FOUR DAYS TO BOROS

"They were the Alliance's very best agents. Special ops, undercover missions, infiltrations, that sorta thing. Gave us hell more than once."

It was early morning and Kaylee and Zoë were huddled together in the engine room, the mechanic listening wide-eyed to the first mate's whispered words.

"Towards the end of the war we finally managed to get hold of the secret code name for their cell. It was Adelaide."

Kaylee's palms grew moist with sweat as she felt a cold shiver down her spine and nausea building in her stomach. "And you… and you think Shepherd Book was a member?" Her voice cracked halfway through the question.

Zoë kept her eyes sternly at her. "Don't rightly know what to think," she said. "But I do know the shepherd ain't always been a shepherd. Man knows way too much. 'Bout crime and violence."

"Oh gosh." Kaylee swallowed hard. "I was really rootin' for that old girlfriend option."

"Well, this don't prove nothin'," Zoë underlined. "Might still be somethin' real innocent. Or nothin' at all."

Kaylee nodded, but she didn't quite dare to believe that right now and it sure didn't look like Zoë was either. "How come you suddenly remembered this?" she asked.

"The cell was based on Selene. Wash discovered they've founded a town there now, bearing the same name: New Adelaide."

"So you told Wash?"

"No." Zoë shook her head. "Not about the pin or my suspicions 'bout Book. I think we oughta keep that 'tween the two of us for now."

Kaylee cast a short glance towards the hallway, checking to see if it was really empty. "But if he's an Alliance spy, shouldn't we tell the captain?"

"Well, like I said, we don't know if he really is. And even if he was once, don't mean he's one now. The war's long gone.&