Keeping Faith 2
Imam was surprised at Jack's emotional burst of happiness when he walked into the hospital room. He had expected to walk back into the pale, emotionally-deadened Jack.
"Imam!" Her voice was filled with unimaginable glee, her arms spread out for what was to be a rib-cracking hug. He smiled brightly at her, keeping the ribbon-wrapped box behind his back. Walking to the bed, he allowed his torso to be the victim of Jack's python hug.
"Jack, my child, it is good to see you so happy again. May I ask what?" He said, stepping back, rubbing his ribs while looking down at his charge.
"What's different about me?" She asked, a defiant glare back in eyes. His eyes widened when they rested on her neck.
"Where did you get those?" He asked, his eyes fastened on the pair of black goggles that rested around her neck.
"That," Jack replied, putting on a bad British accent, "is the question of the century." She went back to her normal voice at Imam's raised eyebrow. "Really I don't know, I think he protected me while I slept last night."
"Since this is…Richard we are talking about, it isn't inconceivable. Getting past the security and all that." Imam agreed, now knowing where this spark had come from. "Do you think he will return?"
Jack wanted to desperately nod in reply, but realized that she couldn't. She had no idea if he was returning or not. Instead, she changed the topic of conversation.
"So, you're here to free me?"
"Seems that way. I believe the doctor is signing your release forms as we speak. Ah, I almost forgot!" Imam said, taking out the wrapped box and giving it to Jack. She stared curiously at it as she took it. "Tis not from me, child. I found it on your bed at home this morning."
A sudden surge of hope and relief flooded her as she carefully removed the gray silk ribbon. Quickly tying it around her wrist, she gently opened the box that revealed a small slip of paper and a card key.
"What the hell…" she mumbled, flipping the card over, mentally classifying it as one to a ship. Taking the small slip of paper, a series of numbers was written on it. "Didn't think he would have such…elegant hand writing." She whispered to no one, trying to figure out what the numbers were.
"Jack, what is it?" Imam asked, curious as well.
"It's a series of numbers…I don't get it. I think it's supposed to be code for a name or something." Her thoughts were interrupted by the door opening. She looked up to see the doctor enter, looking very pleased.
"I can already tell you are on your way to recovery. I think you'll be fine, but keep hydrated." The doctor informed, actually smiling. "You're free to go, Ms. Jack."
"Thanks." She replied, holding out her arms to the doctor. "Needles gotta go, doc."
"Ah, of course. I believe your guardian bought you some clothes as well." He mentioned, un-taping the needles and gently pulling them out, so as not to hurt her. Jack looked up to see Imam also holding a small pile of clothes, including her boots.
In less then ten minutes Jack walked out of the hospital room, tucking the small key card safely in her bra, along with the slip of paper. Imam waited for her at the end the hallway and suggested that they pick out a special dinner together.
It wasn't until Jack was getting ready for bed that she remembered the key and slip of paper. Tugging gently on the goggles as she opened the slip of paper again, Jack curled back onto the wooden headboard of her bed. She instinctively knew whom it was from, but she had to break this code. Growling in annoyance, she threw herself forwards and rolled on her back, looking up at the ceiling. Looking at the code again, she whispered it to herself.
"3879'7 42836…"
Sighing, she flipped over again back onto her stomach and surveyed her room, her eyes resting on the locked window. Getting up, she walked to the glass and rested her right hand on it. It was a very large window, perhaps eight feet in height and six feet in width, opening in the middle. Biting her lip, Jack glanced back into her room and unlocked the window that was the door to her small balcony. Surprised by the sudden chill of the desert winds, she hugged her body as she approached the thick stone rail.
"I'm leaving the doors open tonight…" she said aloud, her voice carried away by the passing breeze. With that, she stood there for a few more moments before returning to her room, barely closing the door behind her. Unhooking the strips of gilded cloth that held back her heavy curtains, Jack let the fall in, the heavy embroidered cloth whispering against he floor.
She quickly dressed for bed, walking into the bathroom to perform her nightly hygiene habits, as Imam referred to them as. She softly hummed to herself as she splashed her face with cold water from the bronze basin that was beautifully designed. Letting her face drip for a few seconds, she ran her fingers over the etched in pictures of Greek mythology. Drying her face, Jack went back into her bedroom, sensing something was different. Looking towards the curtains, she saw nothing different but as Jack carefully took off the goggles from around her neck, she couldn't help but sense a change.
Looking at the paper again, Jack jumped when she heard the phone ring. Picking it up, she was about to say hello when she heard Imams voice on the other line. Figuring he had gotten it, she was about to put the antique phone down when she stared at the numbers. The letters to the numbers…each number corresponded to some letter. Gleeful, Jack found a notebook and pen in her bedside drawer and began to write down possible combinations.
"3 could be D, E or F. 8 could be T, U or V. 7 could be P, Q, R or S. 9 could be W, X, Y or Z. 4 could be G, H, or I. 2 could be A, B or C and 6 could be M, N or O. Great, you gave basically the entire alphabet. This could take weeks…" Jack moaned, wondering how to manage this riddle. Taking her laptop from her bedside, she opened it and connected to the lists of what ships were docked. She cut it off by recently docked, then letters that were not in the numbers of the code, she took those out of the list as well. Now all that was left was educated guessing and combinations. Deciding she could continue this in the morning, Jack tried to shake that feeling that something was strange in her room.
Shrugging it off, she slipped into the bed and whispered the command to shut the lights off. Sitting up briefly, Jack picked up her pillow to hide the goggles beneath when she saw something was already there. The darkness of the room prevented her from actually identifying it, so she commanded the lights back on.
Her eyes widened as she recognized the object placed beneath her pillow. Running her hand over the smooth surface, Jack remembered its origin. Gripping it in her hand, she gracefully sliced the air in front of her. Jack grinned, opening her hand and watching the light glint off of Riddick's bone shiv from T2.
Thanks to these reviewers:
TotallyRiddickObsessed – so good to see you again.
Anna – well, with all these reviews like yours and others similar to it, yes, I have not only thought about continuing it but I did!
satanicversus – glad you liked it!
Anonymous….well…thank you for reviewing..
Ennaejj – I originally wanted to keep it like that, but it seems the masses want otherwise.
Allison – thanks, cute things…are cute.
DarkWolf-Outside Heaven's Gate – Whee! Glad you liked my other story, here is a continuation of this one. I'll think about a sequel for the other one.
FluidDegree – hi again! You gave me so many ideas! But, you know, maybe I'll put 'em all together.
Gen1 – don't freak now.