2. Buggin’ Out

Mal slaps the wheel irritably. It ain’t like Jayne to drop out of contact. Granted they’d had to leave in kind of a hurry, but he’d been real clear about keeping the link open.

“Now how come you didn’t pick up that trouble?”

River is indignant.

“Wasn’t aimed at us. Got so much chatter going on, didn’t hear them until the order to shoot.” Looks shame-faced. “Was counting cards.” Still has a wedge of bills clasped in her hands. “Blood money.” She adds, sadly. Dark eyes fix on Mal. “Going to have to tell the catlady we mislaid him.”

“I just hope he hasn’t lost himself in some bar.” Mal snaps.

“It’s a town full of show-girls and whisky.” Simon retorts. “Can you drive a little more smoothly, Captain? I’m trying to get this bullet out.”

Zoe, unwilling possessor of the bullet, grits her teeth. Shot is lodged in her armour, and hasn’t broken skin, but it hurts like a liu mang to breathe. River forbears to thump her brother while he’s working, but glares.

“Going to look. Got eyes. Won’t touch.”

“Well, we can’t stop for him. He’ll have to catch up.” Mal is truly not looking forward to telling Gia they lost Jayne someplace. Particularly not some place with bullets flying.

0000

Pancho has the earpiece, found the channel.

Irritable voice.

“Jayne, where’n hell are you?”

And then in the background, a clear, high voice.

“Other ears listening.” And the channel goes dead. Pancho pulls the thing out in exasperation.

“They’re onto us.”

“So we had better get moving out there before they leave.”

“Road trip.” Dodge and Pancho slap hands. Honey rolls her eyes, already checking her gun.

Miss Kit stops him by the door.

“You bring my money back, G.” Mouth smiles. Eyes don’t. “Not so fussed if you don’t bring the shooters back.”

“We’re the good guys, Kit.” Reaches out and pushes Mac back down into his chair. “You’re going to have to sit this one out, Mac.”

Mac gives a gusty sigh, not too displeased at not having to sit in a vehicle with Rik driving.

“I’ll keep on here, see if there is anything useful in the witness statements.”

0000

Out of town, the ‘road’ ceases abruptly. There is a spanking new spaceport to the south, where the tourists queue up meekly to be herded onto buses, into hotels and then out to a fleecing of their choice. There’s also a working ‘port, transports and cargo vessels. Some of those who come in at the former ‘port are lucky; when the town has wrung them dry, they can sometimes get away on a tramp ship. However, most bitten that deeply don’t ever leave, just hang around with a sick impatience until they scrape their stake together and then head back to where their luck will change. Some day. When the dice fall right.

But if you drive out west, then suddenly the land changes, falls away into arroyos and canyons, scrub land and painted desert. Sometimes, they have had to scrape kids off the dried-up river beds, days when speed outruns skill. Rik, who grew up local, still drives like that. But luck loves him when he has a wheel, however much she turns her face away at the tables.

0000

“How the hell can you lose something as big as he is?”

“He din’t make the rendez-vous, is all I’m saying.”

Mal backs up as Ilargia actually slaps him in the chest. Then she turns, with unerring instinct, on the weakest member of the line-up.

“Why wasn’t he in the casino with you?”

Simon looks twitchy.

“He got...approached by one of the girls...” Hastens on in the face of her expression. “He told her he was a married man, and when she didn’t want to take ‘no’ for an answer, he...ran away.”

It had been quite amusing, actually. Big man had been an obvious target; the sharply dressed money already had a piece on his arm. It hadn’t seemed like a problem to let him go. Mal had already made contact, and they had done their deal. The rest of the crew had long since learnt the hard way that Simon was a poker fiend; he had the face for it. With River in tow, the Tams were ready to clean up at the tables. And they had been well ahead, too, when River had suddenly jerked upright, and then dragged him onto the floor. He hadn’t even had time to be surprised before the whole place went to hell.

“So you left him behind? With shooting?”

“He’s a grown man...” Mal growls, rubbing his chest. She has small hard fists.

“He’s a trigger-happy idiot! You know if anyone starts a firefight, he’ll want to be in on it.”

0000

Watching from below the skyline. The ship isn’t new. But it has the compact lines of something that works, something well maintained. Tucked under the canyon wall, not too noticeable unless you happened to be looking for it, a cargo vessel, with no visible armament. Dodge levels the heatscope. Three people in the cargo bay, two of them obviously having a row, one trying to intercede. Moves over the ship. One in the cockpit. And what seems to be one moving on the edge of the heat source that’s the engines.

“Got five people on the scope...”

Cold metal against the base of his skull.

“You missed one.” Voice is calm, flat. He knows who it belongs to. Shame washes hotly over him, as he has to allow himself to be marched down the hill, his own earpiece confiscated.

Pancho swears, from his own viewpoint, as he sees that hangdog figure marched up the ramp, shield against bullets.

“G, they got Dodge...”

“We most surely do.” Voice breaks in on the transmission, calm drawl with a hidden edge. “Now, what say we stop dancing round the hills like will’o’the wisp and meet up like civilised folk.”

G stands up suddenly, walks down the hill. Honey bites off a curse and zig-zags after him.

“Man, he is gonna get himself shot doing this.” Rik takes a more circumspect route down, keeping cover. Knows Pancho is doing the same.

0000

Dodge has his wrists tied, but not viciously. The coffee-skinned woman has her gun pointed negligently at him. He reckons one wrong move and she’d blow him away just as casually. The leader of this little group, the man in the long brown coat, is still arguing with another woman. She has a nasty look in her green eyes and a very large knife.

“Now we know that this fella here has his earpiece, so I think we should find out the why of that. But that don‘t mean you can go carving him into steaklets.”

Movement in the rocks makes Zoe turn, and in an instant, everybody armed is drawing down on everybody else.

Rik finds himself looking down the barrel of a sawn-off Winchester. Zoe finds herself looking down the barrel of a Callahan. Neither of them blink.

“Nobody fire!” Both G and Mal bark the order.

Rik pulls up his gun with a muttered curse. Zoe, slower and calmer, puts up her weapon with studied grace. But Honey still has her pistol braced, clear head-shot on Mal. Mal moves his hand away, allows his pistol to hang from his fingers.

“Always outnumbered, always outgunned.”

“Does seem to be the way of things, sir.”

The stocky man in black, the one who gives the commands, steps forward abruptly, and Mal is slightly surprised to be greeted with an outstretched hand.

“Captain?...”

“And you would be?”

“The Law. Come looking.”

Tension in the Captain, deceptive calm in his voice and face, eyes dangerous.

“For what?”

“A great deal of money, Captain.”

“The shooting at that casino.” Surprisingly, the man settles. “We were just innocent bystanders.”

“You’ll understand that I can’t take that on trust.”

“Oh, I don’t trust anybody. ‘Specially those that have something of mine. Where did you get that earpiece?”

“At the scene of the shooting.”

Mal goes still, a deadly calm.

“And how did you get it?” (Behind him, the woman he was arguing with has gone white. A younger woman in overalls has appeared, puts an arm round her.)

“Found it lying in the street.” Half turns to the pale woman. “No-one with it.”

0000

Things are still tense. Dodge is free, rubbing his wrists, wondering if he dare ask for his gun back. Rik, armed enough for all of them, is still regarding Zoe with an unblinking stare. She is ignoring him magnificently. Honey is close up behind G, protective shadow. And Pancho, deceptively casual, leaning his elbows back on the ramp, grinning wickedly at Kaylee. Might just be coincidence that he spits near Simon’s shoes.

Ship is small, and but it will take time to search it. Mal, all set to rile up, settles as G gives quiet but firm orders.

“We’ll be thorough, but tidy. Nothing gets broken. This is someone’s home. Be respectful, people.”

0000

“Found a gorram arsenal back there.” Rik shakes his head in awe. “Someone’s a collector.”

“We’ll need to check if any of them have been fired recently.”

Even discounting anything the wrong gauge for the shootings, it still leaves a tidy pile for Rik to work his way through. Sighing, he picks up the next one. Enough hardware on this wall to take the town down. Runs his hand down the barrel. All lovingly tended, oiled and cleaned. All of ‘em in perfect order, and none of them smelling of anything more than gun oil.

0000

Mal waits, arms folded, staring down the man. Who, irritatingly enough, doesn’t appear to notice, a pair of wire-rimmed glasses slipping down his nose as he reads his notes. This is a different order of law-man to what he‘s used to, part gunslinger, part scientist.

“You were expecting trouble?”

“I always expect trouble.”

“So, you were attending a meeting at which you felt it advised to come armed. Did you choose the venue?”

“No.” Mal admits. “Just our bad luck to be there.”

It doesn’t surprise Honey to find a stack of coffee tins and some familiar wiring in the engine room. This is definitely where that device came from. Puts the evidence down on front of G.

“So what exactly does this do?”

Mal shrugs.

“Best ask the one as built it.”

This turns out to be the young woman in the overalls. In amongst the flood of ‘circuit feeds’, ‘impulse coils’ and ‘feedback clamps’, they get a general idea.

“You knocked out the recognition software for weapons or retinal scans, by putting the Cortex system on a bypass. No feeds in or out.”

“Once you get an advertising jingle in your head, it can be murder.” A voice says solemnly from behind him. “Prefer not to be distracted.”

It’s the little painted creature from the casino. Takes him a moment to realise that she’s holding a handful of cash. Dodge is behind her.

“She was sitting up in the cockpit, playing with a bunch of toys.” Grins. “Notes were just sitting under ‘em.”

“Treasure was guarded by terrible lizards.” Brightens and holds it out to Pancho. “Swap it for the pretty toy in your boot.”

How she saw the derringer beats him.

G is watching with a slightly bemused stare. But River allows Pancho to pounce, lets him have the money with no more than a pout, then drifts over to drape herself on Simon’s shoulder.

“Any money we took out of that casino, we won, fair and square.”

“So you claim.” G tilts his head. “I know the way Miss Kit runs those tables. There is very little chance of you winning anything.”

“Odds were stacked against us, right enough. But we got ourselves someone real good at figuring those odds.”

One eyebrow flicks up.

“I would like to meet someone who can play like that. This could be settled over a hand or two.”

“I ain’t interested in games.”

“Neither am I. That was not a request, Captain.”

Two sets of blue eyes, assessing, measuring. Then Mal nods.

0000

Odd situation. All gathered around the dining table of the ship. Mal tosses a pack of cards to G. He hands them to Rik, takes his own seat.

The smartly dressed young man sits upright in his chair. River lolls indolently at his shoulder, casts a sultry look at Pancho.

“You got a name, cowboy?”

“I do. An’ what would your name be, darlin’?”

“That would be none of your business.” Simon is crisp. G raises an eyebrow.

“And you are?”

“I’m...the Doctor.”

“Doctor who?”

“Just...the Doctor. And this is my companion...”

“Miss Edith.” Girl gives a slow, slack smile. “I’m his lucky charm.” Smile droops, and she points. “He has the two of diamonds up his sleeve.”

“You accusin ’ me of cheating?” Rik demands.

“Yes.”

Rik sighs, shakes the card out of his sleeve. River reaches out, scoops the cards up, stacks, riffles, cuts them.

“I can play too.”

G is watching the swift movement of her fingers.

“I think we would lose.”

“You would.” She assures him. All the languid mannerisms gone, she’s older, harder. “I wanted five big ones, we would have walked it out of there. But,” a sweet smile, “not greedy. Plenty to go around.” Hands G the cards.

They are all shuffled into perfect order.

“Helluva a tracking party for five hundred credits.” Mal remarks. G stares at him.

“Five hundred? Kit told me five thousand went out the door.”

“Not with us.”

“She had no reason to lie about the amount. Man steals one credit, I will find him.”

“Then I’m thinking we may be laying across someone else’s trail.” Mal sets his jaw. “We got a crewman went missing at that time...”

“Wouldn’t be the first man walked out on his life, with a pocketful of cash to start again.” Pancho’s seen it all.

Slapshot echoes round the kitchen. Rik grabs Ilargia before she can get the backswing in. Pancho works his jaw.

“Now, hold hard, little lady...”

“That firebrand would be...”

“Our missing man’s wife.” Mal sighs. “Now I’m hoping he didn’t do anything dumb...”

“Even if he did, he wouldn’t just disappear.” She goes limp in Rik’s grasp. “He wouldn’t.”

“Wouldn’t leave you. Didn‘t.” Voice that speaks with such authority belongs to the girl. “Stories collided. Wandered into someone else’s plot.”

G’s eyes narrow briefly.

“Where did you find the earpiece?” He asks Pancho.

“Just past the corner of Sunset and Sinatra.”

“That is the direction the shooting came from.”

“What’s on that street?” Simon asks suddenly.

“Usual run of bars and clubs. And there’s Delmonico’s.”

“High-end fancy restaurant.” Rik grins, a memory of his own. “Get a lot of big spenders in there. Real steak dinners.”

Crew look at each other in sudden surmise.

“That would do it.” Mal says, quietly. River puts her small hand over Ilargia’s.

“He was going to take you there.” She’s figured it, part her gift, part just knowing how the big man is. They all see it hit home. Ilargia sinks into a chair, no longer taut, and stares. G frowns as the possibilities strike him.

“If your man walked up on a situation, there may have been trouble.”

“You have no idea how right you are.” Mal assures him sincerely. Looks to Ilargia, the stark worry in her face, lowers his voice. “’Cos if he walked up on a situation, I’m damn sure we’d know about it by now.”

“Would he have panicked, sight of armed people?”

Zoe actually snorts with laughter, the first unguarded reaction they have seen. Mal grins, shakes his head.

“For a start, he’s about your man there’s size. And he’s not got himself a placid disposition.” Sobers some. “Any shooting, he’d have been shooting back.”

Zoe murmurs to Mal.

“You don’t reckon Jayne did do something stupid, sir?”

“No.” Mal sighs. “Don’t say he wouldn’t snatch cash, but a solo heist? He’d have come back to boast.” Rubs a weary hand over his face. “I’m guessing that he ran into whatever was going down.”

“He isn’t even properly armed.” Ilargia frets miserably. “Just two small pistols and a few knives.”

“I thought you said he wasn’t armed?” G is startled.

“That does count as unarmed for him.” Mal allows his eyes to wander meaningfully in the direction of Rik. “Those are his toys. Best tell your man not to leave any scratches.”

“We’ll need a description.”

Ilargia focuses on them, pulls herself together.

“Male, white, six foot four, muscular build, short brown hair, beard, blue eyes. Forty next birthday. Has a tattoo of a dragon on his left shoulder.”

Honey notes it quickly, frowns.

“Any other distinguishing features? Scars or the like?”

Ilargia sighs, holds out her hand for the pad.

“We’re going to need a bigger note.”

“Gorram. Should be easy to find.” Rik mutters.

“Man, what does this dude do?” Pancho whispers back.

“Judgin’ by the hardware, anything involves extreme violence.” Rik is still a little glazed over that gun collection. Dodge ventures a thought of his own to Simon.

“You’re really sure he didn’t leave her?”

“Well, so far, he’s hijacked a ship, run into a blazing building and beaten a man to death for her.” Simon gives a slight smile. “We’re so looking forward to Valentine’s Day.”

G is already speaking to Mac.

“...find out who was on the front desk at Delmonico’s last night, and pass on this description...”

0000

“This is making no sense.” Dodge groans.

G speaks reluctantly.

“It makes perfect sense, if we believe what they say. Two separate activities. These people set a disabler on the scanner array for their own purposes, which, in this particular case, was not robbery. Then they got caught up in the shooting, and in the process, lost their crew member. They really think he didn’t leave of his own accord?”

“He didn’t take Vera.”

“His wife?”

“His favourite gun.”

“He names his guns?”

“You name your cockroaches.” Honey reminds him. G purses his lips, nods.

“True. So, ruling out voluntary disappearance, the options are - involuntary disappearance, for ransom...”

“The firing pattern indicates a complete unconcern for life - they certainly shot one bystander on the street that we know of.”

“Which leaves...involuntary disappearance, unconnected with our incident.”

“Stories colliding.” They look at Honey. She shrugs, a little embarrassed. “Like the girl said.”

G issues his orders.

“Search every residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse...”

“We got a fugitive?”

“We have a potential witness.”