Four

Mafia. I should have known. Only a syndicate boss or a government fatcat would have had the muscle to pull a quadruple—ah, no, I beg your pardon, quintuple-murderer out of a place like this. I thought it highly unlikely that Mr. X was a major figure, however; he was probably an underboss or a consigliore sent to do the bidding of his master. They weren't after the bounty on Riddick's head. Had that been the case, they would simply have asked me to kill him, and I would have refused, not out of respect or sentiment for Riddick as a fellow convict—of all the absurd ideas—but because frankly, I don't think I would have succeeded. No, it was my reputation as an analyst that drew them here. Darling Maya Umplett's report. They knew I could squeeze water from a stone given half a chance.

"I'll need a partner. Someone to watch my back."

"I have many good people—"

I lifted a hand and shook my head. "I don't want your people, Mr. X. I want someone I know I can trust. I want Madeline Rosier."

"She is old."

"You'll get her out, as well, please, and when this is over, you'll give her an equal share in what you've promised me," I said firmly.

Mr. X made a small noise through his nose. I heard the crackle of plastic as he unwrapped a piece of gum or candy and popped it into his mouth. Menthol. It was a cough drop. He sucked it for a few moments, then smirked. "Very well. It's done. Is there anything else?"

"I'd like a small ship."

"And a pilot to fly it? A gunner?"

"Thank you, but no. I can handle both."

--

Maddie and I mysteriously came up for parole two days later, and a short time after that, we were being given back the clothes we had been wearing when we were arrested, along with a great deal more money than either of us had gone in with. Mr. X had even purchased a parole officer who always seemed too busy to call.

"Glory…" Maddie breathed, blinking rapidly in the harsh sunlight as we climbed onto the transport to the airfield. She glanced over at me and smirked. "You gonna hunt a serial killer in that sundress?"

"I did the Warners on my way home from church," I answered snidely, echoing her slangy way of speaking.

Maddie shook her head, pursing her lips. "It takes all kinds."

"Fortunately for you."

"That's right. I'd still be in there tripping over my tits if it wasn't for you."

"You are the most vulgar old woman I have ever met," I laughed.

"I've earned it," she said crabbily. "I'm older than dirt, I'm allowed. Besides, it's what you like. You're so damned proper, you need some vulgarity in your life. That's why you brought me."

"That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me." I glanced sidelong at her. "But we both know why you're so vulgar, and we know why I brought you along—besides the fact that I like you, of course."

She tittered softly and her hunched little frame shook with even that slight motion. "You can't be serious. I gave up that life when I married Roger. I'm 74 years old, honey. I can't shoot no more."

"You were a sniper with the Special 21 Division, Maddie. You were a sniper for 40 years. Who else lasted that long? Besides, you sneaky bitch, any 74-year-old Furyan is stronger, faster, and smarter than a 40-year-old human."

Maddie's bony elbow slipped from her knee and she grabbed my arm for support out of shock, not frailty. "Wha—How the fuck did you know that?" she sputtered.

"I didn't. Now I do."

She looked scandalized.

"I suspected something for a long time," I admitted. "You haven't got the eyes I read about in Riddick's file, but you are far too quick on your feet to be an ordinary woman. You can stop hunching, now."

Reluctantly, Maddie sat up straight and stopped her rheumy shaking. "You are so damned manipulative, do you know that?"

"I do know. So does the mob." I frowned. "I need to find out which Family has my sister. I don't trust them, Maddie."

"Well, yeah, they're the fucking mob," she said. "You'd have to be an idiot to trust them. But we're out now, aren't we? We'll figure something out, honey. If anyone can, it's you."

I had a number for a paging device. When I found information pertinent to my investigation, I was to call the number, after which Mr. X or one of his men would return my call from an untraceable comm. They were taking no chances with me. I had the number, a vague description of Mr. X himself, and some idea as to the nature of his Family. Large, powerful, and they definitely knew something about Riddick and the Necromongers that no one else did. It wasn't much to go on, but I fully intended to have more before long.

"So where are we going first?" Maddie asked quietly when we reached the airfield.

"Well," I said, "first we're going to get into that." I pointed to the south, where a TK-322 Piranha sat silently among the other fighters.

Maddie let out an appreciative expletive and whistled. "They really want this guy! …Poor thing," she added.

"We'll see." A guard was already waiting for us near the ship. Wordlessly, he slipped me a small package and walked away. I opened the package and a bracelet fell into my hands, along with an unsigned note.

Maddie was looking at me questioningly, and I held the bracelet up so she could see it. "Military codes for every major airfield in the quadrant. We can land wherever we want with these. They change by the hour, and the new codes are downloaded into the bracelet, apparently. Mr. X has powerful friends in government. You know, Maddie, if it wasn't so paranoid, I'd say the Family is the government."

"Don't be so sure it's paranoia, Angelface," Maddie said darkly. "When you get to be my age, there won't be much that can still surprise you."

I wondered about that. But if it had been a government agency that wanted Riddick, I suspected they would have had access to too many resources to need to resort to recruiting cons.

The Piranha was an impressive ship. The cockpit had been coded to open only after I had submitted my thumbprint for analysis, which meant that no one would ever be able to steal it from me without my being there, but also that my movements would certainly be tracked. I paused for a moment of silent commendation of Mr. X's cleverness. Once Maddie and I had climbed in and I had closed the door behind us, I looked around and smiled. The Piranha was built to be light and speedy, but dangerous. There was seating for six, two of which were for gunners who fired the auxiliary canon towers. In the front was the pilot's station, and that was where I sat after inspecting the rest of the ship.

"Maddie, sit in the starboard gunner's chair," I called back, powering up the ship and checking the gauges. "Rig both guns for one user. You know what to do."

"Yeah, I do, but how do you know a damn thing about birds?"

"Two counts of Grand Larceny, committed when I was a teenager. They didn't know it was me until I was indicted for the murders."

"You never mentioned that."

I shrugged. "It seemed sort of trivial." The engines were humming to life, a deep, sonorous, pleasantly familiar sound that I had not heard in some time. The sound of freedom.