CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Standard disclaimer.
FF
"Where are you two going?" River asked, looking at Jayne and Chelsa. The ship was docked, and Jayne had decided to take on fuel again, since they had made a bit of an extra long journey lately. He and Chelsa were standing by the ramp, hand in hand.
"We got an errand to run," Jayne said seriously. "You look like you're goin' somewhere, too," he added.
"I, too, have an errand to run," River smiled at him. "I won't be long, though. Will you?"
"Shouldn't be," Jayne shook his head. "We'll be back in probably two hours, tops."
"We can go out, then," River told them. "To celebrate. Just us, this time," she added.
"That sounds fun!" Chelsa smiled, thinking this would be a good time to give River the bracelet.
"It's a date, then," River declared. "You two stay out of trouble."
"We will!" Chelsa promised. "C'mon, Daddy, let's hurry."
"See you soon," Jayne promised, kissing River lightly on the cheek. River watched them go, smiling. To think she had come so close to losing all this. Which brought her back to her own 'errand'.
She set off for the detective's office.
FF
"Target has left the ship," the scout called quietly. "Coming your way, Two."
"Target acquired," Two responded. "Following. Three, parallel us."
"Affirmative," the scout acknowledged. "On the way."
"We are set on two stations," the leader, One, informed them. "Sighted on paths Two and Five. Advise."
"It's either Three or Five, at this time," Two replied. "Following."
"Affirmative."
The two agents on the ground moved casually, blending into the people on the streets. Five days of studying dress and movement patterns allowed them to pass as regular people, who were supposed to be here. To the untrained eye, they belonged.
"Path Five is firming," Two called out. "Path Five confirmed," she added a few seconds later.
"Confirm, Path Five."
"Path Five."
"Four Copies," a new voice entered the air. "Set. Awaiting command."
"Advise when target acquired," One replied.
"Three, join on me," Two ordered.
"Affirmative," Three responded. He headed toward the second in command, who continued to keep the target under observation.
"Four has the target. Clear."
"Take the shot."
FF
Jayne walked along with Chelsa, still holding hands.
"Thank you again, Daddy," Chelsa said, smiling up at him.
"You're welcome, Princess," he smiled back, looking at the girl. "You're big as River, now, girl. Be grown and gone on your own 'fore I know it."
"I'm not going anywhere," she told him. "I'm happy right where I am."
"I 'spect that won't last," Jayne smiled. "You and Liam was to get married, you'll want a place o' your own. You ain't gonna wanna be stuck in the same house with us."
"Why not?" she demanded. "I don't see why we need our own house."
"Once you start talkin' 'bout gettin' hitched, you will," he winked at her. She looked at him for a minute, and then blushed.
"Oh," she squeaked. "Yeah, maybe we might need our own place," she nodded. "But that's a long way off. I'm not hardly old enough to be getting married."
"No, you ain't," Jayne said flatly.
"What's wrong, Daddy," she giggled. "I thought you liked Liam."
"You know I do," he replied. "But that don't mean. . .never mind," he shook his head. "This here ain't a conversation I wanna have, right now."
"But why?" Chelsa goaded him a little more. "I was enjoying it!"
"A little too much," Jayne nodded. "So, where's this store at?"
"That's it," Chelsa pointed. "Over there, across the street. See?"
"Yeah, I see it. C'mon, let's cross over, while there ain't no traffic." Jayne moved in front of her, intending to cross the street, just as a hammer blow struck his back.
FF
"Target was obscured after the shot!" Four called. "Package was hit, I repeat Package was hit, and is down."
"Target status?" One demanded.
"Target still viable," Four confirmed.
"Target in sight," Two commented. "Eyes on Target, and Package."
"Eliminate Target."
FF
Jayne was struggling to get up. He knew, subconsciously, that he'd been shot, and that his armor had prevented serious injury, but it still hurt like hell.
"Daddy!" Chelsa screamed.
"Run, Chelsa," Jayne grunted, trying to get to his feet.
"I'm not leaving you daddy!" Chelsa shouted, trying to help him. Jayne put one large hand on her shoulder and pushed her. As she fell away, another bullet struck the street where she'd just been standing.
"They're after you, Chelsa, RUN!" Jayne ordered. "Get inside the store, and hide!" Stunned, Chelsa hesitated for just a second, and then took off, running as fast as she could toward the store.
Jayne was on his knees by now, trying to catch his breath and shrug off the back blow. The anger coursing through him helped considerably. He looked down the street to see two people running toward him, guns in hand.
As Chelsa ran, the two angled toward her, cementing the notion in Jayne's head that his Princess was in danger. Was, indeed, the target of these people. Still on his knees, Jayne's gun came to hand, and he pulled the trigger.
The first one, a woman, saw him raise the pistol and her eyes widened in surprise. Before she could recover, Jayne fired twice, both rounds striking home.
She slid to the ground, bleeding heavily, the surprise still etched on her face.
"Two is down, repeat, Two is down. Package firing," Four reported.
"Stay on the Target, ignore the Package," One ordered. Inwardly he was cursing. He was powerless to attack the Package. His people would have to try and avoid his fire.
"Everyone move up," he ordered. "Concentrate on the Target. Eliminate the Target."
River's head came up as she sat in the detective's office. She held up her hand, silencing the detective's report. Concentrating for only a few seconds, she abruptly got to her feet.
"I have to go," she said simply, and left the office at a dead run, leaving a very surprised Thorne in her wake.
As she ran, River's mind was a swirl. They had attacked Jayne, and Chelsa.
But why?
Chelsa ducked into the store, casting a glance over her shoulder. She didn't see anyone, but knew they were coming. She was torn between following Jayne's orders, and trying to help him. She shook her head.
Jayne was better off without her, she decided. He could fight better not having to worry about her. She needed to decide how she could help, without causing him any problems. She had sworn after Liam was hurt that she'd never again. . . .
"Liam!" she said aloud, and reached for the com unit on her belt. As she did so, her hands brushed her own pistol, and her eyes hardened.
She wasn't going to be a victim.
"Liam, can you hear me?"
Liam started at that, hearing Chelsa's voice over the com.
"I hear you, Chelsa," he replied. "What's wrong?"
"We've been attacked!" she almost shouted, but then calmed. "Jayne's been hit. I'm hiding inside the store I told you about."
"Stay right where you are," Liam ordered, already running down the ramp. "I'm on my way!"
"Hurry, Liam!"
Liam hurried.
Jayne couldn't understand why the man didn't fire back, but decided he didn't really care. He snapped two shots at him, both missing, but causing him to duck. Instead of returning fire, he got back up and continued after Chelsa.
What the hell? Why are they after the girl?
Actually, why didn't matter. He finally got to his feet, taking another shot at the man pursuing her. Again he missed, but forced the man to hesitate. Jayne took off in pursuit of Chelsa, anger boiling.
Whoever you are, you've made a big mistake, he thought.
The man he'd shot at was gaining, and might make the store before he did. Jayne stopped and lifted his pistol. He took careful aim this time, and fired again. This time he hit his target, the running man tumbling head over heels to the ground.
Not waiting to see if he was dead or just down, Jayne resumed his sprint for the store where his daughter was hiding.
As Jayne neared the store, two other men, dressed similar to the man and woman he'd shot, came running up the street from the other direction. A third was now coming from a building across and up the street, carrying a rifle.
That's the shooter, his mind informed him dully. It was too far for a pistol shot, he realized, and turned his attention back to the approaching pair coming at him on the sidewalk.
Without warning, the man in front went tumbling to the ground, sprawling out on the sidewalk. As Jayne watched, River stepped into view, and grabbed the other's arm. Startled, the man turned on her, only to get a small, hard fist buried in his throat, which instantly put him out of the fight.
Turning to the man on the ground, River dropped her weight on the struggling man's shoulders, and grabbed his head with both hands. Before he could resist, she had driven his head squarely into the concrete sidewalk, breaking his nose, left eye socket and cheek bone, rendering him unconscious. She looked up at Jayne, and smiled. Jayne was about to smile back when movement in the corner of his eye drew his attention.
The man with the rifle was drawing down on River from across the way. Even as Jayne went to shout a warning to her, he heard a rifle shot.
"NO!" Jayne screamed out, fearing the worst. But he hadn't counted on Chelsa.
Or Liam.
The rifleman stood stock still for perhaps five second, in a perfect firing pose. Seemingly in slow motion he began to sway, and the butt of his rifle slid from his shoulder. As if his bones decided not to support him anymore, the rifleman fell to the ground, and lay there, unmoving.
Jayne stared for a moment, then turned to look over his shoulder.
Liam Greggs stood there, a short way down the street, still smoking rifle in his hands.
"Sorry I'm late!"
"Officer, I already told you, they was shootin' at us," Jayne was at the end of his calm. "More specifically at my daughter," he added. "All we were doing was defending ourselves. That ain't illegal, last time I checked."
"Mister Cobb, we don't, as a rule, have shoot outs here in Capitol City," the officer's voice was laced with sarcasm. "Why would five people just randomly start shooting at your. . .daughter." He glanced at Chelsa.
"You better watch how you talk to, or about my little girl, you little hundan." Jayne's nostrils flared with his words, and his eyes narrowed. The officer took an involuntary step back.
"I assure you Mi. . .Mister Cobb, I meant no disrespect."
"Officer, perhaps you should contact a supervisor," River cut in. "And this wasn't a random attack. We know who these people are, and who they work for. At least I do," she added, hearing Jayne's sharp intake of breath. "These people were targeting us specifically. I don't understand why they were shooting at our daughter, however," she frowned.
"I'll. . .I'll just do that," the officer nodded, moving a slight distance away to make that call. Giving Jayne the opportunity to look at his wife. Angrily.
"What d'you mean, you know who they are, and who they work for?" he demanded. River forced herself to face him squarely.
"I hired a private detective to keep an eye on Flint," she told him evenly. "I didn't trust that he would let the situation die. That detective contacted me as we were on our way here, and informed me that Flint had met five people, four men and a woman, at the terminal a few days ago."
"And why am I just now hearin' about this?" Jayne asked calmly. Far too calmly.
"I was on my way to the detective's office to get photos of them that he had taken for me. In fact I was there when I. . .when I felt your. . .when I realized you were under attack. I left and ran here as fast as I could."
"Which still don't explain why you didn't tell me 'bout all this, River," Jayne was struggling to stay calm, but this smacked of the very kind of thing she'd done before. Cutting him out of things, and not letting him know. . . .
"It's not like that," she said softly.
"Then what is it like?" he pressed. "Case you ain't noticed, I just took a rifle round in the back, and Chelsa was almost killed," he almost hissed the last word.
"Jayne, I would have told you, as soon as. . . ." River began.
"As soon as you felt like it? Jayne demanded. "When you told ever body else? Exactly when would you have thought this was somethin' I ought to know, River? After Chelsa was killed?" His eyes bore into her's.
"Did it cross your mind that had I know Flint was still here, let alone that he'd brought in off world muscle, that maybe we might have been a bit more cautious to start with?"
River opened her mouth to reply, but Jayne was no longer looking at her. Instead, her turned to Liam.
"I appreciate it, Liam," he said evenly. The boy just nodded, not wanting to be in the middle of what was looking to be one humdinger of a fight. Jayne turned next to Chelsa.
"Princess, you did good. Kept your head, and did the right thing. I'm proud of you." The girl blushed under the praise.
"I. . .I just did like you taught me," she replied. She didn't want to get in the middle of what ever was going on between her parents, either.
Before anything else could be said, a police car arrived, and a man wearing the bars of a Lieutenant got out.
"Now what's going on here?"
The Lieutenant agreed that self defense was the correct ruling, after hearing from everyone. There were still two live attackers, both under guard at the hospital, and still unconscious. He'd talk to them when they woke up, but he knew Jayne slightly, and that put him one up on the off worlders.
"Cobb, need you to hang around a while, say two days. We'll have a coroner's inquest over this. Ain't no real choice, with three dead bodies. You're like to have to answer questions. Got a lawyer?"
"Yes, we do," River replied for him. "Nathan Walsh is our attorney." Jayne looked at her, and River cringed. Something else he hadn't been told.
"He's a good man," the Lieutenant nodded. "Well, I'll com you happen we need you. Sorry 'bout the delay."
"Just the way it is," Jayne shrugged.
"You folks be careful," the lawman nodded, and departed. Jayne looked at Chelsa.
"C'mon."
"What?" the girl looked up, surprised.
"We came here to shop," he told her, holding out his hand. "We ain't done."
"But I. . .Daddy you got shot!" Chelsa exclaimed.
"And if we don't do our shoppin, I got shot for nothin'. Let's go." He looked at River. "We'll see you back on the ship." With that he walked away. River watched him go, sighing. This. . .none of this was supposed to happen. Why did things always conspire against her?
"Reckon I'll head back," Liam said into the vacuum.
"I may as well go with you," River tried to smile, but couldn't manage it.
A/N: Sorry it's going so slowly, but I've hit some medical bumps. Not serious, praise The Lord, but it's time consuming. No plans at all not to finish the story, or even stop posting, it'll just be slower than I waned, that's all. Appreciate the reviews, and hope you like the direction the story will take.
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