Title: The Contract: Hunter and Prey 3/7 Author: hisgoodgirl Paring: Jayne/Kaylee Disclaimer: Joss's toys, my make-believe. No money changed hands and all that. Summary: The news that there's a contract out on Kaylee throws a wrench into plans for a romantic rendezvous and leads to a big misunderstanding between Serenity's mechanic and the merc. Rating: PG-15 for adult language, later chapters R for explicit sex.

To read the other stories in this long Jaylee story arc click on my name above to check out my earlier fic. This falls between "RED" and "Too Little, Too Late"

Beted by the lovely Artemis_Prime.

Sure would be nice if you left a little feedback, if'n ya please After all, I ain't gettin' paid to write this stuff. What did you like? What didn't work for you? It's all helpful, and thanks!

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The Contract Chapter Three: Hunter and Prey

Upon arriving at the junkyard, Rajatha made his way around to one side, where the fence was obscured from public view by a row of large bins. Pulling on a pair of leather gloves, the wiry, dark man bent the rusty fencing out of the way just enough to wiggle under. No need to go through the front gate, risk the chance of anyone tying him to what he was about to do. Once inside, the thug began to systematically explore the yard’s hiding places, quartering the large dump much as a bird-dog covers ground in search of its quarry. Raj moved quietly, ever aware of the curved, razor sharp blade on his hip and the coil of thin cable in his pocket, tools of his trade that would bring him a great deal of pleasure and a chunk o’coin at job’s end.

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Jayne considered just climbing the fence into Geller’s junkyard, then decided the old fella might be able to help him find Kaylee more quickly, and speed was of the essence. An unlit cigar clamped between his teeth, the big mercenary rapped on old Geller’s door. With any luck, Kaylee might even be there.

The door swung wide and Gus Geller stared up at the big, heavily muscled man on his doorstep through dim eyes.

“Can I help ya?”

Jayne got straight to the point.

“I crew with Kaylee Frye on Serenity. Been here with her a couple times for parts. Got reason to be concerned she’s in danger and I wanna know if you seen her this afternoon.”

Geller hesitated, unsure of whether to protect Kaylee’s confidence. His body language was a dead giveaway to the merc.

“This ain’t no ruttin’ joke, lăo hàn. Some hún dàn’s gonna try to kill her! Now where the hell is she?”

“Lordy no, not that sweet girl!” The old man threw up his hands in dismay. “Yes, she’s here, showed up all upset about half an hour ago. Been drinkin’ and said she just wanted to be left alone. She’s probably holed up way in the back somewheres.”

Jayne’s eyes narrowed as he looked out over the yard. “Anybody else checked in?”

“No sir, just her and now you.” Gel wrung his knobby old hands in distress.

“Do me a favor and close the gate, maybe cut down on the chance of anybody gettin’ to her before I can find her.” Jayne drew Cassie and opened her breach to make sure she was fully loaded, then holstered the pistol.

“You betcha, mister. I think a lot of that li’l gal. Sure don’t want her comin’ to any harm. You hollar if’n ya need anything.”

Jayne nodded at the old man and quietly began to make his way through the labyrinthine paths between towering heaps of junk.

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“Kaywinnit Lee Frye,” she lectured herself, “you was a fool to think tha’ Jayne Cobb’d ever sthay true to one woman. ’S your own gorram fault and ain’t like ever’body di’n’t try to warn ya what a lyin’ whoreson th’ man is.”

Kaylee sloshed the bottle of whisky and studied the level of the amber liquid, then jammed the cork back into it. “S ’bout a third gone… guess I oughtta slow down a li’l.”

She knew she was good ’n drunk, but somehow, it hadn’t dulled the hurt and anger she felt toward Jayne for betraying her confidence. Her eyes were swollen from crying and her nose was all runny. Always kept a bandanna in her overalls but she’d changed out of’ ’em and gotten all dressed up, anticipating a sweet, hot night with her man.

“Liou mahng. Tha’s zactly wha’ he is!” She fumed as she dragged her knapsack over and dug around inside, finally pulling out the clean shirt she’d packed, and using it to wipe her face and blow her nose.

Just when she thought she’d gotten all the tears squeezed out, she’d find herself thinking about all the sexin’ she and Jayne had been sharing and all his sweet talk and she’d start up bawling all over again.

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Badger’s hit man continued to prowl through the warren of paths through Geller’s junkyard, searching for Kaylee and growing more frustrated by the minute. “The little tchen wah has to be here somewhere,” Rajatha griped to himself and licked his lips in anticipation.

This girl was pretty, not the sort Raj generally made do with. With any luck, he could silence her right off and have maybe two or three rounds on her before he killed her. As he allowed himself to indulge in the fantasy of raping his victim, Raj grew careless, snagging his boot on a loop of metal cargo strapping and, with a loud clatter, a whole pile of pipe and scrap tumbled down into the pathway.

Ai ya!

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Twenty yards away, on the far side of a junked freight trailer, Jayne heard the clatter and silently made his way along the back of the trailer and down another path until he could see who’d generated the noise. There, with his back toward the big merc, was one of Badger’s gunmen, a fella Jayne had rumbled with on several occasions and thoroughly hated.

Studying the man as he picked his way over the tangle, Jayne thought grimly to himself, So there ya are, you piece a go se, givin’ me a chance to do what I’d like ta done long afore now. Easy enough to just shoot the ruttin’ sonuvabitch, the merc concluded, but I hate ta go makin’ all that racket, maybe scare Kaylee, draw the Law. Try to ease up a little closer…

With skill and stealth, the mercenary moved gingerly and silently, deliberately placing each footstep and gradually closing the gap between him and his prey.

Synchronizing his steps with Raj’s, Jayne brought himself within arms’ length of the thug. For a brief moment, the junkyard was eerily quiet and then the stillness was broken by the sound of soft sobbing nearby.

“So there ya are, hàn mèi mei,” Raj whispered nastily as he turned toward the sound and loosened his blade.

White hot rage erupted within Jayne, rage fueled by repeated unresolved conflicts with Badger’s goon and ignited by the threat of imminent violence to Kaylee.

Now or never…he thought and in one long step, Jayne threw a muscular forearm around the front of the hit man’s throat, a sharp jab from behind simultaneously driving his razor-sharp Bowie knife into the thug’s back and up into Raj’s heart. The thug spasmed against the big merc’s grip and went limp.

“I’ll see ya in hell, you cock-suckin’ gan ni niang!” Jayne snarled into the dying man’s ear as he pulled his knife clear and dropped his quarry to the ground. With a puddle of dark red blood rapidly pooling beneath him, Raj’s glazing eyes looked startled.

The merc bent and wiped off his blade on Raj’s shirt. “Been wantin’ ta do that for a ruttin’ long time.” He spat. ”Good riddance!”

Jayne could still hear Kaylee’s soft sobbing. Sheathing his knife, he quickly strode to the skiff. Through the open doorway, he could see her back turned toward him. Don’t wanna go scaring her… he thought, but I’m gonna startle her no matter what. He cleared his throat and spoke to her softly, ‘Kaylee?”

The drunken girl spun around and looked at him with fury. “Gorramit, Jayne Cobb, what’n th’ hell ‘r ya doin’ here?”

Sweet Buddha, but the gal’s a mess, he thought.

“You lyin’ gou tsao de liou mahng!” she slurred out.

“Kaylee, shush, girl. I know I was late, but weren’t my fault.”

Swollen, tear filled eyes in the midst of a tight red face glared back at him. “Chu ni duh! Git the hell away from me.” With a clumsy heave, Kaylee flung the whisky bottle at Jayne as hard as she could, but the big man easily grabbed the spinning bottle in mid-air and set it aside.

“Now, babygirl, don’t go wastin’ good whisky tryin’ ta kill me. I can see you’re mad as hell, but ya gotta hear me out.”

Kaylee crossed her arms over her heaving bosom and continued to glare in fury. “Don’ wanna lis’n t’nuthin’, Jayne. Y’r a faithless chou wang ba dan!”

The merc edged his way closer to the girl. No way of knowing how many dogs that tah mah de, Badger, had unleashed, and Jayne wanted to get Kaylee somewhere more secure as quickly as possible.

“Faithless? Kaylee, honey, I know I was late, but why in the hell are ya callin’ me faithless? Ain’t never give you cause to say that!” He reached out for her and Kaylee started swinging, her little fists balled up hard and powered by a lot of mad. Her first punch caught Jayne a glancin’ blow to his jaw and the second popped him hard in the ear.

“Damn, woman, ease up.” As drunk as Kaylee was, her punches were clumsy and wild, and it didn’t take Jayne long to get her arms pinned against her sides and wrestle her around so he could try to talk some sense into her. He dragged her across his lap, anchoring her flailing feet between his knees and holding her tightly against his chest to keep her from hitting him again.

Kaylee squirmed and strained in Jayne’s vice-like grasp, then, realizing it was pointless, she went limp and just started bawling again.

“Shhh, darlin’. Hush up.” He studied the drunken mechanic’s tear-wracked face. “What in the hell’r you so tore up about?”

“I, I seen how you was f-flirtin’ up that w-whore” Kaylee stammered between sobs.

“What whore?” Jayne’s brow wrinkled in puzzlement.

“In C-Clementine’s. B-Big gal with red h-hair. I c-come in lookin’ for ya, mad c-cause ya stood me up… seen you all lovey w-with h-her. Jayne, how could ya? After all that sweet t-talkin’ to me?” The girl’s dark eyes were filled with hurt, now, and bewilderment.

Jayne shook his head. “If’n I let ya go, will you promise to hear me out and not punch at me anymore?”

Kaylee hesitated a long minute and then solemnly nodded yes.

The merc shifted her around so she was sitting across his lap with her head against his shoulder and his big hand over hers. “Remember me tellin’ you about my old friend Annie?”

Kaylee nodded again, all big eyes, like a child.

”Well, that was her and I’s there ‘cause she’d sent me a message warnin’ me there was a contract out on you.”

“C-Contract?”

“Seems there’s a bunch a gals I used ta get trimmed by, all mad now ‘cause ya took me outta circulation. Guess ya cut out a chunk a their coin now I ain’t whorin’ no more. Them li’l bitches done went and paid Badger to have ya killed, Kaylee.”

Jayne watched as this sank in and Kaylee’s mouth dropped open. He picked up her soiled shirt and held it to her nose. “Blow.” Kaylee did, then Jayne used a dry section to wipe her face.

Seeing her naked fear, he went on, “I already took out one of em, but I don’t know how many more he’s got out lookin’ for ya, sweetheart. Need to get you somewhere’s safe and I figured Clementine’s is closer than the ship and the last place they’d look. Annie’ll look after ya while I go take care of the root of the problem, put some fear in them gals.”

“Y-You wanna t-take me to Annie’s whorehouse?”

Jayne could see that the girl was still mistrustful of his intentions and caressed her back gently.

“Kaylee, ya ain’t gotta worry none ‘bout Annie’n me. Yeah, we was lovers for awhile, but that’s done an over. She’s a good woman and I know I can trust her. After all, if she had designs on me herself, she didn’t have ta warm me about the contract.”

Even in her less-than-rational state, Kaylee could see the logic of this. “Okay, but we gotta let Gel know I’m leavin’ so he don’t worry.”

Jayne wrapped the bottle of whisky in Kaylee’s dirty shirt and stuffed it into the knapsack, then helped the girl to her feet. He brushed her hair back out of her face and looked at her solemnly.

“I honestly didn’t mean to stand ya up. I w‘s plannin’ on meetin’ ya just like I said only Mal wanted me along on the delivery to Badger and it took longer than I s’pected. Soon as I got back to the ship, I got Annie’s message and come looking for ya.”

He kissed her forehead gently. “Darlin’, I don’t ever mean to hurt ya. Don’tcha know that yet?”

The merc slung her backpack over one shoulder and, realizing Kaylee was still drunk enough to be unsteady, helped her out of the skiff. “Put yer arm around m’waist and I’ll steady ya.”

Jayne deliberately headed back to Geller’s by a path that wouldn’t take them by Raj’s body.

He knocked on the old man’s door and Gel immediately opened it. “Thank God you found her. She okay?” Gel looked at Kaylee with concern.

“Yeah, just drunk as a skunk.”

“Am not… “ Kaylee slurred out and beamed at the old fella, “Thanks, Gel.”

Jayne went on, “Just wanted to let ya know I found her and I’m takin’ her somewhere’s safe. Might be best ya keep the place locked up the rest a’the day, just in case.”

“I’ll do it.” The old man grabbed his keys. “Lemme let you out…”

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To be continued... 3/7