Chapter 13

Maggie woke with a start, Jayne’s hand over her mouth, he whispered “There’s some one outside.” he tossed her clothes to her and walked off to check the door. Getting dressed quietly and quickly Maggie tossed the bedding into the corner and walked over to him. Jayne whispered “Three guys, two from earlier, they just set fire to the house, after blocking the front door.” Maggie gasped “Set fire to the house? Why?” “Not sure, but I need to get you out of here.” Looking around Jayne swore to himself. He spotted the mule, jumped on and held his hand out to Maggie. He locked her hands in front of him he started up the mule and shot out the door, hoping Maggie could hold on as he turned and raced towards the ship. Racing up the ramp he stopped the mule, jumped off and hit the door lock “Tell Mal about the men and that I’ll handle them.” Jayne took the time to get two more guns out of the locker and ran out the door. Maggie ran up to the crew’s quarters and banged on Mal’s door until he answers. Telling him what Jayne said, Maggie can only watch as Mal woke Zoë and they headed to the cargo bay. “Aren’t you going to go out and help him?” Maggie pleaded “There are three of them!” She looked at Zoë and Mal. “He said he would handle it Maggie, if we went out now he might just shoot us for the hell of it.” Mal laughed, looking out the window “He said two were Marco’s men?” “Yes.” Maggie kept pacing. Book and Kaylee came into the cargo bay and asked what was going on. “Couple of men set fire to Maggie’s house.” Mal answered still looking out the window. Book walked over to where Maggie was pacing and put his arms around her and pulled her into a hug “You OK?” “Yes, but they won’t go out and help him.” She whispered. “Only a couple of them? Jayne needs no help Maggie, this is what he does and he is very good at it.” He didn’t add that it’s what he loved to do “He will be fine…” The opening of the door stopped him and Jayne came in dragging a couple of men behind him. Only Book’s hand kept Maggie from throwing her arms around him. “What! One of them get away from you?” Mal laughed, turning one of the men over and checking him for id, while Zoë checked the other. “No! He’s dead, no reason to bring him in. You OK?” He walked over to Maggie and Book. “I am now! They wouldn’t go out and help you.” She whispered as she looked him over for wounds. “Hell Maggie, there were only three of them. I would have been insulted if they had.” He grinned at her, wanting to hug her and be sure she was OK. Mal and Zoë had checked the two unconscious men and came over. “How’d you get Maggie out? And why are you back so early?” Mal asked. “Not much going on in town, so I can back early. Saw the fire and went up the back stairs to get Maggie and you know the rest.” Jayne was a little scared that Mal might figure stuff out. Just then town folk started to show up to help with the fire. “Might as well just let it burn its self out.” Maggie answered Elder Gable when he asked what they could do to help. “What do you think started it?” he asked. “Not what, but who.” Mal answered “Caught a couple of men, maybe you can identify them for us?” Mal led the Elders over to the dead man and the two men they had tied up. “Captain, Lieutenant Matthews is here with some men to help.” Zoë came up to Mal and the Elders as they identified the men. “You seem to be having a lot of trouble around here. What can we do to help?” Lt. Matthews extended his hand to Mal. “You know these men? They’re the ones that started this fire.” Mal waited for the Lieutenant to tell him what he already knows. “Yes, those are a couple of Marco’s men.” He kicked the one closest to him “Marco send you out here?” “No, we thought we would surprise him and take care of things.” The man grumbled as the Lieutenant's men hauled them up and put them in the wagon. “We’ll take them into town and pay Mr. Weir a visit, think you and Mr. Cobb should come along and talk to Mr. Weir about compensation.” “Think Maggie would like to be there, can you give her a few minutes to clean up?” Mal was trying to stall for time, so he can work out a story with Jayne and Maggie. “Not a problem, It’s about 4 in the morning now, how about we meet outside Marco’s in four hours?” The Lieutenant waited for Mal’s OK, then he and his men left for town. Jayne and Maggie just watched the house and barn go up in flames, town folks came by to tell them how sorry and to offer help in rebuilding. Maggie got tired of saying she would not be rebuilding and that she would be leaving. Finally she turned and buried her face in Jayne’s chest and cried. Mal came up to them and told them about the Lieutenant’s idea, he suggested that Kaylee take Maggie inside to get some rest and that he would deal with all the town folks.