Freya laid her cards down on the table and grinned. Warwick Harrow sat back in astonishment. “How … just where did you learn to play cards like that, young lady?” he asked.

“Legacy of a misspent adulthood,” she said, gathering the cards back up.

“Well, I make that I owe you –”

River ran in. “Freya! Something’s wrong!”

Freya stood up. “What?”

“I‘m … not sure. It’s Mal.” The young girl shook her head. “I can’t …”

Freya ran out of the door to the bridge, taking the steps two at a time. She pulled the comlink down. “Serenity to shuttle two. Serenity to shuttle two. Hank, you there?” There was no response, just the crackle of static. “Shuttle two, this is Freya. Gorram it, someone answer me!”

“Freya, it’s Hank.” The pilot’s voice was strained. “They’ve taken Inara. I didn’t see who – they knocked us out, took her. Frey, they took Mal too.”

“ Wahng-ba dan duh biao-tze .” Freya breathed. “How long?”

“Five minutes. Frey –”

“You best get back here and we’ll –”

“No. Can’t. They mucked up the controls before they left – it’ll take me a while to fix it. Less if I had Kaylee here.”

“Freya.” It was River, standing behind them in the doorway.

“Honey, can it wait –”

“Trees. Lots of trees and grass. And water. Like a small lake,” River said quickly. “Mal knows it. So does Inara. And him.” She pointed at Harrow.

Freya glanced at the man. “You don’t think …”

“It could be,” he agreed.

“Hank.” Freya spoke into the com. “How far are you from Cadrie Pond?”

“How the hell do I know? Hang on.” There was muttering behind him. “Apparently about an hour and a half on foot, less if we can get Callum with the hover. But thirty-five minutes at least.”

“Too far,” Freya murmured. “And Serenity’ll just advertise we’re coming … Hank, get Dillon to call Callum. Get there as soon as you can. We’ll take Inara’s shuttle.”

“You think that’s where they are?”

“Shit, Hank, I don’t know. But I don’t have any better ideas. Do you?”

“Nope. We’ll