A/N: Here is the next installment. What happened to Simon and Kaylee on the ship? What hapenned to Mal and River in town? I hope you like it.

Zoe and Jayne cautiously entered the cargo bay. Nothing was out of place. There was no sign of a struggle. Zoe motioned for Jayne to go down one side of the bay while she went down the other. When they got near the middle, they caught sight of Kaylee and Simon sitting on the bay floor. They were back-to-back, bound, gagged and tied to the grating on the cargo bay floor. Kaylee caught sight of them and let out a muffled scream. Zoe cautiously made her way over to them as Jayne kept a watchful eye. Zoe removed Kaylee’s gag.

“Zoe! Jayne! Thank God,” Kaylee exclaimed.

Zoe put her fingers over her lips signaling that they should keep quiet. She removed Simon’s gag and then proceeded to use her knife to free them of their bindings. Kaylee and Simon scurried across the floor and each grabbed one of the many guns hidden around the ship.

“What in the rutting Hell happened here?” growled Jayne in a hushed voice.

“They set on us about a minute after you all left,” Kaylee whispered to them.

“Are they still here?” Zoe asked.

“No. The last of them left about two minutes ago. Right after the shuttle docked,” Simon replied.

“They were after Inara,” Kaylee added. “They took her.”

“Alliance?” Jayne asked, eyes continuing to scan the area around them.

“No,” Simon continued. “I don’t think we’d still be here if they were.”

“Why’d they returned the shuttle? They could have abandoned it anywhere,” Jayne remarked. “It’s kuang zhe de (crazy).”

“Everyone stay close,” Zoe ordered. “Let’s head up to the shuttle.”

When they got there, the door had been left open. When they entered, they were astonished at what they saw. The shuttle was bare. It was like all traces of Inara had been erased.

“Only professionals could strip down something this fast,” Jayne observed. “She had a lot of stuff in here.”

Simon walked to