One good day

By Charlotte Summers

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Chapter four

“Ten Percent of Something”

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“Well, this is just shiny,” Mal said dryly.

Frankly, he’d expected a simple drop-off after which he’d be on his merry with a big damn pay check and without the goods the Alliance were looking for. He hadn’t expected meeting up with Dumar, giving him the goods, and then hear Dumar wasn’t planning on paying up.

Mal smiled pleasantly at the form of Dumar (for some reason he didn’t appear physically as Mal had expected him to be: he was in fact in real life quite a bit shorter than imagined, but scarily more muscled than Mal would’ve liked).

“Might I ask how come one of us is suddenly not holding his end of the deal?”

“Captain Reynolds, I’m not backing out of the deal,” Dumar said without humor, standing broad. “I’m simply announcing there was no deal to begin with. Or at least, not on my part. I’m afraid you have been double-crossed. My sincerest apologies. But it seems ridiculous to me I have to pay petty thieves like you for bringing me what is mine, just because the Alliance had decided to keep an eye on me. I thank you, for delivering me my things,” Dumar said pleasantly, “And I assure you, everyone can walk away from this unharmed. But you’re not getting paid.”

“That a fact?” Mal nodded, suppressing his anger.

“That is a fact,” Dumar confirmed.

“And you’ll just let us walk freely, unharmed, if we just leave your goods and go?”

“That too, is a fact.”

“And how exactly were you sure me and mine are just going to accept and leave?” Mal asked the buyer, tilting his head slightly toward Jayne, who already threateningly had one hand placed over the gun in the holster on his hip.

Dumar sat down in his leather chair. “I have insurance.”

“And what might that be…?” Zoe asked with a low, dangerous voice.

The corners of Dumar’s mouth twitched. “A bunch of men holding ‘yours’ and your ship hostage.”

* * *

“Well, this is just shiny,” Bela muttered under her breath.

She, Kay