53.
Jack: The Getaway
The pain in her side was a consuming fire that stripped away her ability to think. Every time one of her feet hit the pavement it flashed through her again, reducing her world to a realm of strobing agony. What little awareness she had left was focused on the simple act of running.
Keep moving! she told herself whenever she began to falter. In one hand she clutched Jarvis's gun close to her chest, hoping that none of the people flashing past her would see it and panic. Her other hand held the bag of data disks in a deathgrip.
Nobody interfered with her as she ran.
There was a four mile distance between the library and the Montmartre spaceport. Her lungs were burning now and her legs were cramping up and she figured she still had about three miles to go.
I'm not going to make it.
For a moment her pace faltered as the thought hung about her.
Shut the fuck up and keep moving! She had to make it. She had to get the disks to Riddick. What was on them was too important, too worlds-shattering. Whatever happened, he had to have the disks. He needed to know how high the stakes really were.
High enough to maybe kill me. The thought came unbidden, dragging at her pace once more. She gritted her teeth and pressed on. She had no intention of dropping dead on Rue Mercredi while everyone else was taking mid-afternoon strolls, thank you very fucking much!
Out of the corner of her eye she saw the policeman and felt her heart flip over. His eyes were on her, following her as she ran past. But he didn't move.
A girl runs past a cop, carrying a gun and dripping blood, and he does nothing? Jarvis, I think I love you.
She'd known that Jarvis wasn't behind the bullet this time. She'd known it even as she was being hit. One of the hotheads in his rescue party must have done it. That had only been a small comfort, of course, as she'd sprawled to the ground, but it had been something.
The fact that he'd abetted her escape had been something even more important, too. That was the other thing Riddick had to know about. The vendetta needed to end.
How the hell did she think she was going to manage this? Any time, the adrenaline was bound to run out and leave her with nothing. She knew it was crazy; there was no way for her to run four miles nonstop after taking a hit in the side. She didn't even know how bad the hit was, this time. It hurt like hell; that much she knew.
Another block, one more block, she told herself yet again. Every time she crossed a side street she said it. Just another block...
Someone turned and called after her in alarm as she ran past. She ignored them, hoping they wouldn't follow her. She still had the gun in her hand, but she didn't think she could use it on some innocent tourist.
A large hand grasped her upper arm and wheeled her around. She gasped, raising the gun. Nobody's going to stop me!
"Jack? What the fuck? Jack!"
The man's hand flashed out in a blur of motion and the gun was taken from her. She stared up, uncomprehendingly, at the huge figure before her. Blue eyes, a mustache and beard, curly hair...
She knew that hair. She'd watched Riddick building it. Suddenly the face before her was clear to her. She'd threatened him over wearing this disguise in bed...
"Riddick... oh shit..."
Her legs buckled and he caught her.
"What happened, kid?" His voice would seem calm to most observers but she could hear the tension underneath it. Abruptly the tension leapt out into the open. "Fuck, Jack, you've been shot!"
"Riddick, we have to get out of here," she gasped out.
Her legs left the ground abruptly as he swung her up. She kept a tight hold on the bag of disks, wondering what he'd done with the gun. They might need it... they might... it was getting hard to think. She felt a harsh sting as Riddick pressed her bleeding side against his belly, using the pressure of his body to staunch the flow of her blood. Then he began to run. She held on tightly, gritting her teeth.
We're doing it again, only this time it's all backwards, she thought disconnectedly. The last time, he'd carried her as they fled the soldiers, and then she'd been shot.
"What happened, Jack?" he asked as he ran. He wasn't even out of breath. Of course not... she'd seen the contents of some of the files as they'd spooled past.
Mitochondrial metabolic efficiency 135% normal rate... She had a vague understanding of what that meant and knew that he wouldn't have any trouble with this run.
He'd asked her a question, hadn't he? She frowned, trying to focus on it.
"Stupid..." she managed. "I was so stupid... couldn't see the whole board..."
"What happened?" he repeated a moment later.
"I saw... Jarvis... having lunch at a café..." Jack swallowed hard, trying to keep her focus. So much pain, so much exhaustion. She didn't know if she was going to make it. She had to tell him.
"I'm going to kill that motherfucker for this..."
"No! Riddick... no..." She grabbed at his collar with the hand holding the disks. "He... he helped me get away..."
"What?"
"I... had this stupid idea, Riddick. I thought maybe I could get into the Charybdis mainframe using his clearances, so I lured him to the library."
Riddick muttered something under his breath that she was sure was profane. He picked up the pace, gripping her a bit more tightly.
"It worked, Riddick. I got in. I got the files, too." Jack coughed. Her mouth and throat seemed to be full of copper. "But I forgot that they'd come looking for him... one of them shot at me."
"Who?"
"I don't know, I couldn't tell. Jarvis seemed furious with everybody. He told me--"
"Sir, do you have a permit--" a man asked as Riddick dashed past him. Jack opened her eyes and was amazed to realize they'd entered the spaceport itself. "Sir! You can't go there...!"
A moment later an alarm sounded.
"Fuck!" Riddick began running even faster. "I really hope, for their sakes, they keep their distance, because right now I'd fuckin' enjoy killing somebody..."
Jack rested her head against his shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Riddick... I'm sorry..."
She was jarred abruptly as her feet hit the pavement. Riddick held her against him as he keyed the codes into the Audrey II's ramp. As it descended, he turned and bellowed at the security guards approaching at a run.
"I'm the owner of this ship! I have clearance but I didn't have time to show it to your fuckin' lackey because THIS IS AN EMERGENCY! Get off the pad if you don't want to get fried!"
He lifted Jack back into his arms and raced up the ramp. His hand flashed out to hit the controls and made it back before she even began to slip. The ramp began to shut behind them. Jack closed her eyes, glad to hear the familiar sounds of the ship's systems. She'd been afraid she'd never hear them again.
He set her down on the cargo lift and hit the elevation button. Jack felt the platform begin to rise, and turned her head. Riddick was wrenching open the med locker, grabbing as many supplies as he could carry. He hurried over to the platform, now at waist-level with him, and dumped them by her feet. Then he turned and went for more. She saw him start to climb the ladder, laden down with triage equipment, as her view of the cargo level was cut off.
She lay still until the upper level door was opened. Riddick lifted her out and stood her against the wall, ripping her shirt away.
"Fuck, Jack, you've got more lives than a cat."
"Is it bad?" she asked, her eyes closed. Her own voice seemed to be coming from very far away. Riddick's sounded closer. "Am I going to--"
"No, you're not going to die. Look, I'm going to put a temporary bandage on it so we can get the fuck out of here."
"Jarvis said we should go... as fast as we could... because someone with more authority... might countermand..."
"Who the fuck has the authority to countermand Jarvis?" Riddick muttered as he wrapped a bandage around her waist and ribs. "He's the fuckin' Crown Prince of the whole Charybdis Project."
"No... tr... Tribunal..."
She felt Riddick go still. "Say that again."
Jack swallowed, trying to force a coherent sentence out. "The Tribunal owns the Charybdis Project. It's their baby."
"Shit." Riddick tossed the empty package of bandaging aside and lifted Jack up, carrying her to the cockpit. "Okay, kid, we're getting out of here. You sit tight..." He strapped her in, careful not to jar her wound.
She could hear him hitting switches. He hit the comm system. "Control, this is Matthew Owens of the Audrey II declaring a Level 5 emergency and requesting immediate clearance for liftoff. Clear the pads and the lanes, we're going up in two minutes as soon as our engines are hot."
"Audrey II, please state the nature of the emergency."
"Goddamn fucking bureaucrats," Riddick muttered. He turned and shouted into the microphone. "Just clear the lanes or you're going to be dealing with fuckin' midair collisions. A Level 5 has been declared, you know procedure! You wanna cite me, feel fuckin' free to do so!"
The engines were cycling up. Riddick swore again after a moment.
"Gotta lock down the med supplies before we go up or I won't have anything to treat you with..."
Jack listened, her eyes still closed, as he threw open a locker and began stuffing supplies inside it. Cold... so cold... she wondered suddenly where all the warmth had gone.
She must have lost consciousness for a moment because, the next things she knew, Riddick was shaking her. "Stay with me, Jack!"
She opened her eyes. Riddick was above her, staring down at her, his normal composure completely ripped away.
"You in there, kid?" He continued to watch her until she managed a nod and a shaky thumbs-up. Then he turned and began strapping himself into the pilot's seat. He hit the comm button again.
"This is the captain of the Audrey II advising all spaceport personnel to clear the launch pad. You have thirty seconds to get past minimum launch range or you're going to get char-broiled. Anybody still out there, move your asses now!"
He began hitting the final switches, powering the ship up the rest of the way. The launch engines were almost done cycling up.
"Don't know why I feel obligated to warn off a bunch of rent-a-cops," he muttered angrily. But he waited the full thirty seconds nonetheless.
Jack gasped as he hit the throttle. The abrupt pressure on her body sent waves of pain through her. He was accelerating the ship illegally fast again, heading straight up.
"Good fuckin' thing I wasn't picking up our cargo until tomorrow," he growled. "Gonna be a while before we can go near the Corsair system now. Your uncle Boris just got an unearned reprieve, Jack. Just for a little while."
Riddick began running switches, reconfiguring the ship from launch mode to combat mode as they approached the edge of Troubadour's atmosphere.
"Riddick, no..." Jack managed.
"No what?"
"Don't attack the Messina. You don't have to... unless Jarvis got outranked, he'll have told them to leave us alone."
"Jack, you're talking about the man who ordered my death and shot you. I'm not gonna buy that he's suddenly on our side."
Jack almost laughed until the pain in her abdomen cut her short. "He is. Trust me, Riddick. I have proof."
"Fine," Riddick growled, his eyes locked on the cockpit windows. The sky had gone indigo and now, gradually, billions of stars were coming into view. The Messina appeared as well, a gargantuan battle cruiser hovering far above New Paris. Riddick flew toward it.
"Riddick, please, let's just go."
"We are." His face, however, bore the same look of calm fury he'd worn in the skiff, almost five years ago, when he'd contemplated leaving the planet -- and Carolyn -- behind without some sort of retaliatory act. Now he reached over and hit the comm button again.
"This is Richard B. Riddick calling the Messina."
There was a long moment of silence as the cruiser loomed larger.
"Mr. Riddick, this is Sergeant Mizuguchi of the Messina. Go ahead."
"I want you to give Jarvis a message for me."
"Recording."
"Tell Lieutenant Jarvis I'll see him soon." Riddick banked the craft away from the Messina, looping around sharply, as he cut the connection. Jack closed her eyes and clenched her jaw, knowing what was coming.
She felt the star-jump begin. This time it lasted a lot longer, five minutes of wooziness. She kept expecting them to smash into something. It was technically illegal to make a star-jump while still within a planetary system, and for good reason. There was so much space clutter that could come at you...
He does it visually, too, she realized. He sees it all coming and dodges it. What did those files say the synapse fire rate was? She couldn't remember, but she knew it had been impossibly high.
Finally he cut out the star-jump drive, switching over to the deep-space drive. The nauseating feeling of being turned inside out and drowned began to abate as the acceleration eased and the localized space-warping lifted.
"I really, really hate star-jumping," she managed.
Riddick smiled a little as he began punching in coordinates. "Okay, we're going to take a little detour now. One more star-jump, Babe... it'll last two minutes. Then we'll be okay."
"Where are we going?" Jack closed her eyes again. The nauseating sensation began once more.
"Well, I'm hoping they'll think we're headed for Corsair. We're gonna go to Daedalus Station instead."
"That's not far away."
"That's the idea. We'll be there in a few days and can get a doctor to look you over. In the meantime..." He stopped for a second as he cut the star-jump drive back out and switched over again to deep-space. "I've gotta get you stitched up."
He undid the straps confining him and knelt down by her, studying her with an astounding amount of concern in his face. After a moment he unstrapped her as well, carrying her over to her old room. She hadn't slept in here since the night after the space battle, when she'd felt like her world had ended forever. As he lay her down on the bed, she shivered.
"I'm so cold..."
"You're in shock, Jack. You've lost a lot of blood." There was something in his voice that belied the calm tones of his words.
"Riddick, am I going to die?"
"No. Now listen to me. You were just grazed. Most of the damage is to skin and subcutaneous tissue. A few arteries got nicked and a rib may have been chipped. That's all. Nothing vital got hit. Once I give you a transfusion and stitch you up, you're going to be just fine."
She looked up at him, amazed by the clashing vehemence and tenderness that filled his face. "Promise?"
"I promise, Jack. Now hold on..." He pulled something out from under her bed and unfolded it. An electric blanket. He switched it on and dropped it by her feet before he began to undress her. Then he carefully arranged it over her so that it covered everything except the wound itself. "This'll help you stay warm."
He left the room for a long moment and returned with an armload of medical supplies. He set them down on the bed and began working with them, assembling some kind of stand.
"Riddick..."
"Yeah, Jack?"
"I'm tired... is it safe for me to go to sleep?"
She felt his hand stroke her hair. "Yeah, Jack, it is."
"I'm gonna wake up, right?"
"Yes."
"Promise?"
"I promise. Here... this will help. You won't feel any pain either..."
Just a small sting against her throat. He'd given her an injection. Her last thought, as the darkness took her, was that she didn't know where the disks had gone. If she didn't wake up, she hoped he'd find them.
54.
Cartwright: Finally!
Teresa Cartwright stopped in the doorway of her office and stared at the intruder within. The military lieutenant from the other day was back, pacing up and down the narrow space between her desk and her open case files as if he owned her room. He ignored her, his concentration intent upon his personal comm call.
She closed her door and leaned against it, glaring at him. Her assistant had been forced to reschedule three checkups to accommodate this bastard, who had apparently made it clear that the clinic would be shut down if she didn't, and now he couldn't even break off his conversation--
Despite her anger, she began to listen in, quickly fascinated. If her eavesdropping bothered him he could just screw himself; it was her office.
"No, do not use the medical files stored in the mainframes. I already told you, they're compromised...
"That's right. Have someone at the Special Forces Hospital pull out the hard copies. It's been less than five years so it shouldn't take too long...
"Yeah, that's a good point. Have them pull the mainframe backup from about a week before she arrived at Seti Station. See how the data compares with the information on file after her 'body' was found...
"No, I already know exactly what you're going to find. It's her. She and I had a long conversation, of course I'm sure!"
The lieutenant -- Jarvis, that was his name -- glanced up at her and grimaced. In spite of herself, a wry smile tugged at Cartwright's lips. Yeah, she'd battled with bureaucracy a few times herself... the smile curdled as she remembered the circumstances and outcome of her last battle. She'd never fought back again.
Jarvis's attention had already turned back to his call. "Well, you tell Baldwin that we almost had a bloodbath on our hands today. If she'd died, or if I hadn't let her go when I did and he'd caught up to us, we'd have lost another dozen soldiers and god only knows how many innocent bystanders...
"No, I'm getting some important evidence right now. I'll be back at the ship once I'm done, and the General can swear at me as much as he wants to then."
He looked over at Cartwright again, his expression more focused. The call was being drawn to a close.
"Look, if you want to give him a piece of good news, tell him that what I've found out means the Phase II Operatives can be restored to active duty and Phase III can move forward on schedule. I have to go, Sergeant. Yes. Good-bye."
As Lieutenant Jarvis closed and pocketed his personal comm unit, Dr. Cartwright deliberately stepped past him and took her seat at her desk. He raised an eyebrow and then took one of the chairs before it, letting himself be relegated to the role of patient or supplicant if only for a moment. She knew it wouldn't last long. He had too much power not to wield it without even thinking.
"How can I help you today, Lieutenant?" She kept her voice polite. She really wanted to ask him why he was wasting her time today.
"I need all of the information you can give me about the Tarsins. Both what's in the clinic's files, and what you remember from dealing with them."
Interesting. Fascinating, actually. A cold chill passed down her back abruptly as she realized what it probably meant. "May I ask why?"
"Because Colin Tarsin was, in fact, Richard B. Riddick. And the woman you knew as Rebecca Tarsin was Audrey Jacqueline Kowalczyk, the girl--"
"The girl he's supposed to have murdered?" Cartwright stared at Jarvis in shock. There was no possible way--
He smiled thinly. "Believe me, I know what you're feeling, Doctor. I wouldn't believe it either if I hadn't come face to face with her only a little over an hour ago. She's alive. Or at least, she was when I last saw her." He looked intensely uncomfortable suddenly.
"Then how..."
"He faked her death. The bastard got into secure Interplanetary Data System files and replaced her physiological profile with some Jane Doe's. We still don't know all the details." He stared out into emptiness, his expression frankly admiring. "We still don't know everything he can do."
His eyes focused back on her. "Tell me about his appearance. You said he had brown hair and brown eyes when you saw him?"
"That's right," she replied, wondering why he was interested in that. But then she remembered how quickly he and Aspen had lost interest when she'd described Tarsin's -- Riddick's -- physical appearance. A disguise? It couldn't have been, could it? It had seemed far too natural...
"And the gate guards said he clearly had blue eyes..." Jarvis began to laugh. "I'm going to have to add 'master of disguise' to his resume."
She watched in bemusement as he shook his head, recovering quickly from his bout of mirth.
"I can get you Rebecca's -- I mean Audrey's --"
"Actually, she likes to go by 'Jack,'" he corrected her.
"Okay. I can get you her files if you would like."
"I would. I think there are some people in the Top Brass who might find them very enlightening. But I'm more interested in learning about them. Tell me what you saw, Doctor."
Cartwright sighed, collecting her thoughts. Where to start? There had been so many things that had stuck in her mind about them. She could still see them vividly, the way she'd first seen them... She'd start there.
"Well, I knew they were unusual almost immediately, actually. When I went into their room to begin Rebec-- Jack's treatment, they were sitting next to each other on the edge of the bed, holding hands. He was always so... solicitous to her. I think we both know that's something that hardly ever happens in a place like this."
"I see. Please go on." The expression in his eyes was odd. These weren't just questions to him, she suddenly realized. It was important to him on a more visceral level.
"I think... after I spoke to you the other day, I almost called you back because I realized why Riddick would have killed Pete, assuming Mr. Tarsin was Riddick--"
"Which he was," Jarvis affirmed again.
"During the primary Regen procedure, he stayed with her the whole time." A tiny, sad laugh emerged from her mouth before she could stop it. "He did something I'd never seen before." She described how he'd lain beneath the girl, holding her and comforting her as the procedure dragged on.
The lieutenant frowned. "Why was she in so much pain?"
Now the shame flooded back. Of course. If Riddick had been upset, knowing as he did how life in the underground worked, this man from the clean and sanitary world where legitimate doctors and nurses practiced would be horrified.
"You know how expensive the few painkillers that can be used with Regen work are, don't you? None of the clients who come here ever want to pay for them, or at least, none did until he brought her here. He gave me hell when he found out they existed. He ended up buying her fifteen thousand New Francs worth of analgesics after that, to keep her from feeling any more pain."
Jarvis sat back in his seat. A look of... joy? Awe? What was that in his face?... had appeared. She wasn't sure she caught the next words he whispered correctly.
"You're still in there, Bryan. God, it's good to see you..."
"Sorry?"
"Er... nothing. Please continue, doctor. He held her through the procedure?"
"Yes. And I remember that, at one moment, when the pain got really bad for her, Pete was watching her writhe and enjoying it a little too much--"
Murderous fury appeared in Jarvis's face.
"--and Riddick looked exactly the way you look now. He looked like he wanted to rip Pete apart." Cartwright sighed shakily. "If Pete tried anything else on her, I can see why Riddick would have gone after him."
"Did they ever complain about him? Do anything to prevent him from going into her room?"
Oh god, yes-- the ring!
"Yes he did," she told Jarvis slowly. "About an hour after he cussed me out for not giving the girl painkillers, he reported that a valuable ring was missing -- possibly stolen -- from her room. He insisted that anyone who went into the room when he wasn't there had to be accompanied by a supervisor from then on."
"A ring?" A tiny smile had crept into Jarvis's expression. He knew. She watched as the smile grew and he shook his head.
"It supposedly belonged originally to his great-grandmother--"
For whatever reason, that made Jarvis sputter with laughter. After a moment he recovered. The broad grin he gave her took twenty years off of his face and made her suddenly like him a great deal. "Oh man, you people were set up."
She chuckled a little herself. "You want to know the worst part? The owners were so furious over it that they contacted every fence in town to demand the ring back. And one of them had one that matched the description--"
Jarvis burst out laughing again. She joined him.
"You guys gave them the ring?" He finally managed, pointing at her with an unsteady finger.
She was laughing too hard to manage anything but a nod. She had to wipe at her eyes and hold her stomach for a long moment.
"We had Shannon give it to them, because she'd felt like she'd been personally accused. She'd straightened up the room that day. We told her we'd found it in a vacuum bag, because she was so upset she'd almost quit over it--"
Jarvis sighed. "Bry must have been dying of laughter."
"There never was a ring, was there?" she finally asked, serious once more. "It was a ploy to keep Pete out of her room for the remainder of her stay, so nobody would suspect Riddick when he killed Pete, right?"
Jarvis nodded gravely. "Whatever Malcolm did, he infuriated Riddick badly. The way Pete was killed... he'd done that to corpses before, but never to a live human being. He really loves--"
The lieutenant swallowed and Cartwright felt obligated to glance away from the excess of emotion that crossed his face.
"When did you find out she's still alive?" she asked gently after a moment.
"Today," he whispered. "I found out today. Until now, I thought he'd tortured her to death... I thought Bry didn't exist anymore. Just some..."
He took a deep breath and glanced over at her. "I'm going to tell you something that I'll deny later if you ever bring it up or try to take it public. Do you remember the New Ecuador Ripper? Or The Wolf of Daedalus Station?"
Cartwright nodded, no longer breathing. Both of those men were uncaught, serial rapists who had mutilated and murdered their victims...
"Both of them were the same man. Peter Malcolm. We've now determined that he murdered at least eleven women in New Paris as well, and more than fifty on other planets. That's who this clinic was employing. That's who Riddick killed."
It suddenly felt freezing in the small office. "Why aren't you making this public?"
"Two reasons. First, Pete eluded Interplanetary Law Enforcement and continued his games for ten years over seven planets and two space stations. You can imagine how little they want that made public. And second, they don't want anyone starting to think of Riddick as a hero. The lawmakers in America and particularly New York State would never permit that."
Cartwright nodded, seeing his point. It was a shame, though. From what he'd told her, dozens of families who'd lost a daughter, sister, mother, wife... they'd never know that the man who had tortured their loved one to death had finally been given his just reward.
And to think I thought nobody could possibly deserve what Riddick did to him...
"So now what happens?" she asked after a long moment of silence.
"Well, Riddick's finally really gone. He left Troubadour an hour ago, for real this time, we think. He could be anywhere at this point. I'm not going to look for him now. When he's ready, he'll reappear." An odd look, a mixture of dread and longing, crossed the lieutenant's face. "He said he would. So... now I gather the files on the Tarsins, do a little research on the people he and Jack were masquerading as this time, and then I go back to Earth. And wait for him to come to me."
Cartwright frowned slightly. There was both an ominous tone to his words, and a great longing. "Will he?"
Ineffable sadness was in the man's eyes as he nodded. "He will. When he's ready. I only hope he realizes that I'm--"
He silenced himself and his composure returned. His gaze, when it returned to her, was pure business. "None of this ever happened, doctor. Colin and Rebecca Tarsin are nobody for the clinic to concern itself over. Peter Malcolm was the victim of random foul play. Understood?"
She nodded.
He paused again, considering. Finally he seemed to come to a decision. "I know your past, Dr. Cartwright. I know why you're here instead of practicing proper medicine the way you should be."
A hot spike of anger flashed through her at those words. The son of a bitch--
"Don't."
He glanced up at her, looking genuinely confused. What a consummate con artist! "What?"
"Don't threaten me, Lieutenant. I'm going to give you the records and forget they existed anyway. You don't have to throw your weight around." She stared down at her desk, bitterness throttling her. "And I really doubt you could ruin my reputation any more than it has been, anyway. So just... don't."
Genuine puzzlement filled his voice. "Doctor, I wasn't threatening you. Believe me, if you did try to go public with this, that's not what we'd try to do to you. You'd just disappear."
She glanced up at him, still furious but also deeply chilled. His gaze upon her was frank. They'd really do it, she realized. "Then what do you want?"
The lieutenant took a deep breath. He held it for a moment as if he was debating the wisdom of what he was about to say. Finally he shook his head and exhaled. "You may not thank me for this. It's not much of an improvement, but..."
"But what?"
"Doctor, sixteen years ago you performed an abortion on a young woman who you believed to be named Mallory Chase. The personal ID she showed you indicated that she was of age to abort without parental consent, and the procedure went flawlessly. Do you even remember anything about it?"
Cartwright stared at him in confusion. She'd thought he was about to bring up the sordid little scandal that had cost her her license, but this...? "No, I'm sorry. I don't."
"I can't tell you her real name, but I will tell you that she was underage. That's not your fault; the ID she showed you was first rate. You couldn't possibly have known that you were performing the abortion on the daughter of one of the Tribunal Senators. And you certainly couldn't have known that she was pregnant by her own father."
Cold horror and disgust flooded through her. Understanding followed.
"Yes, Doctor. The scandal that ended your career was orchestrated by the Senator in question. You were entrapped. He was retaliating for something you didn't even know you'd done, and doing so in a way that would prevent the world from knowing what he was doing to his own daughters. Sordid, isn't it?"
She nodded, too appalled to speak. All that shame, years of self-recrimination... arranged?
Jarvis was watching her intently, a mixture of sympathy and some less definable emotion on his face. "The Senator died two years ago. Something he ate..."
Did he look smug? It wasn't possible.
"Doctor, he was the only one with any interest in preventing you from returning to the world of legitimate medicine. He's gone now, but a great deal of his influence remains. I can't get you publicly cleared, but... there is a position that could be opened to you, if you are interested."
She watched him for a long moment. "Tell me more."
"You would be doing prenatal care, initially. There would be approximately three dozen patients for you to attend to. You would have to monitor them intensely; none of them are capable of caring for themselves. The slightest sign of infection -- of any kind -- would need to be reported. Every detail of their children's health would need monitoring as well. Once the children are born... they would become your primary concern. At that point the job description becomes more like that of a GP so I'll understand if you're not interested. But I know you're qualified for the position if you are."
"And the downside to all of this?" She waited. Nothing he'd said explained how uneasy he looked, after all.
"You would be working under the strictest non-disclosure statutes in existence. No matter what you did or saw, you would never be able to publish your findings. You would never even be able to admit to working on the project. Once you go in, you're part of it forever, or at least until your death. It means saying goodbye to the life you have."
The life she had? What life? She'd been living from day to day for a decade and a half, turning ex-whores into breeders for the frontiers. She had half a dozen acquaintances, no close friends, and those few were the only people she'd found herself able to respect who were also able to respect her. Most of the people who didn't find her current line of work offensive were frankly too sleazy for her to enjoy being around...
She couldn't possibly miss this life. Especially not since she'd caught a glimpse of a new world through the Tarsins... through Richard Riddick and Jack Kowalczyk.
Riddick and Kowalczyk's passage through her life had marked her in some way that she couldn't explain or define. A longing that she hadn't felt in ages had been stirred awake. She'd seen something different from the sordid world she'd inhabited for a decade and a half, a glimpse into the world she'd been forced to leave behind or one very much like it, and she wanted in. Badly. She wanted the calluses and scar tissue that had formed over her soul gone.
Idly she wondered why a man who chased a serial killer across the galaxy and back would be involved with prenatal care. Then she realized it didn't matter. She'd be finding out soon enough. He was offering her a step toward the world she wanted, and it was one that would probably never come again.
"You've got yourself a doctor, Lieutenant." She smiled.
He didn't smile back. If anything, his face became more grave. "You do understand that if you take this position you'll be stuck. There's no way out once you go in."
"Lieutenant Jarvis, I've spent the last fifteen years of my life thinking there was no way out of this dive. I'm game."
An odd look flickered through his eyes. "I hope so, Doctor."
He stood. Strange. It suddenly came to her that the way he tilted his head, as he watched her, was almost exactly the same way Riddick had. How well did the two know each other, she wondered. Where'd they both pick up that particular mannerism? Had one learned it from the other?
"If you'll get those files for me and gather your personal effects, we'll be going, Dr. Cartwright. How long do you think it'll take you to pack?"
The thought about Jarvis and Riddick's mannerisms was swept away. In its place was her squalid but tidy apartment. Mentally she picked through her possessions, realizing anew how depressing her life had become. There was almost nothing she'd actually want to take with her.
"Not long at all, Lieutenant." She turned to her files and pulled out the one labeled "Tarsin." Normally she would have turned it over to Records long before now, but she hadn't. She hadn't wanted to let go of it. Every time she looked at it, just glimpsing the name, she'd seen the two of them again, the way they acted toward each other.
Every time she'd looked at it she'd been reminded that love still existed.
She wondered what she'd find in this new world she was about to enter.
The door to her office closed softly behind her as she left it, moments later, for the last time.