| Title: Hemorrhage Author: Priscilla Chapter 3: Double Edged Sword Riddick stopped his car in front of the gate to Mr. Wei’s estate. Two men dressed in black were on either side of the entrance. One of them stepped forward and tapped on his tinted window. Riddick lowered it sending the idiot a look. The guy saw who it was, and his complexion turned a weird shade of gray. "Go- Go ahead Mr. Riddick." He said barely able to control his bodily functions. He obviously knew what Riddick did for the Wei family and thought better about giving him grief about proper identification. Riddick maneuvered the car up the gravel path leading to the main house. Christopher Stoneham, Wei's right hand man, was waiting for him at the door when he stepped out. They didn't speak as Chris led them down the long hall to Wei's study. Once at the door, Stoneham knocked once and opened it for Riddick to enter. John Wei seemed to have aged years since the last time he'd seen him. He looked thinner, his eyes haunted. Riddick owed the man a lot. It was because of him that he no longer had to worry about money or other such necessities. He cleared his throat to announce his presence in the room. Wei's eyes snapped up to him, startled. "You have the envelope?" The old man asked wearily. Riddick nodded once. "Open it." He ripped an edge off and his forehead creased with confusion when he didn't find the regular paper with his target's information on it. Shaking the envelope, a small piece of silver caught his eye as it dropped into his palm. A bullet, with the family's insignia branded onto it. Riddick looked up and waited for his instructions. "My son is dead Riddick." Wei said, his voice shaking. "My condolences." The old man walked over to the window overlooking the gardens. "A child is an irreplaceable joy to one's life. Which brings us to your task." "Who?" Riddick's gravely voice echoed in the room. Wei turned back towards him and handed him a fresh envelope. There was a picture of a small boy, no older than eight inside. He was with whom Riddick assumed was his mother at a park of some kind, laughing. "A son for a son. After that your obligation to me is over. You can leave whenever you want." "Is there a time frame?" Riddick asked, still looking at the picture in his hand. Never in his years working for the Wei family did Riddick guess one of his targets would be a child. An innocent kid caught in the crossfire, like Jack. Wei's voice broke through Riddick's train of thought when he spoke. "Tonight." Riddick pocketed the new envelope and bullet. He nodded his head again to show that he understood the terms and left the premises. This was his last job and then he would decide if he wanted to continue to do this or not. Maybe he would go see if Jack had returned to New Mecca after a failed attempt at making it on her own. He headed home, took a shower, changed his clothes and got his equipment together. After double-checking everything, he was off. Riddick spread his equipment out on the small blanket next to him and started assembling his riffle. He'd picked a small perch of land surrounded by brush and trees on the cliff overlooking the wooden road on which his target's house was situated. The information in the envelope had described Fourcade's schedule and his initiative in detail. The shot was to be precise as to not make the boy suffer but he had to make sure Fourcade was present. He had to watch his son die. Jason must've been following him around for weeks to get such intricate details of the man's life. Supposedly, Fourcade was to show up any minute to pick up his son at his ex-wife's house. The house was approximately 100 yards across and below from where Riddick had positioned himself. He placed the bullet into the chamber and cocked it. Now all he had to do was wait. As if on cue, a black Dodge Stratus turned onto the road and stopped in front of the house. Riddick recognized Fourcade from the pictures Wei had provided him. A minute later the boy ran out to him followed by his mother. Riddick positioned himself behind the riffle, fixing the crosshairs of the target on the boy’s head. Quick and painless, he reminded himself as he watched Fourcade pick the boy up over his head and spin him around. Riddick placed his finger on the trigger, carefully placing the crosshair on the kid’s forehead. His heart was thumping loudly in his head; hands were sweating. It’s the perfect shot! Take it! His mind screamed at him. Riddick couldn’t move suddenly, couldn’t breathe. Sweat dripped down his face as he looked through the glass. He blinked, trying to get a hold on his emotions, and for that split second a bald headed, blue eyed Jack flashed behind his eyes. Suddenly he came to a startling realization; he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t kill the kid. He let the gun fall numbly from his hands and rubbed the sweat from his face. Snapping out of it, Riddick rolled up his equipment and made a beeline for his truck. He still had an hour of leeway. An hour to get as much of his shit together and either get a place to hide or get the hell off the planet. So much for hislast job, so much for not owning Wei shit. ************* Wei was in his study waiting for Riddick’s confirmation that the job and been completed successfully. So far he was a couple of minutes late but a number of things could of happened. Failure from a man like Riddick was highly unlikely. Stoneham walked into the room, looking slightly unbalanced. His usually carefully put together demeanor slightly wrinkled. "We have a problem." Title: Hemorrhage Author: Priscilla Chapter 4: Unexpected Turn Jason sat at the bar of the Viper Room, Tanglier 6's premier gentlemen's club, enjoying the view the red head on the catwalk was giving the patrons. His cell phone started to ring causing him to curse out loud. "Yeah?" He said, above the loud music as he made his way out of the club. "Jason, it's me." Riddick flew down the street in a car he'd stolen only minutes before, leaving his in its place. No doubt Wei had men after his ass already and he sure as hell wasn't gonna make it easier for them to catch him. Jason's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. "What's a matter? The info I gave you was no good?" Jason asked brazenly looking up and down the street. He had to be careful around here. Most of these walls occasionally had ears. "No. It was fine. Listen, I need your help on something else. I fucked up the job. You know anybody that forges papers?" "Yeah, Tony down on Cortland street." Riddick shook his head on the other end. That wasn't gonna work. "I know Tony. He works for Wei. I need somebody else." "Almost everybody in the fucking city works for Wei man. What the fuck happened out there?" Jason was getting nervous now. He could feel Riddick's tension in his voice. Like a coiled snake that if pushed far enough would strike without remorse. And Riddick didn't really need too much pushing to strike someone. "They wanted me to shoot the kid, and I dunno, something happened. I just couldn't do it." Jason was stunned on the other end. Couldn't do it? Riddick was the fucking Superman for Wei's organization. 37 kills in less than two years; all extremely brutal, extremely Riddick. The police had no signs of forced entry, no evidence whatsoever. "Ok, ok, I know this broad, only I don't like to use her cuz she can be a real pain in the ass you know what I mean? Like a real ball buster." "Where?" Riddick asked, cutting Jason off abruptly while dumping the car in an alleyway and walking further into the part of the city known as Little Tokyo. He broke the window of another car and disabled it's silent alarm before the police was notified. He'd found some clothes in the back seat of the car he'd stolen before and changed; switching his black tank for a navy blue t-shirt and cotton hoodie to cover his face. "101 Chester Plaza, third floor. Name's Jackleen Koslowski. Tell her Jason sent you." Jason paused for a few seconds, debating whether or not so say what he wanted. "Hey, Riddick? Be careful man." Jason said somberly. In this line of work, friendship was an immense rarity and believe it or not, Riddick had become the closest thing to a friend Jason's had in a long time. But he'll never say it out loud. "I'll be in touch soon." Riddick said hanging up before Jason could ask any questions. He wasn't ready for that yet. Besides, he had more important things to worry about. Like the fact that Wei's scouts could be out here right now. He took the back streets as much as possible, only coming to a stop in front of his destination. 101 Chester Plaza was an old three-floor brick building resembling the old decrepit schools in greater New York on earth. Riddick surveyed his surroundings and got out of the car. He walked briskly to the front door and after he knew there was no one waiting for him on the other side, he took to the stairs three at a time. The third floor seemed to be deserted. A long hallway led to another with three doors along the right hand wall, two of oak wood and the last one was made of metal. Had something that looked like the old doorbells from earth next to it on the wall. Riddick smiled at the thought. This broad wasn't stupid; who knew how much firepower was in there waiting for anyone who tried to break into this place. Riddick pressed the bell and waited. ************* Jack stopped her typing and turned down her computer's CD player, listening intently to make sure what she'd heard had in fact been her buzzer outside and not her loosing her mind once again. She wasn’t expecting anyone today and as far as work went she was caught up. So who was this? The sound came again and she immediately adjusted her equipment, using her small mirror to make sure she looked presentable. Jack typed in a command on her computer and turned on the small television set next to her monitor. *********** Riddick’s brows furrowed as he watched as a small security camera emerged from a sliding cut out in the wall. A woman’s voice snapped him out of his stupor. "Yeah?" Jack asked annoyedly. She didn’t recognize the guy on the monitor. A dark colored hood hid most of his face. He looked like a vagrant, but then most vagrants didn't even bother to come to her. They couldn't afford her prices. "Jackleen Koslowski?" My god that voice. Jack was suddenly 16 again; tears of pure agony sliding down her face as she watched him walk away onto the ship that would rip him out of her life and her heart. It couldn’t be Riddick! Jack’s mind screamed. There are a lot of men with deep voices. She stared at the monitor for a few seconds then came back with one of her security measures. "Never heard of her." She said simply. This is where the person on the other end announces if they are friend or foe sort of speak. Who sent them and for what. Riddick cleared his throat on the other end, trying to control his temper. He was never one to be kept waiting. "Jason. Jason sent me." He answered, looking around the empty hallway. Jack got up from her desk and went to the back room, after finding her silver handle 45’ Tauckson and placing it in the back of her waist band, she made her way back to the front. "Alright, come on in." Pressing the button to buzz him in, Jack took a seat behind her desk. She’d had to bite her tongue to refrain from calling him by his name. That would have been a mistake. She wanted to see the recognition in his eyes before she shot him. Riddick walked into the office feeling like ice water was dripping down his back. Something was off, a certain electricity in the air. The woman as far as he could tell, had jet-black hair that rested just above her shoulders; it seemed to change color in certain light, from black to dark electric blue. Thin build, looked athletic....tense too. Out of habit, Riddick reached for the gun at the waistband of his pants. "Can I help you?" The woman asked, finally turning around to face him. Riddick's heart slammed into his chest at the sight of her. Six years, six years have passed since he'd seen his Jack, but he recognized her big blue eyes immediately. They were as large as saucers, and the gun she had pointed at this chest shook from pent up emotion. "Jack..." He started, but she cut him off abruptly. "Shut up Riddick! What fucking nerve you have, to actually come in here and expect my help. Like I owe you anything." She seethed. Her whole body was trembling now. Riddick's face continued to be void of emotion, he didn't even flinch when he recognized who she was. Then he did something she never anticipated. He closed the distance between him and the desk, pushing his chest against the gun clutched tightly in her trembling hand. "If you're gonna kill me, might as well do it now, kid. There's a whole line of bastards I don't know that want a piece of me. Might as well die by your hand." Riddick said never taking his goggled glare from her face. He felt Jack's tension slip away as she watched him, trying to determine truth from bullshit. Within seconds, he knocked the gun out of her hand, flinging it across the room drawing his own to point at her head. "I need your help Jack, need to get the fuck off the planet." "Fuck you." Jack never took her eyes off of him. Suddenly her bell was rung, Jack turned her head slowly towards her television screen. It'd been disabled somehow. Shit! "We'll finish this. When the tables are reversed and the gun is in my hand, we'll finish this." She promised. Riddick nodded his head and smiled, placing his gun in his waistband. "Jackleen Koslowski?" A male voice echoed through the suddenly eerily quiet room. Jack pushed the button so she could speak. "Never heard of her." Silence on the other end and then the loud cracking noise of one of her doors being busted down. Gun shots. Jack lunged over her desk after the other gun as Riddick drew the gun he'd held previously and another one out of nowhere. One guy thrashed on the floor after one of Riddick's bullets sliced thought his neck. Jack sprung up and shot one in the head between the eyes. Two down, two to go. "Jack!" Riddick yelled as a dark haired man aimed at her head. Riddick pushed her out of the way and fired. They fell in heap on the floor. "You alright kid?" He asked, face mere inches away from hers. Jack was about to respond, then pushed him off her and fired her gun, the armed man falling down with a loud thud. Sitting up, Jack checked herself for wounds and then noticed Riddick was nowhere to be seen. Sirens could be heard in the distance, the neighbors must have called the cops, them being the upstanding citizens they were and all. Jack got up and ran over to the back window. Pushing it up, she eased her body down onto the metal fire escape stairs. She ran down as fast as her heeled boots allowed her. The last section of stairs stuck halfway down to the street. She jumped it; cursing when pain seared through her left ankle and up her leg to center at the base of her knee. Jack looked up and down the block while adjusting her clothes then she started walking briskly down the street. No big, she hadn't even been home when the incident happened. A cop car screeched to a halt right in front of her on the corner; Nick Fourcade stuck his head out of the side window. "Get in." |