Abstract: The half-life of the I-pi = 6(+) yrast state at E-x = 2294 keV in Ce-138 has been measured as T-1/2 = 880(19) ps using the fast-timing gamma-ray coincidence method with a mixed LaBr3(Ce)-HPGe array. The excited states in Ce-138 have been populated by the Te-130(C-12, 4n) fusion-evaporation reaction at an incident beam energy of 56 MeV. The extracted B(E2; 6(1)(+) -> 4(1)(+)) = 0.101(24) W.u. value is compared with the predictions of truncated basis shell model calculations and with the systematics of the region. This shows an anomalous behavior compared to the neighboring isotonic and isotopic chains. Half-lives for the yrast 5(-), 11(+) and 14(+) states in Ce-138 have also been determined in this work.