Chapter 5
The moment Tane set foot on board her ship, she knew there was trouble. She had no idea what kind, but something was definately wrong. The lights were on full power for one thing. Automatically, her left hand dropped to release the safety on her sidearm. Damnit. she thought. And here I am, not wearing body armor. What in the hell is wrong with me, thinking a civilian port was secure . . .
Cautiously, and a silently as she could move, Tane headed for the bridge. Unless it was Fleet Command themselves, she had too many security devices in place to worry about the power core or cargo hold for now. Bridge. It looked rearranged.
That was because Riddick had put it in battle mode, the consol pivoted around to face away from the nose of the ship. It effectively blocked the entryway, but it was another security feature. Whoever happened to be working the captain's seat was the only person visable on the vid. From the corridor, Tane could hear him talking to someone. She allowed herself a split-second of relief, but no more. The lights were still on, and that was his warning to her.
"Wetworks are no problem." Riddick was saying. "Blood washes off just as easily as sweat." he shook his head and shrugged. Tane got close enough to see he had a pair of dark glasses on. He didn't look up, but he tapped his finger on the consol.
"But you don't kill women?" the disembodied voice at the other end asked, not quite mocking but close. Tane froze, breathe caught in her throat, hands suddenly shaking. It was a real-time conversation, and she could never mistake the voice. Riddick was talking to Cody.
He remembered how Wade signalled me before we made New Durnago. Tane thought wildly. Cody was close, he was in the sector, and she was responsible because she had sent out the uncoded message to get his attention but maybe that had worked too damned well . . . Tane took a deep breath and slipped around to a secondary station.
"If the price is right . . . " Riddick mused to Cody. "But honestly, you can't afford me."
**You can see this but Cody cannot.** appeared across the bottom of the main screen to Riddick a few seconds later. He made no indication he saw it. Good. **Tap one finger for no, tap two for yes. Got it?**
He tapped two fingers as Cody sneered an answer. "Too many perks, huh?"
Tane suddenly wanted to throw up. **Is he in the system?** she typed.
One finger tapping. "I'm not at liberty to discuss our . . . arrangements."
Cody laughed. "I'll bet. Did she tell you she's a Marine?"
"Marine?" Riddick feigned suprise beautifully.
"Ah, not just Marine, Colonial Marine. And if it comes up . . ." Cody smirked. "She'll tell you she's retired."
"And she's not."
"Not hardly. Can you say 'counter-intelligence'. Tane has spent more time in the past five years in Kysian territory than my pilot."
**Is West there?** Tane typed quietly.
Riddick responded by tapping one finger. Tane was turning on the extra security systems and closing the hatch a heartbeat later. **I have red lights all over the panel, he is trying to track us.** she warned. **Tell him you know that.**
One finger continued tapping. "Now I know you can't pay me enough. I do not fuck with the Alliance any more than I have to. And I don't have to bring her in for you. I don't need a price on my head."
**I know him better than anyone alive. Tell him.** she persisted.
"Stop trying to trace me Cody." Riddick said simply and it sounded like a threat.
There was a brief silence, then Cody laughed, a real laugh, not the mocking sneer he had displayed earlier. "Yea, that's her ship alright. How about if I offer you a nice bounty of my own for Tane, alive and well, and . . . disarmed?"
**I want you to see how he reacts to me.** Tane typed. **It's important.**
Riddick stopped tapping his fingers entirely, contemplating it all.
"Money, real spendable credits, just for staying out of the way when the time comes." Cody continued. "Unless you've went and gotten attached to her . . ."
"How much?" Riddick said abruptly, tapping two fingers.
Tane moved back around to the entryway, waiting to make her appearance, hoping he wouldn't see things, a lot of things, that were different now. A year and a half ago, she had let him walk, and it seemed like a thousand years now.
"Twenty thousand. Alliance Standard, of course." Cody said.
Riddick looked up at Tane. "Twenty thousand?" He put a second video feed on, so Cody could see she had just walked on to the bridge."
"I'm worth twenty thousand?" she tried to sound insulted and amused. That, or sheer panic might come through. "I think I'm hurt."
"That's just for Hunter to keep you safe and secure until I can pick you up, my dear." Cody answered. There were subtle and not-so-subtle changes in him as she went on-screen. Riddick saw them.
Knowing Cody all too well, Tane knew what was coming next. She swore she wouldn't let it show, not like this, in front of Riddick and sure as hell not in front of Cody. He had never caught her on a live feed this time of year before, but she dreaded those few words.
"I'll think about it." Riddick said, clearly not interested.
"Yea, those perks with her are pretty . . . intense, aren't they." Cody was back to leering. "Doesn't matter to me. One bounty, one dead merc." he shrugged.
"Uh-huh." Riddick dismissed the threat.
Here it comes. Tane knew. He'd never forget, never let me forget.
"Hey, Tane." Cody said.
Shit.
"Looked at your Earth-date calendar lately?"
"You are a fucking asshole, Cody" she told him.
"What did you ever see in me? Anyway. Tell Harlan 'happy birthday', will ya?"
Twisting the knife, right in the heart. "Fuck you."
"Hmmmmm, not recently." Cody offered.
Tane cut the feed and the screen went black.
Chapter 6
"Are you alright?" Riddick asked through the closed door.
"Fine."
"You've been in there damned near an hour. Are you crying?" It was a speculative guess, but Cody knew how to hit her where it hurt and he had. Riddick had seen the look on her face after she cut the transmission off. She looked . . . shattered.
"No. I'm fine." she repeated.
"Could have fooled me." he said to himself. "You were right. He's psychotic. Something had to set him off on you. Any ideas?"
The door slid open. She hadn't been crying, either, but she looked pale. "I don't know. I thought it was becasue I was on the review board that dismissed him, but the trouble didn't start then." Tane stared at him a minute, shook her head and sighed.
"What?" Riddick asked, barely more than a whisper. He had turned the lights down and she the glasses.
"I swear, I can't think around you."
"Should I be insulted or flattered?"
"You cloud my judgement." she restated.
"You seem to do fine when it counts." He nodded towards the bridge, indicating their conversation with Cody.
"No." Tane moved past him to the bridge. He had returned it to it's normal operating mode. She sat, taking the co-pilot's chair. "I didn't think he was that close . . . I sent that transmission to my brother uncoded so Cody would hear it and he did, but he's already in the sector. That was stupid, stupid, stupid. We could both be dead because it didn't occur to me he'd know about that ship and know I'd be close." She leaned back, covering her face with her hands. "That was so stupid." she murmured again.
"So . . . you aren't allowed to make mistakes?" he took the pilot's seat. He had adjusted it to fit him and it was comfortable.
"No, not now."
"You are taking it personal, and that's why you can't finish it." Riddick told her. "I saw a lot of things about Cody you didn't tell me. Couldn't tell me, maybe. Are you still in the Marines?" he seemed to change the subject.
"I let Cody think that so he less likely to screw with me if there are Marines in the sector." She sat up, shook her head.
"He said you would say that. Now, I tend to not believe what I hear as rumor and innuendo . . ." Riddick couldn't help but smile. If she was a spy, she was damned good, and even if she wasn't, he suspected she did covert work for them anyway. He had always suspected that. He couldn't predict Tane. She's not a lot like you, Carolyn, except for the things that really count. I think you two would have been friends.
"I don't have a good track record with men, in case you hadn't noticed."
"But you have a plan. You always have a plan."
"I have a couple ideas. I won't tell you everything, that's not the system."
"The system? Hon, I'm on your side . . . " There was an edge in his voice.
We are going to have our first real fight. Tane thought. "It's for your safety."
"I'm not the one with a psychopath up my ass. I'm trying to fucking help you and you want to shut me out and do it all on your own. Remember what happened last time - didn't quite work out the way you planned did it?"
"I don't want anything to happen to you."
"I've been places and done things you really don't want to know about. Cody's got nothing I can't take care of. But you have to step back and let me do it or we are going to spend the rest of our lives looking over our shoulder to see if he's there . . ." He spoke slowly, as if he were explaining it to a child.
Tane rubbed her eyes. "How long have you been out of Ursa Luna? Three, four months. What do you think the Alliance will do to you for murdering a Terran citizen? They will gene-scan you and they will know who you are and you'll be lucky if they just send you back to Slam City . . ."
"Never happen. I won't go back . . . "
"That's what I'm afraid of."
Riddick sighed. "Have I ever known anyone more stubborn?"
"I suppose you can't help it." She smiled at him.
"You win. But it's a two way street." The comm started beeping, a message incoming. "If that's Cody . . "
Tane had it. "It's coded, it's clean. So it's . . ."
"'Blondie'?" After meeting two of her brothers, he found it difficult to believe the third was . . . blond. As shipboard pale as Tane was now, she was still brunette with an olive complexion that looked very Earth Medeterranian area ancestory. Kyle and Wade had the same features.
Apparently, they looked like one of their parents and brother three took after the other. He was blond. "Hey kiddo, I hope you did that on purpose or you were really, really drunk." Drew greeted. Definately a Cameron, same attitude, same smile, the one that totally wrecked Riddick when Tane wore it.
"Sure as hell." Tane responded. "A Kysian mid-class, mostly in one piece. Nifty, huh?"
"Been onboard yet?"
"They have to clear me through Command first."
"That should take five minutes." Drew scoffed. "So, when are you expecting Cody to be knocking on your door?"
Riddick waited for an answer to that.
"Drew, Hunter is piloting for me. This is the missing brother." she introduced them, as brief about it as she could manage. "Cody is already in the sector. I got his call just now, and he's as plesant and charming as ever."
He wanted to say something but skipped it. Wade wouldn't tell him who 'Hunter' was. "I'm on-call. If you need a hand . . ."
"I know." Tane told him.
"They have a full alert going there. Did you know that?"
"They closed the lane right after we put in. So either they are tracking Kysian movement close by or they are going to move the ship soon. Pick one."
"Or both?" Drew offered.
"What a lovely thought." Tane sighed. She did sarcasm well.