A.N. Angst level set to elevated...

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CHAPTER 8

Caddock had a hacking cough and exuded the smell of sweat and smoke, his hands clinging tightly to his patched up coat. The old garment, mixed with purples and browns, had gone threadbare at spots and the pockets hung out like little stringy purses. Mal looked for a sign of the Cofer Caddock was prone to carrying, but he needn’t have worried so much. He had hardly blinked before Jayne had covered the block between them and had a pistol trained on Caddock’s head.

“I don’t think it’s wise for a bunch of white-folks to start a gunfight in the middle of the shopping plaza,” Caddock wheezed between coughs.

Mal gave Jayne a look, but the mercenary did not holster his weapon. Jayne merely adjusted his position to more discreetly hold his gun against the back of Caddock’s neck. Baby steps, Mal told himself.

“Why are you here?” Mal asked in a low growl.

“Same as you. I’m here to kill Jantis.”

“NOT same as me,” Mal emphasized. “I’m just here for my crewmember. I have no grief with Jantis.”

“Oh, you soon will have grief with Jantis. And you’ll wish you’d killed him before he noticed you were trouble.”

“Why do you keep thinking we’re the same?”

Caddock placed his right hand under his beard before putting his left hand over his mouth for a particularly large cough.

“He took your woman, didn’t he?”

Mal glared angrily and didn’t respond. Jayne shifted uneasily, his trigger finger getting anxious. Caddock continued with evil superiority.

“You come against Jantis, there is nothing you can offer. There’s nothing you have that he wants. Not even your life. Unless you’re a woman. He’s a collector of women. He took mine.”

“Word on the street is she left you,” Jayne sneered.

“Oh, I’m sure she went willingly,” Caddock agreed, stepping away from Jayne to get the gun off his neck. “Offered herself even. May have bought her a little life before Jantis killed her. But Jantis took her and he had no right. I will kill him