Conte had wanted to wait until well after dark to check out the house Jack had seen Shella enter the day before. Jack had been a bit nervous about that idea at first, but seeing as none of the rough looking kids roaming the streets after the sun went down acted like they wanted to bother her while she was with Dom, it seemed to work out just fine after all.
After about ten minutes of looking at the darkened house across the street through a set of binoculars, Dom gave up, sitting down next to her on the ground behind the large bushes they were using to hide their observational activities.
"There's no one there now, either that or they're all asleep already," he said, looking at the chrono on his wrist. "And seeing that it's only seven in the evening, I'm thinking they just aren't there."
Jack yawned, almost cracking her jaw with the force of it. "Great, that means we can sneak in and take a look around, right?"
Dom snickered lightly. "How bout not? There is this thing that some people do when they're trying to figure stuff like this out. It's called a stakeout."
With another yawn Jack nodded. "Yeah, yeah, sure, sure. Stakeout. Whatever you say..."
Laughing, Dom slowly levered himself to his feet. "Okay, little miss school girl, that's it. I'm takin' you home before you fall asleep on me."
"What?" she asked as he grabbed her by the hands, dragging her to her feet. "But we just got here!"
"Don't worry," he reassured her playfully, pulling her under one arm. "I'll come back and watch for a while after I get you back to your house. Besides, we don't want Mr. Costello's old bag of a girlfriend suspecting you now, do we? Wondering why you aren't home on a school night?"
Jack pretended to pout just a little. It was supposed to be her mission, and there wasn't much she hated more than handing over the controls. "Do I have to?" she begged, laughing suddenly because she reminded herself of Rick trying to get out of their 'camping trip'.
Dom pretended to think about it for a second as they came out from behind the bushes they'd been hiding behind in the wreck of what had once been a small neighborhood park. The two of them started walking down the block together toward the outskirts of the older and more rundown section of the city's downtown area. They passed broken swings and an old metal slide as they went.
"Hmm, yeah, you have to," he decided at last.
Jack tried to muffle a giggle against his side. Squeezing the back and front of his shirt in her fists as she half-mauled his torso, pulling him into a tighter embrace as they walked. She loved the feel of his muscular frame under her hands. Everything from the way his chest was completely filled out to his thick, toned belly caught her attention and held it, ensnaring parts of her that she had at one time thought only Riddick would ever be able to rouse. "Seriously, this can't be healthy, Dom. I just can't get enough of you," she said, her voice muffled against his soft shirt.
He laughed, full and deep. "You can't get enough of me? Well, damn, Jack, maybe I can't get enough of you either."
He was just playing along, and she knew that a little bit. Suddenly feeling very awake, and very vibrant, she disentangled herself from him and smacked him on the ass of his jeans before taking off running. "Tag, you're it!" she yelled back at him, a huge grin plastered on her face. "You want me, come get me!"
She wasn't entirely sure if he knew how to play tag. Some people didn't, hadn't grown up with anyone who had... But if nothing else, a predator would instinctively know how to react to a simple game of 'chase'. And at the very least she was sure a bad boy like him would understand the concept behind cops and robbers.
Jack wasn't disappointed, Conte grinned right back at her and slowly loped after her. He was maintaining an easy jog, but his long strides ate up ground fast, and forced her to increase her speed to stay ahead of him.
She ducked left, ran right. Went through all sorts of twists and turns, never realizing that she'd made her way into the back allies of town, and that they were going in circles. If nothing else, she should've been aware of her surroundings, the fact that they were growing worse and worse. But she was too preoccupied by her pursuer to take much notice. After all, she wasn't really trying to lose him, just make him work to catch her...to catch her and do what to her exactly?
That much she hadn't decided yet.
It was exhilarating, to play like that with someone. It had been so long, since the times when she and Riddick had played 'Johns and Con-X' while they were supposed to be getting food for Imam from the marketplace. Theirs had been a rather personalized version of mercs and convicts. Oddly enough Jack had always been the one who'd played Riddick, and Riddick had always relented to her demand that he be Johns. Before her hair had gotten too long she'd still worn a pair of dark goggles while at play, imitating him, going all-out to fit the part she was role playing. She'd even subtly sniff the air from time to time, like Riddick did, and pretend to be gathering information with heightened senses that would be critical to her survival. And of course, she always won their little games.
Copycat had been her second favorite diversion back then, especially at the breakfast table when Rick was just getting home from the night shift at the club, and she was just about to leave for school. Often he was too tired to realize that she while she sat next to him she was imitating every move he made, from pouring his cereal to 'adjusting himself'. Often her antics would force Imam to try to smother random bursts of laughter, and all the while Riddick would play dumb, looking between the two of them as if he had no idea what was going on, no clue as to why they were both laughing until they cried. That was the best part, how he'd always managed to keep a straight face no matter how funny something was.
How she missed those days...
Back in the present, while still attempting to avoid her new chaser, her new best friend, Jack finally turned to look where she was running. She'd come to a better lit area, a juncture between two connecting alleyways, only to find that she was suddenly almost face-to-face with the two men she'd so easily spotted as guards while they were sitting front portch of the house Shella had led her to the previous afternoon.
Both of them, in their surprise, had quickly scrambled to pull out guns that had been concealed among their street clothes, and standing only a handful of steps away from her with fierce expressions on their faces, they were now pointing those guns in her direction. Straight at her head, to be more specific.
It was an incredibly belittling sensation that traveled up Jack's spine, attempting to smother her before she was able to shove it back down again and bury it deep, only able to do so because long months of experiences similiar to these had taught her to do it automatically while she'd been on the run.
Not a great time to panick, Jackie. So do yourself a favor and DON'T.
Conte finally turned the corner, just barely managing to halt before he collided with her, his laughter suddenly fading into the darkness as he instinctively grabbed her shoulders.
All of a sudden Jack was getting a feeling like the two of them were in deep, deep trouble, as she slowly raised her hands above her head in surrender.
