The Ninth Life

Shan'ica SilverPheniox

6: Double Crossed

After he 'talk' with Riddick, Shane went and cleaned herself up. She splashed water angrily on her face as she chided herself for falling apart the way she had. Never had anyone gotten to her so easily. NEVER! But the slightest bit of pressure from Richard B. Riddick and Shane was crying in a corner.

"Why am I acting this way?" She muttered to herself as she checked to make sure all signs of her 'breakdown' were gone. "Why should I care what he thinks?"

The answer hit her so suddenly she was stunned. She was attracted to him as a mate! "No, not a chance. I'm not the mating type." Shane was almost shaking at the thought.

Shane's species were very peculiar about their attitudes towards the sexes and mating. While a female was taught to be strong and composed, to never waver or show fear, the second that she came close to a male she was attracted to she became the exact opposite: subservient and emotional. After the initial attraction and mating this effect faded away. Shane shook her head, willing the idea that she was that strongly attracted to Riddick to go away. It didn't. Shane took a few deep breaths to calm down. She had to think about this objectively. She had to have her head clear for tonight. She had to relax. That meant she had to get out of this room and away from Riddick for a while. Shane thought of Jack almost immediately. The girl had nothing. They had left her bag behind in the shitty hotel. Shane jumped up, an idea in her head. She would take Jack shopping. That would clear her head. How could you think about guys or the problems they gave you when shopping with a 16-year-old girl? It took only a few words to pry Jack away from the soap opera that she was engrossed in, and, with a quick explanation to Riddick, she and Jack were off.

Shane and Jack returned to the hotel a few hours later, their arms full of bags. Not only had they gotten several outfits for Jack, they had also gotten her a new bag and a few choice articles for Riddick. He inspected these pieces they had found for him as Jack rattled on about the stores they had visited and how Shane had put the fear of anything holy into one saleslady who had tried to have them removed from one store. He absorbed all of this quietly, while noting that Shane had good taste. Everything they had gotten for him was black and reasonable.

Shane had gone outside as soon as they had returned, stopping only to drop the bags that she held and grab a small, black bag from her luggage. The bag, he knew, contained Shane's gear, her tools of trade. He had searched her bags while she and Jack were shopping. Jack intruded his thoughts briefly, saying something about trying on one of the outfits they had bought, and he nodded his head absently. Jack disappeared to go change while Riddick joined Shane out on the patio.

Shane was preoccupied with a little electronic code breaker from her bag and didn't hear Riddick approach.

"I'm sorry." His voice broke her concentration and almost caused her to drop the device. She launched into a series of growls, foul language in her peoples tongue, which amused him greatly. It took a great deal of effort not to laugh aloud.

"What?" Shane turned to him, an annoyed look across her face.

"I'm sorry." He repeated. "About earlier. It's just hard to trust people when you live my life…" He shrugged. Shane didn't respond. Shane was staring at the devise in her hands, but not really seeing it.

"Shane?" Riddick asked, a note of concern in his voice. He moved to sit beside her, his closeness bringing butterflies to Shane's stomach. Gently he took her chin in one hand and manoeuvred her face upwards towards his. She couldn't avoid meeting his eyes (as much as you could meet his eyes thru those goggles!) any longer, and when he looked into them he saw…

"What do you think?" Jack's enthusiastic voice cut Riddick's concentration, bringing him back to reality. He turned to face the girl. She stood in the doorway of the patio, posed in her new outfit. It was a black and green jumpsuit that was tight in just the right places, and a green short coat. It looked great on the girl, really emphasising that Jack was a girl and once again Riddick found himself admiring Shane's taste.

"Looks great kid. Really great." He smiled at Jack's obviously pleased demeanour. She disappeared inside again, shutting the door behind her. She had picked up on the fact that she had stepped into something private and didn't want to intrude any more.

Shane, meanwhile, had moved just out of his reach and was busy re-packing her tools, the ones she would need the most for the job on top.

"There is a restaurant a couple of blocks from here that is pretty good. I told Jack that we could all have dinner together there." She grabbed her dark glasses and put them on before looking at him again, effectively hiding her eyes from him. "We should go sooner than later. It's almost dark now, and I don't want to be in the 'jects for too long. By the time we finish eating it should be dark enough to work." Shane avoided looking at him, scanning the cityscape as she spoke. Then, grabbing her bag, she retreated inside and away from him.

Dinner went well. With Jack between them, Shane and Riddick both were more comfortable, and with both of them wearing their eye protection neither had to make eye contact. Jack supplied most of the conversation, talking about the planets that she and Riddick had been to. Shane listened intently, specifically to the details about planets she had not been to. Those details may come in handy some day. Jack ran out of words just as they finished the main course. In an effort to keep conversation going she asked Shane about her people and home planet. Shane was caught off guard by the question.

"My home?" She asked, a rhetorical question that she used to buy a moment to let her think. "Well, there really isn't much to tell. It's really just one big jungle. My people live in small villages that we call 'clan groups' because we all live with our clan. Ummm…" She took a bite of her dessert, a light and simple cake, topped with whipped cream, while she thought. Riddick watched her take a bite, an old joke about whipping cream running thru his head.

"My people, we're called Tal'shi'tan by the way, are reclusive. We don't mix much with the outside universe. Most people find it hard to be around us. Too animalistic, I guess." She shrugged. "We're really very boring."

Jack didn't look convinced, but Shane obviously wasn't going to say any more on the subject. They finished their desserts in silence. After flagging down their waitress and having their meal charged to her room, Shane suggested that they go. She had told Jack that she had to take care of something tonight and that Riddick was going to help her out. They headed back to the hotel and Jack flopped down in front of the vid.

"Can I order a movie?" She asked as Shane emerged from the bathroom, now wearing a tight black body suit that accentuated her curves. Riddick watched her move across the room to see which of the movies Jack wanted, while he sharpened his shiv. That suit was almost to tight he thought, and the joke that he was thinking of earlier came back to him. He chuckled quietly to himself.

"You always find sharpening a blade amusing?" She purred in his ear again, sending the familiar shivers down his back.

"Just an old joke I was reminded of." He replied, sheathing his shiv. "Are we ready?"

She nodded. Then headed for the door. He called out a goodbye to Jack, who was settling in for her movie. She waved absently to them.

They hailed a transport and rode in silence to the edge of the 'jects. Shane paid the driver in cash and he left in a hurry. She was all business, Riddick noted, as he watched her evaluate the vehicles around them for a possible get away vehicle. She chose one and had it open and running in no time. 'A real professional. I wonder if she started off jumping cars.' He thought as she drove them to the building they were headed for. Parking across the street, she led Riddick to an alleyway beside the building.

"I'll be in that suite." She pointed to a window on the seventh floor. "If you spot this woman use the flashlight on the window." Shane handed him a picture of a young woman. He nodded his understanding to her. Without another word to him, Shane started to climb up the wall of the building, finding foot and hand holds in the cracks between the bricks. A minute or two after she started she was at the window, opening it with a tool from her bag. A second after that she was in.

As Shane entered the window she was careful to avoid the infrared beam that cut across the windowsill. She stepped down carefully, keeping her body against the wall. Once inside the room she pulled out a pair of infrared goggles. She replaced her sunglasses with the goggles and used them to cross the room and reach the security interface. "Quite the system for a dump like this." Shane muttered to herself as she attached the code breaker to the interface. "Even for one of the mistresses of a big time corporate fucker like Klidox."

The little box beeped at Shane, telling her that it had the security code. Shane punched the code into the pad on the code breaker, which then fed it into the security system. That was how she insured that there was no genetic material left lying around for the authorities to trace. Even gloved hands could leave behind something. The security system beeped acceptance of the code and the infrared beams shut off. Shane smiled. Tucking the goggles into her bag, Shane strode into the bedroom. Keeping against the walls, Shane surveyed the room. Carefully placing her steps in indentations already in the plush carpet, Shane approached the chest of drawers. She scanned the top of the chest carefully, then moved with such speed that anyone watching her would not have seen her grab anything. Nothing on the chest had been disturbed, and in Shane's hand was an antique diamond choker. Shane smiled. It was beautiful. And obviously worth far more than the 10, 000 credits that she had demanded in payment, on top of passage to the planet and accommodation. She turned to leave and bumped into that perverted bastard Clands.

Riddick had watched as a well-dressed man and two very big bodyguards entered the building. He didn't have a good feeling about it. He flashed the light at the window that Shane had entered, but she did not appear. 'Definitely not good.' He thought. He looked around for a moment, considering his options. He didn't have to stay. He should go get Jack, then get the hell off of this planet. To show that she wasn't trying to trick him, Shane had paid the 2500 credits up front. That would be more than enough to get him and Jack off the planet and still have enough for a semi-decent hotel wherever they went. On the other hand he was definitely attracted to Shane. 'And she's attracted to me.' He thought. There was a definite chance for something to happen between them, and Shane liked Jack, so there were no complications there. Looking back up at the window, Riddick made his decision and headed back to the vehicle.

"What the fuck?" Shane stared dumbfounded at Clands and his two lackeys.

"Now, now Ms. Corvan." Clands sneered at her. "That's no way for a lady to talk."

One of the lackeys moved forward as if to grab her. Well, that certainly wasn't going to happen. Moving as fast as she had to grab the choker, Shane back stepped, then threw herself into a back flip, kicking the huge and stupid man just under the jaw, knocking him out. He hit the floor with a loud 'thud'. The other man was far faster than his partner and he had moved behind Shane while she was in the air, and was in the perfect position to grab her as she landed. Before he could get a good grip on her arms, though, Shane dropped the choker down the front of her body suit.

Clands approached her, a disgusting smile on his perverted face. He reached out and ran his hands along her body. She cringed at the touch, and the thought of him actually touching her skin repulsed her. As much as it disgusted her, it also angered her. She didn't like being double-crossed. She unsheathed her claws and stabbed them back into the gut of the man holding her. Having a sick sense of humour, Shane twisted her claws a little as they were still in the man, then withdrew them. Clands didn't realize anything was wrong until it was too late. As his lackey fell to the floor, Shane whipped her hand around, slashing Clands' face badly. Before he could react she kneed him savagely in the crotch, then kicked him, causing him to fall to the floor. She ran to the window and jumped, not thinking about anything other than escaping.