The Treasure of Lei Fong Wu

Chapter Forty-Eight

GAMMA TEAM -54.04

They paused when they reached the bottom of the stairwell. Mal pressed a small .38 into Inara’s hands, and taking the hint Johnny passed his revolver to Nyan Nyan without inquiring as to whether or not she knew how to make use of it.

“Y’all hang back,” Mal murmured as he put his shoulder against the door. Sporadic shots could still be heard from the other side, though not directly on the other side.

“Mal!” Inara pleaded, “you can’t just go barging in there!”

“Hey! Gotta knock out that worthy deed!” he teased, grinning. ‘Just keep your pretty face behind this door ‘til we come back.”

“This shouldn’t take but a moment,” agreed Johnny, turning his baseball cap around backwards. “Ready?” he asked, bringing his submachine gun up to his shoulder.

Mal nodded, then pushed the door open with his shoulder. He immediately crouched and bore to the left, while Johnny came out right behind him, high and to the right. Inara and Nyan Nyan went half-way back up the stairs, out of the line of fire.

The smell of burnt powder filled the air with a faint haze the atmoconditioning had yet to dissipate. The hallway was deserted, save for the body of one of the men – Fong, it turned out, down on his back with his weapon still in his hand. He had taken four shots across his armor and a fifth in his left shoulder and was unconscious. Mal checked his pulse while Johnny covered him, then made a low run over to the intersection and took cover.

There was the hammer of a machine pistol up ahead and around the corner to the left, and both men hurried towards it. Just as they were ready to round the corner another of the men – Corporal Hwong, it was – retreated down the corridor into their position, firing his weapon. A spray of bullets swept over him, catching him across the upper torso and hitting his face twice. He made a gurgling sound as his brains splattered against the wall behind him. Johnny winced. He’d been a friend of Hwong’s.