CHAPTER13COC

CHAPTER 13

The little cock-sucker ambushed him in his place. Tormenting and teaching Toni a lesson about running away. Very hard lessons. His usual activities for the last three weeks or so after he had snatched her un-loyal ass from Riddick’s apartment. When he wasn’t making her feed him or wash his clothes or play the whore for him that is.
Hell, if he hadn’t been having such a fucking great time, he probably would heard the merc bitch breaking her way into the even worse dump he’d been forced to take after Riddick had attacked him.
One minute he was pounding away at Toni, the next he found himself staring down the business end of a 12 gauge pulse rifle. Miriam Gonzalez smiled an evil little smile as she noticed his reaction to the situation.
Slowly he straightened away from Toni’s sobbing body. Not brave enough to even reach down to pull up the pants pooling around his ankles.
“What the fuck you doing Gonzalez?! You and me have a deal. I gave you Riddick! You got no call coming back here...pulling on me! Shit!...you owe me part of the reward!” The words were a bluff. Burt Leffner knew he wasn’t the most brilliant of human’s, but even he recognized a double cross when he saw one. Shit, he’d pulled plenty of them to identify the scent. Unfortunately, he wasn’t used to being on the receiving end of them.
The only chance he had was to keep her talking until he could get the gauge away from her.
Good thing she didn’t look like she was in any hurry. She was calm enough. Almost a scary kind of calm. It didn’t add up with the condition of her kisser. Someone had worked her over. Leaving bruises on her throat.
Miriam Gonzales glanced down at the pathetic piece of flesh that was Burt Leffner’s penis and wondered how any woman, even a teen-ager could let such a sorry excuse of a man use her. The disgust with Toni made her plans just that much more easier to implement.
“Let’s just say I need something you’ve got,” she said.
Leffner saw the look she’d given his pride and joy, but somehow he doubted that she was referring to it. Actually, he had no idea what she was talking about. But he got the feeling he wasn’t supposed to. It was all some big joke between she and herself. He had a sneaky suspicion him ending up dead was the punch line.
But with her pointing a pistol in his face he had little choice but to play along. Fucking bitch! He’d make sure she got hers before this was done!
He smiled to show he would play like a good little boy, “Oh yeah? What’s that?”
Her gaze shifted to Toni lying on the sorry excuse for a mattress. Half naked and beat nearly senseless.
She smiled the scary little smile once again and said, “Her.”
Whatever Leffner had expected, it hadn’t been that.
What the Hell would she want with Toni? Not that he gave a flying rats ass one way or the other. The little ragger was his own piece of property. No way was he going to let Miriam have her! He wasn’t done having his fun yet.
But he couldn’t tell her to go fuck herself with a gun in his face.
He figured it would be better to make a joke of it. Get her relaxed enough to snatch the gauge away from her.
“You like the weak ones too, huh? Didn’t think your tastes ran that way. But hey, I don’t care. Whatever gets you off...so to say,” he said with a sickening smile.
Gonzalez didn’t even blink when he made his little joke. It seemed whatever patience she had for the situation had come to an abrupt end.
He saw his fate a second before her finger tightened.
Cowardice saved his life. His body turning away to run as she pulled the trigger.
The blast caught him in his lower shoulder. Knocking him to the floor on his knees. Leaving him in a shock induced calm. He waited for the finishing blow but it never came. Gonzalez must be distracted by the now screaming Toni. Forced out of her stupor by the sound of the roaring gun.
Quickly grasping his chance, he let his body fall hard to the floor. Making sure his face was turned towards the center of the room where the two women were. Hoping it convinced the merc into believing that if not dead already, he was well on his way.
Evidently it worked. Because all she did was nudge him roughly with the tip of the gauge. Careful not to flinch as the metal poked into his bleeding and torn flesh.
Keeping his eyes closed in his death play, he heard Toni go from the whimper’s she had subsided into, back into screaming.
Taking a chance, he opened his eyes to a slit.
The mercenary had taken Toni by the top of the hair. Pulling her terrified face close to her calm visage.
“Shut up! NOW!”
The utter hatred of the voice had worked a silencing magic on the traumatized girl. Gulping back tears and the screams that lodged in her tormented throat.
“You do what I say, when I say, or you buy it right here and right now. And before you pull that ‘Poor-little-suicidal-me’ crap with me, let me tell you that I’ll make you suffer so much before you die that I’ll make your dead step-daddy here look like an angel. There’s death and then there’s death. Got me?!”
Toni nodded as much as the cruel hand holding her hair would let her. For once finding something worse to fear than Leffner.
Gonzales had studied the petrified girls face for a moment before speaking, “Fine. Get up.”
Releasing her hair, she had grabbed Toni’s arm and hauled her to her feet. Ushering her from the dive without a backward glance.
Leffner waited a few minutes to make sure the merc wouldn’t come back. Then dragging himself up he used a cloth lying on the floor, a pair of Toni’s leggings, to bind his shoulder. He would get it taken care with a Ravi Knitter later. Have to think up some believable bullshit for the med-tech’s though.
At that moment, finding out what Gonzales was up to was more important. She had tried to screw him out of his half of the Riddick reward. Much like he had planned on screwing her. By killing her. But the bitch hadn’t counted on his survival instincts. Or his greed and thirst for revenge.
Once he was sure he had stopped the bleeding, he set out to find the merc and Toni. Swallowing a handful of illegal Starzers to keep him on his feet, he threw on his heavy work overalls to cover his blood stained clothes.
Even though he’d been slowed down by injury, it wasn’t too hard to figure the way. A trail of urine, apparently from a terrified Toni, made it easy to follow at a safe distance. He even got lucky for the fact that she hadn’t taken any lifts up or down. Though going down wasn’t too likely. They were on one of the lowest floors of the station. Both in actuality and socially.
He’d been so intent on following the trail that he almost gave himself away when he came upon the two suddenly. Quickly he pulled back to a safe distance. The merc was holding a shaking Toni brutally by the upper arm while buzzing the door to a dump much like Leffner’s. The big gauge wasn’t in sight so he figured it was hidden under the long, gray coat Gonzalez was wearing.
No sooner had the thought crossed his mind when the merc shuffled back from the door. Bringing the gun out of hiding and leaving a quivering Toni in between her and the door. The muzzle of the pistol jabbing the girl in the back. Letting her know that escape wasn’t an option. Leffner doubted the little coward had the guts to even think about it.
He wasn’t too surprised when Riddick had answered the door. His capture and/or death being the merc’s single minded goal. Leffner figured that was where the merc had been heading with Toni. Use the girl as pity bait. What he couldn’t figure out was why Riddick was down in the bowels of the station and not in the comfy apartment of that Cholena cow.
Gonzalez must have done a number on them. Splitting them up to conquer. He’d almost felt a glimmer of admiration for the cunt.
And for Riddick.
The man was a real piece of work. He leaned with crossed arms against the door jamb. Not a flick of an eyelash as he’d stared at the smug mercenary and the terrified teenager. He just stood there. Waiting for whatever shit came down. One cool mother fucker.
Leffner was too far away to understand what Gonzalez was saying to Riddick. But whatever it was it didn’t seem to impress the big man a whole Hell of a lot. He just stood there as if made of stone.
Until the gun blast.
It tore through Toni’s back and sent her body slamming into Riddick’s. Driving the escapee back into the dark apartment.
“Son of a bitch!”, he whispered at the sight of the carnage being unleashed by the unbalanced mercenary.
Leffner had no doubt that Toni was dead. He was upset at losing his own private punching bag and whore, but an even bigger worry was what attention the shot would bring. What was the crazy bitch thinking?!
The hallway outside of the apartment had been deserted. And evidently shotgun discharges in this part of the station were status quo. Not even the authorities wanted to deal with this place unless absolutely necessary. Probably would’ve only come if the explosion was in danger of compromising the hull integrity. But since it’s force went through Toni, and not a bulk head, no automatic warning sensors went off.
Leffner turned back from his search for approaching people just in time to see Gonzalez walk into the apartment. Gun at the ready.
The door closing quickly behind her. A bleak, clean gray in the middle of the of the blood splattered wall.
He waited for ten minutes to see if any more gunshots rang out. But there was nothing. It made sense though. The merc would want to take Riddick alive if possible. Mucho more reward that way. Fine with him. Meant an even bigger piece of the pie for him. Once he figured out how to get it.
Moving to the next and closer alley way, he tried to get his blood deprived brain to think of a way to use the situation to his advantage. But nothing was coming to swiftly. Nothing except the stink of sweat and the nausea of his traumatized flesh.
His plotting was interrupted by the arrival of a taxi-lift. That in itself was an amazing sight. Not too many drivers would come that far down in the bowels of the station. Too dangerous for too little money. Someone must’ve had to offer a shitload of credits to get him down there.
The questions was which “someone.”
His money was on Riddick.
He would’ve lost.
Thirty seconds after the driver sounded the horn, the merc opened the door and shoved Riddick out with the gauge to his back. Hooded, with his arms tied behind his back and his ankles in chains. Probably had a bit in his mouth too, but the dark cover hid it.
How the hell had she done it?!
He seemed unsteady on his feet. Either he was hurt from the kid’s body colliding with his, or, the more likely scenario since Leffner couldn’t imagine Riddick being too impacted by the collision, he’d been drugged. The bitch would’ve had to move quick to get the killer doped up. She was even better than Leffner had given her credit for. Or luckier.
Gonzalez had entered into a bit of arguing with the driver after she told him to take them to the docks. The guy obviously smart enough not to like the look of the situation. His eyes jerking back and forth between the walls dripping with fresh blood on either side of the dwelling door and the merc.
Even the glare of an obviously pissed mercenary couldn’t overcome the danger of transporting a large-bodied, obviously dangerous criminal. He wasn’t going to take the fare. Not unless there was a hell of a lot more money involved.
But it lasted less than two minutes. Greed winning out over common sense when the merc coughed up more credits out of her coat pocket. Roughly pushing Riddick into the back of the cab. The merc following, the gun aimed on him at all times.
They took off down the concourse.
Never noticing the swarthy skinned, sickly man in the alley across the street. Leffner knew where they were going now.
And it gave him an idea.