Chapter Three
The Wavescreen
Mal blinked, slowly. The news stunned him to the core. Book, working for the Alliance? How was that possible?
Zeke gestured towards a wavescreen on the wall. "Watch this," he said. "I think you'll find it very informative." Zeke flipped a switch on the desk, and the lights dimmed. Another switch turned on the wavescreen, and another started a wave. The picture was blurry, but Mal, Jayne, Kaylee and River could still make out the silhouette forms of three people. Mal leaned closer as the audio started.
- - - -
"The informant? He's still alive?"
One of the agents nodded. "Yes, sir. He wasn't injured."
The figure asking questions of the other two, obviously the leader, shook his head. "I can't believe that Nishka didn't kill them all…"
"There was an ambush. It took Nishka by surprise. There was nothing he could do."
"The preacher took part?"
The second agent nodded. "Yes."
The leader rubbed his chin. "I wonder why he joined the assault?"
"Nishka had no idea that the preacher was involved. Apparently he stayed near the ship."
The first agent nodded. "We think it was a tactical manoeuvre. It showed the crew he was loyal to them."
"A smart move."
Both men nodded. "Yes," said the second, "the crew still has no idea of the preacher's importance."
The leader turned his back. He seemed to be thinking. Suddenly he turned, gun pointed at one of the agents. "I don't think they should know, either." A bang, and a flash, and only one man was left standing before the leader. The second agent reached into his pocket. Pulling his hand out, he pushed a button, and the device he held opened at both ends, revealing blue, glowing sticks.
"Drop it."
The agent paused, and then dropped the neurowave transmitter. The leader sighed, "You know that doesn't work on me, anyway."
- - - -
Mal sent a questioning look at Zeke. "Well, is there more?"
Zeke nodded. "Yes. But first, a question. When do you think this is?"
"Some time after we did the Arial job. We rolled over a hospital."
"That was you?"
Mal grinned. "You better gorram believe it."
Kaylee turned to look at River. The young pilot turned her gaze to meet Kaylee's. The scared look in River's eyes startled Kaylee. River didn't seem to notice. When she spoke it was a whisper, "Two by two, hands are blue."
- - - -
Zoe sat in the dining hall, mug in hand. Inara sat next to her, arm over Zoe's shoulder. The steam from the coffee rose slowly, fogging Zoe's vision, but she didn't seem to care. Her unfocused stare spooked Inara: she'd never seen Zoe like this before, ever. She thought: Is this what it would be like to lose Mal?
Inara considered her conversation with Kaylee earlier. The younger woman was right, of course. Inara and Mal were pathetic. At least Zoe and Wash had been open with their feelings. Inara squeezed Zoe's shoulder a little tighter. The fact that Inara's love life was the exact opposite of the woman that she was now comforting did nothing for her own emotional state.
Somewhere, deep inside her being, Inara finally found the courage to tell Mal how she felt about him.
- - - -
The agent lay dead next to his partner and the leader walked away casually. That was when the preacher came in. But it wasn't Book. This preacher was shorter, with a thick, muscular build, and sporting a bald head. He crossed himself and then started to drag the bodies away.
As the preacher dragged the body of the first agent around the corner, three men, in various outfits, came to stand near the dead second agent.
The first had an English accent, and carried a katana. "We will have to be very careful, my friends," he said.
The second was dressed in a red, skin-tight outfit. His hands were behind his back as he spoke, "We can't possibly be as stupid as these two. After all, we are better trained."
The Englishman nodded. "Indeed."
The third man was dressed entirely in black, a cape cloaking his face from view. "We should go our separate ways," he said. "We will have more chance of finding them if we split up."
The man in red grinned. "Our masters will be pleased with us."
"Our masters don't even know who we are." The cloaked man bent over the body of the second agent, noting the inception of rigor mortis. "These men were fools, they made themselves too visible. In the end, that cost them their lives."
"Perhaps they were simply in the wrong place," said the Englishman. "I intend to use our contacts within the Alliance. I will use their resources to find the Serenity, and in particular the specimen."
The man in red cracked his knuckles. "I will take my ship, and search the verse. I'm a bounty hunter by nature, so shall I be."
"Very well." The cloaked man stood. "I will stalk the shadows. The backwater planets, the haunts of criminals, shall be my home. I will listen only. When I hear something, I will inform you, but I will act straight away. The sooner these criminals are caught the better." He stood, clutching the agents' neurowave transmitter. "I will use all the tools at my disposal."
- - - -
River sat, eyes fixed on the image of the cloaked man. Kaylee reached a cautious arm out to the girl, but River did not respond. Mal and Jayne did not notice this, instead focusing their attention on Zeke.
"Do you know any of those men, Mal?" asked the captain of the Sleipnir.
"Well, yes, actually. That guy in the red, he's the one that took over my ship one night. Can't for the life of me remember the man's name, but he was two screws short of a sturdy hull. And that one with the sword, far as I know he's still alive, but he came after me during the Miranda incident." Seeing Zeke's panicked look, he added, "Don't worry about nothin', he's not after us anymore."
Zeke breathed a sigh of relief. "What about the cloaked man? Anything?"
Jayne shook his head. "Never seen him before in my life."
A tiny voice stopped the conversation in its tracks. "He's the one we should fear most. He knows nearly everything; he's the monster that sucks all knowledge from all corners of the universe. He knows all about the Alliance, and their experiments, and their drugs and their quest for superiority…"
Mal spun hard to face River. "What?"
River didn't seem to hear him. "He knows all about you, and your ship, and me! He knows about me, all about me, and if he could come out the shadows he would find me in an instant and crush me like he did the last person on his homeworld…"
"We got to get her out of here, Cap'n," said Jayne.
- - - -
"Care to make sense of what you said earlier, River?" Mal sat next to his pilot, while Simon prepared a needle. The rest of the crew stood in various locations around Serenity's infirmary, watching River intently.
"I can't say."
The crew groaned as one. Mal simply hung his head. "Kid, if we're gonna stay alive, we need to know what is following us."
Mal lifted his head, and met River's eyes. The girl looked deathly pale, but still she spoke. Even though her words were soft, more a breath than speech, all heard what River said.
"He's a Reaver."
- - - -
"Gorram it, Mal, what of she's wrong? What if she just thinks it's a Reaver and we're running from nothin'?"
"Hell, Jayne, I'm not willing to take the risk." Mal punched buttons on Serenity's console as the ship left the atmosphere, leaving the Sleipnir on the ground behind them. The blanket of space met them, and though Mal usually felt safe in its folds, this time it felt different. Now, it seemed, the stars themselves seemed to be watching his every move. Mal shivered.
"Go se," said Jayne, "I left my cash with Zeke."