Chapter III: Battles of Competition and Nerves

"Liege to Jack, Liege to Jack. Take aim, we're ready to begin attack."

"Jack to Liege. Confirmed." The line was cut as Falc and Liege aimed their long-distance rifles. The snipers were set up in a triangle, so Falc would pick off the left, Liege the right, then both of them would knock off the middle.

A minute later the three snipers were down and Liege leaned over the edge of the cliff to see Jack and Rick take out the four body guards.

Their target surrendered with his hands up in the air. Rick and Jack come out from their hidden posts and began to walk towards the enemy.

As this was happening, Falc and Liege strung their weapons over their back and began to slide down the side of the cliff, jumping and leaping by the end. They ran up to Jack and Rick.

"Mission successful!" Jack crowed as she high-fived Liege.

"Ye hear that? Gotcha this time!" Liege shouted as the enemy walked up to them.

Smiling, he shook their hands. The five of them greeted the three snipers and the body guards who were recovering from the shots.

"Good idea to attack from behind, Liege." The target complimented, smiling at his opponents.

"Thanks, hope yer team wasn't bruised up too bad." Liege replied, looking at her previous targets.

"Nope, we're good. Same time next month?"

"Sounds good."

They turned and began to walk back to the campus, glad at the exercise.

"Nothing like a game of well-planned paintball to get the blood going." Rick commented as they neared the campus buildings.

The sun was just rising as Liege and Jack slipped into their room, quietly locking the door behind them.

"We are damn lucky we don't have classes today, Liege." Jack mumbled as she surveyed the chaos that was their room. "I think we should do some spring cleaning after we nap."

Liege didn't even lift her head from the mattress she was occupying but instead gave Jack the finger and growled incoherent curses into the pillow.

"What was that?"

"I said," Liege snarled as she supported herself on her elbows, "it's almost summer break. We missed spring."

"So?"

"Just go to sleep, Jack."

Sighing, Jack turned around to change, hearing Liege's head flop back into the pillow. As she tugged on Riddick's shirt, she slipped under her cold covers.

Her back to the wall and her eyes trained on the window, Jack slowly fell to sleep, her senses still honed to the surroundings.

Riddick sat in the kitchen sharpening his shiv, trying to occupy his time before Imam would awaken. He hadn't been able to sleep after remembering his departure from Jack, so he decided to use his time.

His nerves were calmed by the metal shriek of the blade being sharpened and he closed his eyes, paying close attention to his other senses. He suddenly stood and sheathed his blades as he heard someone moving about upstairs.

He followed the movements and judging by the gait and weight of the footsteps, he believed it to be Imam. His observations proved correct as the holy man descended the stairs. Tilting his head in greeting, Imam moved past Riddick to start making breakfast.

"You could not sleep, Mr. Riddick?" Imam asked, setting a cutting board onto the counter.

Riddick growled in response as he heard another moving about upstairs. He judged this to be Imam's wife.

"Perhaps you were thinking of little Jack?" He questioned, quieter this time and he smiled inwardly when he saw the reflection of Riddick's head whip around to face Imam's back.

"It's been years since Jack was 'little', I bet." He replied, watching the other man busy himself with cutting and slicing fruits.

"That is true. Speaking of the little devil, a message came from her this morning. I took the liberty of printing out a copy. It is in the study if you wish to see it."

Riddick's heart skipped a beat when he thought of a form of communication to Jack. Maybe there was a way after all. He silently moved out of the kitchen and swiftly walked to the study. He saw the page lying on the desk and he picked it up.

His cold countenance broke into a small smirk as he scanned the contents and his right eye even twitched. 'What has Jack become?'

He folded the paper and tucked it into his pocket, saving it for a closer read later. He looked over at the other parts of the study and seeing a miniature library, he walked over and began to look at the titles.

He stepped back as he heard Imam enter the room and watched him carefully as he too stepped in front of the shelves. Riddick observed the other man's hands dance across the spines of the books and finally stop on one.

Pulling it out he turned around and handed it to Riddick.

"This was one of her favorites." He said quietly as he moved to his desk where he sorted a few papers and selecting one, walked out of the room leaving Riddick to himself.

"Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare…sounds old." He said to himself as he sat down. Propping up his legs, he opened the well-worn book and began to read.