Zoe looked from the young psychic to the Companion. “Are you saying Vinnie’s … no, I don’t believe it.”

“It’s true,” Inara confirmed. “He told me himself. It’s a straight trade – Mal for Harry.”

“Why?” Zoe asked, sitting down hard on the red sofa. “Why Mal?”

“Because no-one escapes from Tetris,” Inara said unhappily. “Leon wants to make an example of him.”

“I still can’t believe – Vinnie? He wouldn’t do this!”

“It’s his brother,” River said in a small voice, hugging her knees. “Brothers will do anything to save their siblings.”

Zoe got her feet under her and strode to the com. “Freya,” she said.

“Yes?”

“Call Mal. Get them back here – now.”

“They’ll be out of –”

“Try!”

“Okay.” The com went dead.

Zoe looked at River. “You knew?”

“I thought I was wrong. Thought Freya’s suspicions were clouding my mind.” River covered her face with her hands. “But blood will out.”

“Zoe.” It was Freya. “There’s no response – they must be inside. Now would you mind telling me what the diyu ’s going on?”

“You’d better come to the galley, and bring Kaylee. I don’t know what we can do, but maybe one of us can come up with a plan.”

---

The maps of the Tetris mines they’d downloaded were proving to be surprisingly accurate.

“Amazing what you can find on the Cortex,” Hank muttered.

“When I was twelve I once found detailed instructions on how to perform your very own brain surgery,” Vinnie offered. “But Harry said no.”

“Wise man,” Simon put in.

“Got the plans to a vault more’n once,” Mal agreed. “But we’ve still got to find Harry.”

They moved along the disused tunnel, Mal at point, Jayne taking up rearguard, grumbling.

“Place don’t smell any better’n last time,” the big man grumbled.

“Don’t intend to be here long enough for it to be a problem,” Mal whispered. “Now keep it down.”

A couple of hundred metres further and Vinnie tapped Mal on the shoulder. “This is it.”

Mal nodded. “Hank, Jayne. Go do your thing.”

Hank patted the bag at hi