties as possible from you to me?"

Riddick kept his face impassive but was smiling broadly inside. Things were going better than he had expected. Whoever had said that 'there is no honor among thieves' just didn't know the right class of criminals. If Rommy took the deal, he would live up to it.

"The first thing I need is a skimmer; a four-seater that will pass for that one and modified to broadcast its id. I need it by 08:00. The second thing is a surveillance and possible rescue or erase on four people."

Eyes met. Riddick knew that he had revealed some of his history with that terminology. How Rommy answered would tell him if he was going to get the same trust in return. Riddick's muscles tensed slightly, preparing to drop the tiny disrupter from its arm sheath into his hand.

"Why would you need help with that?"

Riddick's muscles relaxed.

"Because I'm one of the four."

Rommy blinked again.

"The competition that tough?"

"The competition is local. It's one of ours that may be that stupid."

Rommy didn't blink this time, just shot a look of understanding at Riddick. Riddick experienced another of those odd feelings. It occurred to him that someday he might like to be able to sit down and trade stories with the pale, stick of a man. Fuck, where had that come from? His mind jerked back to business when Rommy spoke again.

"You got pictures?"

Still moving carefully, Riddick drew copies of their id photos, that Ben had supplied him, from another pocket of his cloak. He handed them over one by one with comments.

"Me – top priority for rescue but don't worry about the erase. I'm not traceable." Rommy chuckled. "This one, Syrus, he's top for rescue, too. Also top for erase. This one, Rafferty, if I don't make it, neither does he. Erase if possible but dead is good enough."

"He the stupid one?"

"Yeah." Riddick reluctantly handed over the last photo. "If you can't rescue her, it's a mercy killing. If Syrus or I don't survive and you can't hide her permanently, it's the same."

Rommy studied the photos for several moments. Then, he pulled a selection of the gems away from the others. Riddick stood, added a particularly fine blood ruby to Rommy's selection and pocketed the rest.

"Like I said, juiced. I'll be back for the skimmer at 08:00. I'll tell you where you can start the surveillance then."

Rommy was busy at his vid-phone before the apartment door closed behind Riddick.

Port traffic was light. It didn't take Riddick very long at all to check through security and take the BC off planet. Heading out system, he pulled the same id-buoy trick that Jenna had at Darius 4 and took the BC back to the hidden canyon that had been her first berth on New Mecca. Setting her security program to destroy the ship if anyone but registered members of the Hole's crew touched the controls, he locked her up tight. By pushing the skimmer to maximum velocity, he was able to return to Rommy's by the 08:00 deadline. A visual duplicate of his skimmer was waiting for him with Rommy standing beside it. Sticking his head out the side window, Riddick called to him.

"You got someplace I can hide this one that you don't care if it blows up?"

"My testing lab will do if the thing doesn't go over 10kton of blow."

When Riddick nodded his affirmative, Rommy crossed to the far wall of the garage. After a complicated sequence of pokes, pushes and kicks, the wall moved out of the way. Riddick pulled the skimmer into the secure room and begin programming her with a destruct if anyone other than he or Syrus tried to operate her and with an auto pilot course to the BC. He knew that Rommy was staring into the skimmer long before the man's breathy whisper announced it officially.

"God, she's a beauty. What a waste to destroy her."

"Don't be tempted, Rommy. Her security is as high tech as the rest of her. And don't go looking for what's at the end of that auto course. Fooling with it would be just as deadly." Then he added sugar to the bile. "If this goes as sour as I think it will and you pull my tail out of it, I'll see that you get one like her as a bonus. Hell, I'll do better than that. The same goes for Syrus."

Riddick scribbled a note on the skimmer padd, printed it and handed it to Rommy.

Syrus, You make it home, you tell sweet-thing that we owe this man a skimmer with all the bells and whistles.
First

Rommy looked at the note for a hard minute.

"Max, I always knew you had class."