The Treasure of Lei Fong Wu

Chapter Thirty-Two

Serenity banked gracefully around a majestic snowcapped triple-peak, and slid to a hover over a glass-like, pristine, and terribly, terribly cold mountain lake. With a whine the ventral hatch swung open. Jayne stared down into the crystal clear lake and back up at his blindfolded prisoner.

“Ai ya! That’s a long gorram way down!” he grinned, failing to mention the lake only twenty feet below. “You musta really pissed off the Cap’n!”

“Is he always this harsh?” the man asked loudly, with a note of resignation.

“Nah. He’s gotten loads better since the day he nearly blew me out an airlock. ‘Course, I was misbehavin’ a mite,” the mercenary admitted.

“Randy – can I call you Randy?” Mal asked pleasantly as he approached. “Randy, I’ve just radioed your boss, told him I wouldn’t lay down arms, told him I was tossin’ you out if he didn’t back off.”

“He didn’t back off, did he?”

“Not so much.”

“You’re going to push me out of here, aren’t you?”

“That is, indeed, the plan,” agreed Mal. “Doc, do it.”

Rolling his eyes – clearly unhappy about doing this – he stepped forward, rolled up Randy’s sleeve, and jabbed a needle into the man’s upper arm. Only Jayne’s firm grip kept him from jumping and breaking the needle.

“Ow! Hey, what the hell was that?”

“Wouldn’t you just love to know,” Simon said, in a low voice. “Let’s play, ‘what’s Simon got in the syringe?’ shall we?” He pulled the needle out and swabbed the area with antiseptic. “A harmless vitamin shot? Or a deadly virus that will kill everyone you’re exposed to? Maybe it’s for air sickness. Or perhaps it was ten cc’s of lysergic acid diethylamide, in which case your next few hours will be a hellish nightmare of hallucinations and your brain will never work right again. The Captain tells me you think I’m an evil genius. You tell me.”

“I thought you were just gonna kill me!” Randy said, panic in his voice.

“Oh, where is the fun in that?” Simon said sarcastically. “You know, I tire of be