Broken Promises

Finale

            Jack's eyes opened slowly, the lids heavy and swollen. Riddick's concerned face bent over hers came in and out of focus, and she struggled to steady her gaze on him.

            "Hey, Jack," he whispered. She grinned.

            "You said my name," she whispered back. He blinked. "You didn't call me 'kid,' you called me by my name." He smiled again, a pained expression still showing through.

            "How you feelin'?" She shrugged.

            "Like I'm in a jar of molasses." He snickered.

            "You're on quite a bit of stuff right now. Doc's gonna take care of you." She didn't know who Doc was, or where he was for that mattered. All that mattered was the concerned face staring down at her. The silvery eyes focused on her green ones. Her brow furled and she tried to sit up, but was restrained with a gentle push by Riddick's massive arm. She marveled at how the muscles rippled as it flexed and, struggling, her fingers ran down toward his shoulder, following the deep grooves. He started and then relaxed, finding her hand and enclosing it in his. His skin was warm and dry against her cold, clammy palms.

            "Where's Imam?"

            "He's safe."

            "What happened to Cassidy?" His features darkened, but she didn't take the question back.

            "I cashed her in." Jack's eyes widened.

            "You what?"

            "You and Imam get to split her bounty."

            "Did you – ?" Jack's eyes revealed the rest of her question, and he shook his head.

            "Good smack to the back of the head with the butt of a gun will knock you out for a while. She'll feel it when she wakes up."

            "I'm sorry, Riddick." Jack gave his hand a feeble squeeze. "I tried to warn you sooner, but I couldn't track you down?"

            "How did you know?"

            "I told you when you left I had your back," Jack said. "One thing school was good for was hacking. I ran across an encoded message, decoded it, and it was Cassidy's original offer on you. No one took it. I did some asking around and found out there was a hit on you and on her as well. Did some more hacking and figured out it was all a plan of hers."

            "You shouldn't have done that, Jack," Riddick sighed. "Who did you talk to?" Jack attempted a shrug. "My guess would be the wrong people." Jack's eyebrow rose, as though she objected to his idea. "Anyone who would know would be the wrong people. Your ass is in just as much of a sling as mine is right now. People start wondering what a kid like you is doing asking about a hit on someone like me, and that's never a good thing." Jack gave him a sheepish grin.

            "I guess you'll have to take me with you then," she said.

            "We'll see," Riddick said. Jack sighed. At least he gave her that much.