CHAPTER 3

Inara’s skin crawled and the hair on her arms stood on end. The teacup rattled as she poured herself another drink, trying to calm her nerves before she left. Take your time, she told herself. Gavin knows you were delayed. He said you could take your time, so take it. Don’t go until you’re ready. She took another sip of tea. Part of her mind—the calm part—chastised her for her reaction to Prio. The rest of her didn’t want to leave Serenity.

“I thought you’d be gone by now.”

Inara jumped a mile. “Kaylee, I didn’t hear you come in.”

“You okay?”

“I’m fine,” Inara said dismissively, feeling even sillier now.

“Then how come you’re still here and not off with your prince?”

Inara hesitated. Kaylee settled on the couch, looking concerned.

“Gavin is not a prince,” she stalled. “I just—do you ever get the feeling that something isn’t quite right?”

“How do you mean?”

“I’m just being paranoid.”

“That Prio fella really shook you up?”

Inara nodded slowly, staring into her tea. “That must be it. Gavin is not dangerous. His estate is probably the safest place on the world.”

“Inara, you leaving soon?” Wash’s voice echoed over the comm.

Resolutely, Inara walked to the shuttle console and began powering up. “I’ll be off in a minute,” she told Wash. She had waited too long for Mal to bring her to a decently civilized world to sit on the sidelines now.

Kaylee came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. “Then go. Have fun. We’re right here whenever you want to come back,” she said quietly.

*~*

Jayne really wished he’d thought through his plan before driving the fuel truck so far from the landing pad. He’d found a storage shed in the east end of the space port that looked like it hadn’t been used in awhile and stashed the vehicle with his three prisoners there. After the first, the other two were easy marks, both being extremely bored with their assignment and extremely arrogant in their own ability. White collar gunmen never seemed to have a sense of what it meant to be prey.