CHAPTER 2 The man took Mal’s word as an invitation and took a few more steps into the boat. He looked distastefully at the exhaust trails rimming the cargo hold. “Are you the Captain of this ship?” the man asked. His voice was nasal, smooth, and pretentious. “I am,” Mal answered cautiously. “I have papers.” “I’m not interested in your lies, Captain. I’m interested in your intended passengers.” “Passengers?” Mal chuckled. “I don’t intend to take on no passengers. Too much regret from a previous experience. Ain’t that right, Inara?” Inara was silent. Mal was disappointed. Zoë would have said something clever. “What is your business here, Captain?” “Just dropping off some cargo.” “You don’t look to have cargo.” “Got me something that’s a mite hard to find. Is there something I can do for you, because if not, I have to get back to my—” “My name is Elias Prio. I have it on good authority that you intend to steal someone from me.” “Thought never crossed my mind,” Mal said quickly. “Good man like you.” “Don’t play with me, Captain. Who sent you?” “I sent my own self here,” Mal answered, wishing desperately for the Lassiter. “I have legitimate business here involving property I stole from someone else.” Prio gave a blood-chilling laugh, causing his double chin to wobble. Mal cast a side-long glance at Inara; she seemed frozen, her mouth partly open. As nonchalantly as possible, he stepped across, placing himself between Inara and Prio. “You arrived on Three Hills at the same time as an acquaintance of mine. Chelsea Halden.” “Ain’t that a coincidence? We were just restocking.” “As I hear it, she paid for your restocking.” “Our luck was running a little dry at the time. We weren’t too picky who we accepted charity from. Could be it was your friend. If so, pass along a thanks for us.” Prio narrowed his eyes, circling Mal; his thug followed closely. Mal matched his steps evenly, maintaining the barrier between Prio and Inara, hand on his weapon ready to draw. “Every time Ms. Halden shows up on Three Hills, something of mine goes missing. And I see that she’s been on Three Hills, you’ve been on Three Hills, and now you’re here.” “Now I’m here. But I got nothing of yours and I ain’t takin’ on your passengers.” Mal drew his gun and continued. “You made your threat. I heard it. I think we’re done here.” Convinced but not worried, Prio backed off slowly and warned, “I’ll be watching you.” “I’ll be sure to smile.” Prio and his thug left as quietly as they had come. Mal holstered his gun and could hear Inara start breathing again behind him. As he rubbed his eyes wearily, Kaylee hopped out of Shuttle One pulling off a pair of greasy work gloves. “You’re good as new, ‘Nara,” she called cheerfully, oblivious to Prio’s visit. Inara smiled in relief, grateful for an excuse to return to her own work. She headed quickly up the stairs, not looking back. “’Nara!” Mal called after her. With everything in him, he wanted to forbid her to leave Serenity. He also knew she would refuse and he wanted to avoid getting slapped again. Finally, he said, “You be safe.” Inara nodded and kept walking. “And you stay away from that Prio fella.” “I’ll do my business, Mal. You do yours. Tomorrow evening, correct?” “Five-thirty,” Mal said sternly. “Five-thirty sharp.” Kaylee entered the bay as Inara left, confused because Inara had run out without saying good-bye to her. “Who’s Prio?” “Someone who doesn’t want us picking up passengers.” “We’re taking on passengers?” “No, just cargo. But I don’t think he’d look too kindly on that either.” “Cargo don’t come till tomorrow, right?” “That gives us a full day to get ourselves killed, don’t it?” Mal sighed as he noticed Kaylee’s cheerfulness wane. He should not be so snippy with her. They had two jobs. Two clients. Everything was going to go smoothly. Still, no sense being careless. “I’ll have Jayne sweep the perimeter outside the ship and make sure Prio isn’t hanging about. Zoë and Wash will be back soon. After I leave, I want you to lock this door and don’t open it for anyone but me. Let them ticket us, tow us, whatever. But you lock this door. You got my red flag?” “Oh, yeah” Kaylee said, remembering. She skipped cheerfully to one of the shelves at the side of the bay and picked up a walkie talkie. “Here ya go. You just press that button and we’ll come rescue you. Or if you wanna talk, that still works too.” Mal shoved the comm into his pocket and began scanning the shelves on the side of the bay top to bottom. Kaylee watched a moment, unsure of what he was doing. “Did ya lose somethin’?” “Gorram Lassiter. Have you seen it?” “Well, Jayne had—” “Have you seen Jayne?” “He’s in Elle’s room.” “Elle doesn’t have a room!” Mal retorted. Kaylee shrugged.

*~*

Mal nearly kicked open the door to Elle’s room—the guest quarters. Book sat on the floor, his head bowed. A plate of half-eaten eggs balanced precariously on the night stand. Jayne lay on the bed, surrounded by a harem of weaponry. He hardly noticed Mal’s blustery entrance; he just stared at the Lassiter, testing the grip. “Jayne?” Mal said, expectantly. “This pistol is the granddaddy of handheld lasers,” Jayne mused, touching the casing for the laser source. “I know that,” Mal said. “And worth a small fortune if we can get it to the buyer today.” With a sigh, Jayne held out the gun for Mal to take. As soon as it was out of his hand, Jayne picked up another gun from his stash. “Jayne, we’ve had our first unfriendly threat of this trip. I need you to make a sweep of the perimeter, make sure our cargo can come in smooth tomorrow.” Jayne didn’t move right away and Mal’s patience was running too thin to wait another moment. “Jayne, this is what I pay you for.” Grunting, Jayne started gathering his guns and looking for his boots. “And the agreement was ONE bunk,” Mal called over his shoulder as he left. “One! Not two!”

*~*

Just two doors down, Mal found Simon standing in front of a mirror, tying a tie. River was curled up on the bed watching him. Simon’s dark brown hair was close cropped and his face was covered with an appallingly sparse three-day stubble as he had been attempting to grow a goatee by way of disguise. “Nice costume,” Mal chuckled. “You ready to go?” “You’re not wearing that are you?” “I’ve been told that this shirt brings out the color in my eyes.” Mal was sporting his traditional five-shades-of-brown outfit. “Your eyes are blue.” “A dog’s sense of smell is a hundred times more powerful than a human. But he is born with his eyes closed,” River volunteered. Simon smoothed his black tailored jacket, feeling over-dressed for his environment. He took a deep breath, willing confidence into his reflection. He knew Osiris and he knew how to hide there. At least, he tried to convince himself that he did. He ran a hand through his hair, disappointed with the cut. Kaylee had done her best, but couldn’t get it to lay right. She had offered to shave off the rest, but Simon had declined. Now he wished he hadn’t. At least then, the cut would be clean. He caught River’s reflection in the mirror, her lips counting out the seconds. Turning to her, he warned, “River, you need to stay hidden until we return.” “Can’t hide here,” she said, twirling her hair and looking disinterestedly at the wall. “Just sit here, that’ll do,” Mal said impatiently. “Time to go, Doctor.” Reluctantly, Simon followed Mal out of Serenity, still trying to smooth his hair. “Tell me again why I’m doing this,” Simon whined, shielding his eyes as he stepped off of the ship. It wasn’t that the sun shone particularly brightly; more that it reflected brightly off the white-washed walls. “You know the place. You look the part. What? You want me to take Jayne?” “Or Zoë. I recall something about a slinky dress.” “Zoë’s limping again… which I got a gripe with you about because you told me she’d be fine by now.” “She was fine. She just…” Simon hesitated. “She busted a few stitches when she fell off the hover mule the other day.” “Fell off?” “Wash took a turn too sharp—” “Riding around the bay again? Damn space monkeys!” “Can we at least stop to buy you a proper suit?” “I’m dressed fine for business.” “Please,” Simon pleaded. “It will be my gift to you.”

*~* As soon as Jayne stepped off the boat, he could feel the eyes on him. Having retrieved fresh rounds for all his weapons, Jayne carried no less than six different guns. He carried Vera on one shoulder, not willing to let the weapon out of his sight since it had been stolen. As barren as the space port appeared, there were plenty of places for unfriendly gunmen to hide and Jayne could see one already. The landing platform was shaped like a pentagon and gave Serenity about a fifty foot clearance around. It was bordered on all sides by four foot walls, and at three of the vertices had causeways extending to neighboring buildings and space ports. A large fuel truck was parked along the east wall, unnecessary now that Serenity had been refueled. One of the unfriendlies was kicked back nonchalantly in the driver’s seat, hardly paying attention to Jayne. Both the northeast and southeast walls were lined with freight crates, probably placed intentionally as cover because they served no other purpose in the open air. The three causeways extended to the north, west, and south. To the north was the main administrative building; to the west a second port; to the south downtown. The second quarry was likely covering the entrance to town and thus hiding on the southeast wall. He suspected a third would cover the west gate if they suspected a ship-to-ship cargo transfer. Because Alliance security guarded the administrative building, the north entrance was clear. Realizing he probably should have concealed a few weapons first, Jayne made a beeline for the north causeway. About half-way to the administrative building, Jayne knew he was out of the line-of-sight of anyone at the landing port. He also knew he was getting dangerously close to the Alliance security force. Quickly, Jayne peered over the wall at the edge of the causeway. Turned out, it was actually a bridge and the city streets loomed about twenty feet below. So whoever was watching them in the space port was watching alone. Carefully, Jayne threw his leg over the side, trying to balance on the causeway support beam. Cursing his large steel-toed boots, Jayne scooted back towards the port in a squat, trying to stay behind the walls. His fingers slipped on the smooth concrete, and Vera bounced against his back. As soon as he hit the north entrance again, the wall swung outward sharply. The support beam also disappeared underneath the landing platform, leaving Jayne high and dry. As sneakily as possible, Jayne crept over the wall and took up hiding behind the freight crates. Able to move with a little more stealth on solid ground, Jayne crept to the fuel truck and peeked in. The man in the driver’s seat was sound out cold, head back, mouth gaping. With a chuckle, Jayne opened the side door and climbed into the passenger seat. This was almost too easy. He took the man’s gun and then found some twine in the glove compartment to bind the man’s hands. The man was still asleep, drool dripping from the corner of his mouth. Should he wake the guy up and scare him, or should he just knock him out cold? Waking him up would be more fun. With a twisted grin, Jayne placed his revolver in the man’s mouth. The man jerked awake, but was unable to move between the twine on his hands and Jayne’s forceful arm against his chest. Realizing his situation, the man twisted his head sharply, trying to get the gun out of his mouth. “Sleepin’ on the job, eh?” Jayne teased. “Someone put decaf in the wrong pot,” the man spat sarcastically, glaring daggers. With unexpected force, he heaved forward, slamming Jayne’s arm hard against the steering wheel. Fortunately the blow was too low to sound the horn, but Jayne jumped against the man with twice the force, pinning him against the seat. “Calling for your friends? How many you got out there?” “This is my world. I have more than enough.” “I’ve heard that before.” “Prio is watching you.” “Is that supposed to scare me?” “No. Prio is weak. But Jantis is watching Prio.” Jayne flinched at the name. “So you have heard of Jantis,” the man sneered. “Prio doesn’t think I should be here watching your pathetic little ship. Jantis does.” “Serenity has no gripe with Jantis.” “If Jantis is right (and he usually is), then you soon will.” Before every job, Mal always told Jayne not to kill anyone he didn’t have to. But looking at this man, Jayne could see that knocking him out would not be enough. This man was more than a hired gun, he was a minion in a very long, very powerful chain of unfriendlies. Dead or alive, he posed a continued threat to Serenity so long as they were on Osiris. He needed something between dead and alive—this man needed to go missing for a few days. With a quick thrust of his elbow, Jayne broke the man’s nose and knocked him out cold. As carefully as possible, he moved the man from the truck’s cabin to the back compartment. The man wouldn’t be out forever and the twine was not likely to hold. The clock was ticking.

*~* ******* Go to Chapter 3