TITLE: "HAIR OF THE DOG"

SERIES: THE DEVIL'S CRADLE

CHAPTER: 19. Sequel to "RED IN TOOTH AND CLAW"

FANDOM: "FIREFLY"

AUTHOR: Alison M. DOBELL

PAIRING: Zoe/Wash Simon/Kaylee Mal/Inara

SUMMARY: "With more than one plan afoot things start

to get more than a mite complicated."

"HAIR OF THE DOG"

A "Firefly" Story

Written by Alison M. DOBELL

* * * * *

The Lady was tired, her age definitely catching up with her not that it had ever stopped her doing anything she set her mind to but she had to be careful. The call was scrambled and triple encrypted. Once sent she closed everything down the better to be sure to leave not even the ghost of an echo to show she had been there or who had sent the wave. For several minutes she sat in her favourite chair and considered all options. This was an interest she must keep from her husband at all costs. He had his business, she had hers. He must never know of this particular enterprise. At times he would look at her and a hint of suspicion would lurk in the back of his eyes then he would smile like a cracked walnut. The hint vanishing as if a veil had been drawn over it. He never asked questions that might produce a revelation he might not wish to face for then he would have to fashion a suitable and no doubt spectacularly bloody response. Her husband was far from subtle but he was effective to a fault.

So they held their positions each professing blindness to the other's actions and flaws. Deliberately choosing to concentrate only on the things that bound them, that kept them strong. It was a partnership that spanned decades and survived on the delicate balance of their individual self interests. A marriage of more than convenience, of power. Her money, his ruthless cunning. A jaded passion in which she collected beautiful things and he despoiled them, but only after their usefulness had been exploited.