Summary:\u00a0 It has been five years since Joe Cartwright took Bella Carnaby as his wife and nearly twenty since he first met Rosey O’Rourke \u2013 a woman he knows his father loves, but one that life and time has conspired to keep away from the Ponderosa. A new threat and an old enemy appear to threaten the Cartwrights \u2013 will the end of their collective tale be joy, or tragedy?<\/p>\n
81,360 words<\/p>\n
Rated PG-13 for western violence and brutality and mild adult language<\/p>\n
Author’s Note:\u00a0 This story will make more sense if the reader is familiar with both Wet Bottoms, Warm Heart<\/a> <\/strong>series (Bella Carnaby) and Blood and Bread<\/a><\/strong> (Rosey O’Rourke) series.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n An Unspeakable Dawn<\/strong><\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n When grace is joined with wrinkles, it is adorable. There is an unspeakable dawn in happy old age. ************<\/p>\n One<\/p>\n Joe Cartwright slowly closed the door behind him, careful not to make a sound.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t want to disturb the man within the room he had just left, who was finally sleeping.\u00a0 Shifting to the left of the doorjamb, he leaned his back against the wall and let the tears fall.<\/p>\n A moment later his knees went to jelly.<\/p>\n With all the strength he had left \u2013 which was about as much as an newborn pup \u2013 Joe stumbled across the hall and fell into the Chippendale chair pressed up against the wall beside what had once been the door to his oldest brother\u2019s bedroom. \u00a0Joe\u2019s hands shook on the well-polished arms as he righted himself and then dropped them and his head between his knees in a valiant attempt to remain conscious.<\/p>\n It had been so close.<\/p>\n So<\/em> close.<\/p>\n One second, one heartbeat less \u2013 one blink of his unseen God\u2019s eye \u2013 and his father would have been dead.<\/p>\n Dead.<\/p>\n Pa.\u00a0 Dead.<\/em><\/p>\n Dear Lord….<\/p>\n A too familiar hand landed on Joe\u2019s shoulder, startling him.\u00a0 He hadn\u2019t heard the door click open. \u00a0Didn\u2019t hear the footsteps follow him across the hall.<\/p>\n \u201cIs there anything I can do for you?\u201d<\/p>\n The curly-haired man looked up into Paul Martin\u2019s haggard face.\u00a0 Even though the aged physician had turned most of his practice over to a younger doctor, Paul had come at his request.\u00a0 For the last three days, within the walls of his ailing father\u2019s room, Pa had waged one of the greatest battles he had ever faced.<\/p>\n Maybe the<\/em> greatest battle.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat can you do for me?\u201d Joe echoed, his voice ragged with exhaustion.\u00a0 \u201cYou can promise me Pa will be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n Paul\u2019s lips did that thing they\u2019d done so many times when his father had asked the same question about him<\/em> \u2013 pursed and turned down slightly at the corners.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know I \u2013 \u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I know you can\u2019t make that promise.\u00a0 It\u2019s up to God and Pa.\u201d\u00a0 Joe hesitated and then a wry smile curled his lips.\u00a0 \u201cJust don\u2019t go tellin\u2019 me he\u2019s \u2018young and strong\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Paul smiled too \u2013 a weary smile of relief and caution.\u00a0 \u201cNow if we can just convince Ben of that.\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019d tried.\u00a0 Oh, Lord, how <\/em>he\u2019d tried!\u00a0 They were several men down due to a sickness that had swept through the bunkhouse a week back.\u00a0 Jamie was gone at school.\u00a0 Griff was Heaven only knew where, and Candy wasn\u2019t back from the cattle drive.\u00a0 Adam didn\u2019t exist anymore and Hoss, well, Hoss….\u00a0 Joe\u2019s eyes flicked to the his father\u2019s door again.<\/p>\n If Pa had died that would have been it.\u00a0 It would have been only<\/em> him.<\/p>\n A sudden sound at the end of the corridor made both men turn toward the stair.\u00a0 Joe blinked back tears to clear his eyes as a small dynamo rounded the corner aimed straight for him, reminding him that he was not alone \u2013 that he would never be<\/em> alone.<\/p>\n Doc Martin\u2019s pale blue eyes lit with delight.<\/p>\n \u201cAh,\u201d the older man said, \u201cthe best medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe started to rise, but he didn\u2019t make it to his feet before he was driven back into the chair by twenty-two pounds of love.\u00a0 Ten grubby fingers reached for his face.\u00a0 Two found the trail of tears on his cheek.\u00a0 A pair of eyes, wide and green as his own, blinked as eight other fingers reached for the silvery curls that dangled near the collar of his shirt.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t cry, Papa,\u201d the little boy said.<\/p>\n Another voice followed a moment later \u2013 soft, out of breath.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sorry, Joe.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t stop him.\u00a0 I\u2019m not exactly moving at full speed right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe looked up at his wife.\u00a0 Her blonde hair was askew and her lovely face powdered with flour.\u00a0 One hand rested on her back and the other on her expanded belly that held their next child, who was due within the month.<\/p>\n Bella Carnaby Cartwright was just about the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.<\/p>\n Next to Eric Benjamin Cartwright, that was, who was squirming in his arms and trying to get down, obviously terrified that the \u2018real\u2019 set of pants in the Joe Cartwright family had caught up to him.<\/p>\n Doc Martin chuckled at the scene.\u00a0 When Joe looked at the older man, he was shaking his head.\u00a0 \u201cDivine justice,\u201d was all he said.<\/p>\n Joe looked down at his first child, at the boy\u2019s tousled blond curls and those puppy dog eyes that were working to assure him that he was holding an angel and not<\/em> a naughty little boy who had disobeyed his mother and run up to Grandpa Ben\u2019s sick room when he\u2019d been told he was not allowed.<\/p>\n As he ran his fingers through his son\u2019s curls, Joe sighed.\u00a0 \u201cYeah….\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJoe, why don\u2019t you take your family and go downstairs?\u00a0 I\u2019m sure your father will be asleep for some time.\u00a0 He\u2019s very weak.\u00a0 Ben won\u2019t wake up any time soon \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n These were the times when Joe knew where his ornery, stubborn streak came from.<\/p>\n His pa had just called his name.<\/p>\n Bella hurried over and snatched Eric up.\u00a0 With a quick kiss, she said, \u201cI\u2019ll be in the kitchen with Hop Sing.\u201d\u00a0 His wife looked down at their little boy who was nuzzling up to her now that he realized he wasn\u2019t going to feel her hand on his rear end.\u00a0 \u201cSo will this one.\u00a0 That is, if<\/em> I decide to let him help bake the cookies after he did exactly what he was told not <\/em>to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Eric blinked.\u00a0 \u201cPapa needs cookies too,\u201d he pronounced as he held out one of his fingers, offering the gooey dough that lingered there.<\/p>\n Joe kissed him again and replied, \u201cIf you don\u2019t mind, punkin, I think I\u2019ll wait \u2018til they\u2019re cooked.\u00a0 You be good for your ma, you hear?\u00a0 I\u2019ll be down in a few minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n Bella leaned in as best she could and nuzzled his cheek.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll be waiting.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe drew a breath as he watched his very pregnant wife walk toward the stairs.\u00a0 He waited until he heard her reach the ground floor and head for the kitchen before letting it out \u2013 only to find Paul Martin watching him.<\/p>\n \u201cStill waiting for the other boot to drop?\u201d the older man asked, a little too astutely.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n Paul\u2019s hand returned to his shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cJoe, I can feel it in every muscle in your body.\u00a0 You have to let go.\u00a0 You can\u2019t spend every waking moment waiting for a tragedy.\u00a0 If you do, you will miss the joy of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n His older brother vanished.\u00a0 Hoss, dead.\u00a0 His first wife murdered, burned…worse…with their child still inside her; him struck blind, tortured by a madman….\u00a0\u00a0 Pa\u2019d told him it was all because God loved him; that the Almighty couldn\u2019t use a man greatly until He had wounded him deeply.<\/p>\n Joe sighed.\u00a0 It was either that<\/em> or God hated him.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe….\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYou better go to your father, son.\u00a0 Ben doesn\u2019t need to be agitated.\u00a0 There\u2019s still a long road of recovery ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe pursed his lips.\u00a0 He nodded, sniffed, and wiped the remnants of tears from his eyes \u2013 which made Paul laugh.\u00a0 The older man touched his shoulder affectionately.\u00a0 \u201cLike your father doesn\u2019t know they were there,\u201d the doctor said.<\/p>\n Joe laughed too as he headed for the door.\u00a0 Opening it wide, he stepped inside and stood for just a moment, listening to the steady if still shallow sound of his father\u2019s breathing.\u00a0 He knew, of course, that Pa would pass one day and most likely before him.\u00a0 It was the curse of being the youngest son.\u00a0 He might well outlive all his family, which would be an irony since everyone had been fairly certain he would break his neck before he made thirty.\u00a0 And yet, here he was.\u00a0 Both Hoss and Adam were gone.\u00a0 No one knew if older brother lived or not.\u00a0 Adam\u2019s letters had stopped coming somewhere close to three years ago and had been sporadic for the two before that.\u00a0 Pa always said that God supplied what you needed when<\/em> you needed it.\u00a0 He\u2019d come to accept and believe that over the last so many years.\u00a0 He\u2019d lost Hoss and that was something he had never dreamed of or thought he could make it through.\u00a0 Not too long after that the Almighty had sent Bella back into his life.<\/p>\n The rest, as they said, was history.<\/p>\n \u201c…Joseph?\u201d<\/p>\n Wow, hearing Pa\u2019s voice sound so weak was like a blow.\u00a0 Joe drew a breath to steady himself and then crossed to the chair beside the bed and sat down.\u00a0 Reaching out, he took his father\u2019s hand.\u00a0 Once so firm and certain, his grip was faltering.<\/p>\n Pa was getting old.<\/p>\n \u201cJoseph?\u00a0 Is that…you?\u201d<\/p>\n Leaning in, Joe ran a hand across his father\u2019s slightly fevered brow and brushed his hair back, unconsciously repeating a gesture the older man had used with him for years.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, it\u2019s me, Pa.\u00a0 How do you feel?\u201d<\/p>\n There was something.\u00a0 Kind of a chortle. \u00a0\u201cPaul tells me…I\u2019ll live.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut you\u2019re not so sure?\u201d Joe asked, forcing a cheeky grin.<\/p>\n His father snorted.\u00a0 \u201cNot sure I want to.\u00a0 Damn steer….\u201d<\/p>\n Joe sucked in air, not only at his father using a curse word, but at the image the older man\u2019s words evoked \u2013 Pa, waist deep in water, pushin\u2019 at a stubborn steer like he was sixteen instead of sixty-four.\u00a0 It had seemed such a small inconsequential thing.\u00a0 The steer\u2019s hoof had caught Pa\u2019s leg, breaking the skin.\u00a0 Befouled water had entered the wound.\u00a0 Pa\u2019d started feelin\u2019 badly and then collapsed at the supper table with Bella and Eric looking on.\u00a0 Eric had begun to wail and reach for \u2018Gappa\u2019 even as Bella bore their boy toward the kitchen and Hop Sing.\u00a0 Doc Martin had been called.\u00a0 The wound was infected and the infection was as stubborn as the Devil.\u00a0 Like a cancer it had spread through Pa\u2019s body, taking him down.\u00a0 Just two days before this Paul had told him he believed it was hopeless.\u00a0 Pa\u2019s fever had spiked.\u00a0 He\u2019d been out of his head, yellin\u2019 first for Hoss and then callin\u2019 for brother Adam.\u00a0 A shudder ran through Joe as he remembered the moment when the decision had been made to pack Pa in ice. At his age, it was a terrible risk to take.\u00a0 The cold could have stopped his heart.<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t.\u00a0\u00a0 Pa was here.<\/p>\n Pa was alive.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cNow don\u2019t you go blamin\u2019 that steer, Pa.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t have the sense to get out of the water.\u201d<\/p>\n The older man\u2019s eyes were watery and weak.\u00a0 Humor began to dry them out.<\/p>\n \u201cLike I…should have?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe sat back in the chair. \u00a0He shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cPa knows best.\u201d<\/p>\n His father was silent for several heartbeats.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sorry, son,\u201d he said at last.\u00a0 \u201cI…should have…thought of you.\u00a0 Don\u2019t want you to…be…alone.\u201d<\/p>\n There it was.<\/p>\n Everyone knew he wasn\u2019t good at it, no matter how much he\u2019d protested most of his life that he wanted to be.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ll outlive me, Pa,\u201d he said, wanting it.<\/p>\n His father\u2019s chocolate-brown eyes fastened on his green ones.\u00a0 That feeble grip grew firm.\u00a0 \u201cNever,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Never.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe closed his eyes and let out a relieved sigh.\u00a0 He had to remember it was true.\u00a0 Even if Pa, Adam, and Hoss were gone, he wouldn\u2019t be alone.<\/p>\n He had Bella and Eric.<\/p>\n With a bit of a smile, he turned toward her.\u00a0 \u201cWhat is it, darlin\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n Bella crossed to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.\u00a0 She was like that.\u00a0 She needed the touch as much as he did.<\/p>\n \u201cCandy just came back. \u00a0He says he needs to talk to you.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe frowned. \u201cAbout what?\u201d<\/p>\n His wife shook her head, sending her golden curls flying.\u00a0 \u201cHe didn\u2019t say.\u00a0 Just that it was important.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou…go, boy,\u201d his father said.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n It had taken him a while to figure out what the Cartwrights were the best at.\u00a0 It was lyin\u2019.\u00a0 Each and everyone of them had honed the art to perfection.\u00a0 It was the only way to keep the others from worryin\u2019.<\/p>\n Or to try to.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll look after Pa,\u201d Bella said as she ran her slender fingers through his curls.<\/p>\n Finally<\/em> Pa had a daughter.\u00a0 It tickled him no end.<\/p>\n \u201cGo…Joe.\u00a0 Take care of what you have to,\u201d Pa said.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n That made him snigger.<\/p>\n That was his<\/em> line.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe,\u201d his father ordered, sounding more like himself.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t keep Candy…waiting.\u201d<\/p>\n Good old Pa.\u00a0 Business was business.\u00a0 And it had been his<\/em> business this last few weeks, keeping the ranch shipshape and runnin\u2019.\u00a0 Candy had helped no end, but it had shown him what he would be up against when….\u00a0 Joe glanced at his father.<\/p>\n When the inevitable happened.<\/p>\n Rising, Joe leaned in and planted a kiss on his father\u2019s forehead, just like the older man had done to him so many times when he\u2019d been ailin\u2019.\u00a0 Then he turned to Bella and caught her by the waist and drew her as close as he could and kissed her with a passion born of the knowledge of close loss.<\/p>\n \u201cI love you, Mrs. Joe Cartwright,\u201d he whispered into her hair.<\/p>\n \u201cI know,\u201d Bella answered with a smile.<\/p>\n Joe turned back and caught his father\u2019s hand.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll be back soon, Pa,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cTake…your time.\u00a0 My new nurse…is…easier on the eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n That made him laugh.\u00a0 He was laughing still as he started down the steps and headed for Candy Canaday where he waited near the front door.<\/p>\n Candy\u2019s face wiped the smile right off of his own.<\/p>\n \u201cYou look awful,\u201d Candy said in greeting.<\/p>\n Joe eyed their foreman from top to toe as he ran a hand through his unruly curls.\u00a0 Candy was covered in trail dust and looked like he\u2019d given sleep a miss the night before.<\/p>\n \u201cYou look worse,\u201d he responded in kind.<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u00a0 No.\u00a0 You definitely win.\u00a0 The red eyes….\u201d\u00a0 His friend paused.\u00a0 \u201cShould I count the bottles in the liquor cabinet again?\u201d<\/p>\n It was their way and he thanked God for it every day.\u00a0 Candy wasn\u2019t his brother, but he was about as close as it got.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re all there,\u201d Joe answered, all mock-seriousness. Then he smiled.\u00a0 \u201cStill, I don\u2019t see anythin\u2019 wrong with counting.\u201d\u00a0 He blew out a long breath.\u00a0 \u201cI could use a drink.\u201d<\/p>\n Candy\u2019s clear blue eyes went to the staircase.\u00a0 His thoughts traveled on up it to the bedroom at the top.\u00a0 \u201cHow is<\/em> Ben?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI can answer that,\u201d Doc Martin said as he came around the corner from the kitchen.\u00a0 The older man\u2019s black jacket was covered with little handprints made of flour.\u00a0 He noticed Joe looking and grinned.\u00a0 \u201cI told Hop Sing I would lend him a hand while Bella went upstairs.\u00a0 Eric thought I needed a new one \u2013 a few new ones!\u201d\u00a0 Paul moved to join them near the door.\u00a0 \u201cBut to answer your question, Candy, Ben is still a sick man, but he\u2019s on the mend.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s good news.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, it is.\u201d\u00a0 Joe flinched as Paul turned that \u2018look\u2019 on him \u2013 the one that said he knew the Cartwrights all <\/em>too well.\u00a0 \u201cJoe, I need you to keep Ben in that bed for another day or two at the very least.\u00a0 I know he\u2019s going to say he \u2018feels fine\u2019, but don\u2019t you listen.\u00a0 Do it!\u00a0 He\u2019s not getting any younger, in spite of what he thinks.\u00a0 Stubbornness will only take a man so far before it takes him too<\/em> far!\u201d<\/p>\n Joe was all too aware of the consequences of disregarding Doc Martin\u2019s warnings.\u00a0 He\u2019d done it often enough himself.<\/p>\n \u201cWill do, Doc.\u00a0 Bella will sit on him if she has to.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIs that a remark concerning my present weight, Mister Cartwright?\u201d<\/p>\n He whirled to find his wife standing behind him.\u00a0 \u201cPa…?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAsleep.\u00a0 I came down to get some broth and coffee for when he wakes \u2013\u201d\u00a0 A sudden wail rising from the kitchen caught their attention.\u00a0 Bella shook her head as she looked at him.\u00a0 \u201cI thought boys were supposed to take after their mothers<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n He slipped his arm around her back and kissed the top of her hair. \u00a0\u201cLike Elizabeth Bella Carnaby wasn\u2019t a handful to raise.\u201d<\/p>\n Bella stiffened in mock indignation.\u00a0 \u201cI was not!\u201d she declared with a little stomp of her foot. \u00a0Then, shooting a look at Candy and Paul Martin, she finished.\u00a0 \u201cI was two!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n His wife made her exit amidst a fresh chorus of laughter.\u00a0 It felt good to laugh. \u00a0There\u2019d been precious little of it in the house this last week.<\/p>\n Paul Martin put out his hand.\u00a0 Joe shook it and was surprised when the doctor didn\u2019t let it go, but gripped his fingers more tightly.<\/p>\n \u201cYou remember what I said, young man,\u201d he remarked.\u00a0 \u201cEnjoy the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n As he was released, Joe replied, \u201cYes, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n Paul\u2019s white eyebrows danced.\u00a0 \u201cAh, respect at last,\u201d he said with a wink.\u00a0 \u201cWell, I\u2019ll be off then.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been neglecting a few of my other patients.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI thought Julian was covering for you,\u201d Joe said, confused.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is.\u00a0 But I have a few older patients who, like you and your father, seem to think that I am the only<\/em> doctor in Virginia City that God gifted with the power of healing.\u201d\u00a0 Doc Martin\u2019s hand came down on his shoulder again.\u00a0 \u201cTake care, Joe.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be back tomorrow morning to see how your father is doing.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe sent the older man out of the house with his thanks and then turned to Candy.\u00a0 \u201cNow, how about that drink?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Twenty miles away in Virginia City, quite unaware of Joseph Cartwright\u2019s current crisis, a well-dressed man in a city dweller\u2019s suit, with thick black hair cropped just below his ears, moved with stealth, careful to wear the shadows that lined the bustling street as a cloak.\u00a0 It had been close to twenty years since he had walked them.\u00a0 During that time the city and its surrounding environs had grown to nearly 25,000 inhabitants, expanding exponentially with the discovery of more and more mineral wealth buried beneath Nevada\u2019s soil.\u00a0 Fortunately, he wouldn\u2019t stand out.\u00a0 There were many of his \u2018kind\u2019 in the city \u2013 nearly one out of ten \u2013 welcome or not.\u00a0 Still, long years of evading pursuit had taught him to be cautious.<\/p>\n He was here with one intent and one intent only, and he did not need a chance recognition to divert his cause.<\/p>\n Drawing his coat up about his chin, the well-dressed man moved to the end of the alley where he paused to gaze at the establishment across the street.\u00a0 It was the office of the local constabulary \u2013 a larger building with more of an air of self-importance than he remembered.\u00a0 He\u2019d considered going directly to the lawman in charge, but decided in the end that was not wise.\u00a0 The words he had were for one man\u2019s ears alone. \u00a0Once his message was delivered, that man could choose what action to take \u2013 if any.<\/p>\n After all, it was his<\/em> life that was at stake.<\/p>\n Casting a glance in both directions, the well-dressed man headed for the International House. Though his \u2018kind\u2019 were not welcome there either, his money would be.\u00a0 He would rent a room with a comfortable bed and, after getting something to eat, catch a few hours sleep.\u00a0 Then he would hire a good horse and head out.<\/p>\n To the Ponderosa.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Joe Cartwright cast a glance at his riding companion.\u00a0 Candy\u2019s jaw was set and his ice blue eyes were ever vigilant, searching every inch of the road, which was quite a feat as they were moving at a good clip.\u00a0 He\u2019d been the one to set their pace.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t want to be gone long from the ranch.\u00a0 It was an old wound.\u00a0 One that remained unhealed.\u00a0 Every time he rode away from the house leaving his wife and child without his protection, he expected disaster to follow.<\/p>\n Joe snorted and shook his head.\u00a0 Doc Martin had been right.\u00a0 He was<\/em> waiting for the other boot to drop.<\/p>\n \u201cSomething wrong?\u201d Candy called over to him.<\/p>\n \u2018Me,<\/em>\u2019 Joe thought, but he answered, \u201cYou.\u201d<\/p>\n Candy\u2019s light brown brows edged toward his hair.\u00a0 \u201cMe?\u00a0 What\u2019d I do?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re jumpy as a bit up old bull in fly time,\u201d Joe answered.<\/p>\n \u201cMe? \u201d Candy shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cI ain\u2019t jumpy.\u00a0 I\u2019m just…\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Lookin\u2019 out for your little brother,<\/em>\u2019 Joe thought.\u00a0 He\u2019d never escape it.\u00a0 Even though, in reality, he was a little older than Candy, their foreman had taken up where Hoss had left off.<\/p>\n The curly-haired man winced.\u00a0 Then again, as Bella was all too quick to remind him, it did seem \u2013 at times \u2013 like he needed a little more lookin\u2019 after than most people.<\/p>\n \u201cThe sheriff didn\u2019t indicate there was any direct threat against me, did he?\u201d Joe asked.<\/p>\n Candy\u2019s lips pursed.\u00a0 He thought a second and then said, \u201cNot \u2018direct\u2019, no.\u00a0 But if it was me \u2013 and I ain\u2019t you, thank God! \u2013 I\u2019d be wonderin\u2019 what a man was up to if he came to town and started askin\u2019 all sorts of questions about me and mine.\u201d<\/p>\n That had been the news Candy had come to the house to convey.\u00a0 Roy Coffee was long retired, but he was short on sittin\u2019 still.\u00a0 He still helped Clem out most days by sortin\u2019 papers and keepin\u2019 watch on the inhabitants of the jail and so on.\u00a0 Roy had caught hold of Candy when he was in town.\u00a0 Seems there was a man lately come to Virginia City who\u2019d been asking a lot of questions about him, his family, and the Ponderosa.\u00a0 Roy wouldn\u2019t say who the man was or what the questions were, only that both had made him uncomfortable.\u00a0 He\u2019d apologized to Candy for holdin\u2019 back and asked his friend to bring him to town so they could talk.<\/p>\n They were about five miles out now.\u00a0 The late afternoon sun was shining.\u00a0 Joe didn\u2019t know the exact time, but he would have guessed by the slant of the light that it was heading toward four.\u00a0 By the time they reached town, met with Roy, grabbed a quick bite to eat and maybe a drink, it would be dark.\u00a0 There was a fairly full moon, so travelin\u2019 home by the light of it was a good possibility even though it would be smarter to stay in town and head out at first light.\u00a0 Joe pursed his lips and tried to talk himself through it.\u00a0 Even though Pa was down, Hop Sing was at the house with Bella.\u00a0 There were ranch hands coming and going, even though the sickness had left fewer than he would have liked on their feet.\u00a0 He\u2019d even asked two of the younger ones to stand guard until his return. \u00a0Fool kids!\u00a0 They\u2019d slapped him on the back and \u2013 with a wink \u2013 told him to take his time in town, as if town held something more special than what he had at home.\u00a0 None of it mattered.\u00a0 There was something in him that compelled <\/em>him to return home as soon as possible.\u00a0 He knew it was foolish, but he felt he<\/em> had to be there \u2013 that it was his responsibility and his alone<\/em> to keep Bella and Eric safe.<\/p>\n Like he\u2019d been unable to keep Alice and their child safe.<\/p>\n Shifting in his saddle, Joe eyed the road ahead.\u00a0 Then, with a wicked gleam in his eye, he leaned forward and pressed his knees ever so gently against Cochise\u2019s sides.\u00a0 His horse snorted with excitement as his old friend\u2019s black eyes lit with the same fire.<\/p>\n \u201cHey, old man,\u201d he called to his companion.<\/p>\n Candy had been looking to the side, eyes narrowed.\u00a0 His head whipped back.\u00a0 \u201cOld man?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re movin\u2019 slower than a snail on crutches.\u201d\u00a0 As Joe let Cochise take the lead and felt the wind begin to rush through his curls and slap his cheeks, he called, \u201cLast one into town buys the drinks!\u201d<\/p>\n And then he left Candy in the dust.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The light was almost gone by the time Joe slowed Cochise to a walk and rode into Virginia City.\u00a0 He\u2019d expected Candy to catch up to him but, so far, there was no sign of the brown-haired man.\u00a0 Cooch was getting older and it probably hadn\u2019t been too smart to drive him so hard.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t lathered, but he was sweating.\u00a0 Joe laughed as he patted his mount\u2019s neck.\u00a0 Then again, he<\/em> was sweating too.<\/p>\n He\u2019d never admit it, but every year Cooch got older, he did too!<\/p>\n As they walked slowly into town, Joe took in the sights.\u00a0 Even this late in the day the city was still buzzing with activity.\u00a0 It had only been sixteen years since the small settlement his pa had first come to had given way to Virginia City, and even less since the discovery of silver in the area had changed it from a trading post with a few surrounding buildings to what some called the \u2018inland partner\u2019 of San Francisco.\u00a0 There were days when he found the changes exciting. \u00a0As a young man, he had thrived on it.\u00a0 But now, as an older and slightly more sober married man, with one child and another on the way, there were times when he longed for the old days before gain and power had come to be Virginia City\u2019s currency of choice.\u00a0 Of course, a bigger town offered more than a one horse post.\u00a0 There were several doctors now, a bigger school \u2013 with \u00a0teachers educated back East that would have given Adam a run for his money as far as smarts \u2013 and, of course, the larger expanded office of the law with its young sheriff and multiple deputies.<\/p>\n There had to be multiple deputies to deal with the rise in crime.<\/p>\n Along with the silver had come men who would do whatever it took to get their share of it, fair or not.\u00a0 It went all the way up to the Bank Crowd and the Irish Big Four who literally battled it out to see who would come out on top to control the mining industry and all of its possible profits.\u00a0 Joe sighed and shook his head as he called Cochise to a halt and dismounted in front of the livery.\u00a0 He enjoyed town, but he was glad his father had created a haven twenty miles away from it where he could rear his family.\u00a0 Where they could be safe.<\/p>\n Where he could keep<\/em> them safe.<\/p>\n After ordering plenty of hay and a dose of oats, and paying for the best care for Cochise, Joe eyed the hotel and considered whetting his whistle first, but determined instead to head straight for the sheriff\u2019s office to see if he could find either Roy or Clem.\u00a0 The fastest way to the new jail from the stable was an alley that connected one street with the other.\u00a0 As he began to walk toward it, Joe looked out of town, searching the darkening night once again for his missing companion.\u00a0 He was beginning to worry.\u00a0 Even if Candy had decided not to take up his challenge and to lope into town, he should have been here by now.\u00a0 If he didn\u2019t see him by the time he got done with the sheriff, he\u2019d have to forgo that drink and bite to eat and head back out.\u00a0 Maybe his friend\u2019s horse had thrown a shoe, or….<\/p>\n Or maybe something worse had happened.<\/p>\n Joe hadn\u2019t gone three yards into the alley when he stopped.\u00a0 Without warning, his absent older brothers\u2019 words hit him like a fist.<\/p>\n Hoss first.\u00a0 \u2018Now, Joe, don\u2019t you go takin\u2019 any chances.\u00a0 A few more steps ain\u2019t gonna wear out them skinny little legs of your\u2019n.\u00a0 You stay out of that alley!\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n Then Adam.\u00a0 \u2018Joe, I\u2019ve never met anyone as prone to tempt fate as you.\u00a0 What is it about the equation of a dark tunnel, unscrupulous men, and danger you just can\u2019t seem to figure out?\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n Reckless.\u00a0 Imprudent.<\/p>\n Stupid.<\/p>\n Joe ran a hand along the back of his neck, shifting the silvery curls from the collar of his green coat as he glanced down the long narrow passage before him.\u00a0 It was black as pitch.\u00a0 The young man he\u2019d been would have plunged straight into it, daring something to happen and sure he could handle it.<\/p>\n But he wasn\u2019t that young man anymore.<\/p>\n Deciding that discretion was <\/em>the better part of valor, Joe turned and headed back toward the street he had just left behind.<\/p>\n He should have plunged ahead.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Chapter Two<\/p>\n There were times \u2013 many<\/em> times \u2013 when Bella questioned the wisdom of having married Joe Cartwright.\u00a0 Not that she didn\u2019t love him more than her own life, but the combination of his <\/em>impulsive nature and her own stubborn streak was a sure recipe for disaster when it came to the likelihood that their progeny would drive her to an early grave.<\/p>\n She was sure she had lost at least two years in the past five minutes.<\/p>\n With a sigh, the blonde woman turned to the small man standing beside her.\u00a0 Hop Sing nodded his graying head and gave her an understanding smile.<\/p>\n \u201cWise old Chinese man once say children give great comfort in old age.\u201d\u00a0 He paused and then added, \u201cHelp reach it faster too.\u201d<\/p>\n Bella blew a puff of exasperated air out.<\/p>\n Wise old Chinese man certainly knew what he was talking about!<\/p>\n \u201cYou try call again.\u00a0 Boy come to mother when he not come for any other.\u201d<\/p>\n She felt a smile tug at the end on her lips.\u00a0 \u201cOh?\u00a0 And why is that?\u201d<\/p>\n Hop Sing\u2019s black eyes sparkled.\u00a0 \u201cMore afraid of mother than of any other.\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019d come down from looking in on Ben to find Eric swaddled in his favorite blanket and sound asleep on the settee. \u00a0A plate of cookie crumbles and a half-finished cup of hot chocolate sat on the low table before the fire.\u00a0 She couldn\u2019t chide Hop Sing \u2013 he was such a help to her \u2013 but he did spoil the boy.\u00a0 Apparently Eric\u2019s resemblance to his father at that age was remarkable.<\/p>\n She just wished her son only looked <\/em>like her mischievous husband.<\/p>\n After tucking the blanket around Eric\u2019s shoulders \u2013 the room had a chill with the approach of winter \u2013 she\u2019d gone to the kitchen to check in on the meal plans for the next few days.\u00a0 It hadn\u2019t been more than fifteen minutes before she and Hop Sing returned to the great room.<\/p>\n Only to find it empty.<\/p>\n They searched the house from bottom to top.\u00a0 She\u2019d hoped against hope that her four-year-old son had chosen to be disobedient again and she would find him nuzzled up against his grandpa, but Ben was alone in his bed. \u00a0They were careful not to disturb the older man as they continued to search the second floor \u2013 and then the first floor again \u2013 and then the yard….<\/p>\n Panic was setting in.<\/p>\n Bella pursed her lips and scowled.\u00a0 \u201cWhen I find that boy, I will give him a reason <\/em>to be afraid of his mother.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHop Sing go search stable.\u00a0 Boy love horses like his pa.\u00a0 Maybe he there.\u201d<\/p>\n She nodded.\u00a0 \u201cIf you don\u2019t find him, please go back to the house and check on Ben.\u00a0 I hate to leave him alone too long.\u201d\u00a0 Her father-in-law had been much improved when she last visited, but he was still weak.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere Missy Bella go look next?\u201d<\/p>\n Her young son had certain places he was found of, the stables for one, but even more than the stables he loved to watch the horses that ran and played in the open field. \u00a0Due to several mis<\/em>-adventures Eric\u2019s little backside had been tanned enough times that he had finally learned to be obedient and remain outside <\/em>the fence.<\/p>\n Most of the time.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll head to the pasture.\u00a0 You know how he is about watching the horses.\u201d<\/p>\n Hop Sing nodded.\u00a0 \u201cJust like Little Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n Bella had to smile.\u00a0 The first time she\u2019d met her husband \u2013 when she had helped save him from a burning structure \u2013 he\u2019d been seventeen and known as \u2018Little\u2019 Joe.\u00a0 Now, at thirty-five, no one called him that.<\/p>\n No one but Hop Sing.<\/p>\n With a nod, the Chinese man headed toward the stable.\u00a0 Bella drew in a breath to calm her rising anger and then set off at a brisk pace for the wide open spaces that surrounded the ranch house.\u00a0 She had Eric\u2019s heavy coat, hat, and mittens in hand.\u00a0 It was after dark and the temperature was dropping.\u00a0 She couldn\u2019t imagine what had possessed the boy to go outdoors.\u00a0 While Eric wasn\u2019t afraid of the dark, he wasn\u2019t one to go very far afield.\u00a0 Like his father, their son liked people around him and grew frightened after only a short time alone.\u00a0 The good thing was that, as a child reared on a ranch, Eric was older in some ways than a city boy of his age would be.\u00a0 He could already ride and his father had taught him basic survival skills.\u00a0 Still, he wasn\u2019t quite five years old.<\/p>\n He was just a baby.<\/p>\n As she walked Bella placed her hand on her belly, which had grown large of late.\u00a0 She\u2019d lost the last baby early on in the pregnancy a year or so back.\u00a0 Doctor Martin had assured her that is was common, especially as young as she was.\u00a0 It had been a difficult time for both of them, but especially for Joe.\u00a0 Over the last eight months as this baby grew he had barely left her side, as if his presence alone <\/em>was proof against disaster.<\/p>\n And now, here he was away from the house and Eric was missing.<\/p>\n Bella paused and turned back toward the house.\u00a0 She knew if Hop Sing located her son in the stable, he would call out.\u00a0 She waited a moment and, when she heard nothing, began to move forward again, calling her son\u2019s name.\u00a0 She was sure when she found him, Eric would have some reasonable explanation for his evening excursion.\u00a0 The boy was prone to flights of fancy, often making up the most outrageous stories to explain why he\u2019d done what <\/em>he\u2019d done.<\/p>\n Hop Sing said his father had been the same.<\/p>\n Halting as she came to the first length of fence, Bella called again and was startled to receive an answer.\u00a0 Her son spoke a few words and then fell silent.\u00a0 Eric\u2019s voice was odd.\u00a0 It sounded as if he was behind or under something.\u00a0 Or maybe….<\/p>\n As if there was a hand over his mouth and someone had stifled his reply.<\/p>\n Terror stabbed her like a knife.\u00a0 Ben had told her of the times one or the other of his sons \u2013 most often Joe as the youngest \u2013 had been the target of kidnappers.\u00a0 But how could someone have gotten past the hands who patrolled the perimeter of the ranch?\u00a0 Did they lure her son out of the house, or was he already outside and had simply blundered into danger?\u00a0 Neither she nor Hop Sing had heard anything before noticing he was missing.<\/p>\n \u201cEric?\u201d Bella called.\u00a0 \u201cEric, it\u2019s mama!\u00a0 Where are you?\u201d<\/p>\n This time her son\u2019s voice rang clear.<\/p>\n \u201cMama?\u00a0 Mama!\u00a0 Help!\u201d<\/p>\n Bella sucked in air.\u00a0 She forced herself to remain calm; to sound confident.\u00a0 \u201cTell mama where you are, sweetheart, and she\u2019ll come and take you home.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMama?\u00a0 I \u2013ah!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEric?\u201d\u00a0 She\u2019d been walking.\u00a0 Now she ran.\u00a0 \u201cEric!\u00a0 Answer me!\u201d<\/p>\n Her son\u2019s cry had come from the direction of the shack at the edge of the yard that had once been used to house supplies.\u00a0 It was a ramshackle old thing now.\u00a0 She\u2019d warned Joe that it should be taken down, but her husband had stubbornly said it still had its uses \u2013 one of them being the root cellar under it.<\/p>\n If Eric had gone in and the floor had given way….<\/p>\n Bella quickened her pace, running for all she was worth.\u00a0 She was out of breath by the time the shack came into view.\u00a0 She paused to catch her breath and then continued to run.<\/p>\n Or she would have, if a man had not stepped out of the shadows and grabbed her.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Candy Canaday walked out of the livery shaking his head.\u00a0 Right after Joe spurred Cochise on and took off like a cat with his tail on fire, his horse had come up lame.\u00a0 Fortunately, she\u2019d just picked up something in her shoe, but it left the mare sore enough he was afraid to push her to any kind of speed.\u00a0 So they\u2019d ambled along like a schoolmarm on a Sunday afternoon jaunt until they arrived in Virginia City.\u00a0 He\u2019d come straight to the livery to stable her, knowing he could rent another mount for the journey back to the Ponderosa, and had found Cochise.\u00a0 The owner of the livery told him Joe had dropped Cooch off late afternoon, saying he\u2019d be back shortly.<\/p>\n And hadn\u2019t seen him since.<\/p>\n Puzzled and more than slightly concerned, he\u2019d stood stock-still for a moment, unsure of what to do.\u00a0 He doubted the sheriff would be in his office this late, so he doubted Joe was at the jail.\u00a0 The only thing he could think of was that his friend had gone to the saloon and gotten suckered into a poker game.\u00a0 Still, Joe rarely did that now, and with his pa sick and only Hop Sing left to hold the fort and guard Bella and Eric, it seemed unlikely. Of course, it could be that Roy or Clem had told him whoever this man was that was askin\u2019 about him and Joe\u2019d gone to find him and run into some kind of trouble.\u00a0 Candy kicked at a clod of dirt and started moving across the windy semi-deserted street.<\/p>\n Best try the sheriff\u2019s office anyhow and then<\/em> panic.<\/p>\n The brown-haired man blew out a sigh of relief as the office of the law came into view.\u00a0 There was a lamp burning inside, which meant someone was still there.\u00a0 Stepping onto the boardwalk that fronted it, Candy raised a hand and brought it down hard several times on the door.\u00a0 He heard the legs of a chair scrape the floor and then footsteps.\u00a0 Finally, the door opened.<\/p>\n \u201cAin\u2019t you out kind of late, son?\u201d Roy Coffee asked with a mock scowl and a wink.<\/p>\n \u201cAin\u2019t you up<\/em> kind of late, old man?\u201d he replied with a grin.<\/p>\n \u201cClem figures I sleep enough durin\u2019 the day, I\u2019d just naturally be up all night anyhow,\u201d the older man replied with a chuckle as he stepped aside.\u00a0 \u201cCome on in, Candy.\u00a0 I got some coffee hot on the stove.\u201d\u00a0 As he moved into the room, Roy added, \u201cI heard Ben\u2019s feelin\u2019 better.\u00a0 He send you on an errand?\u201d<\/p>\n Candy drew a breath against the fear Roy\u2019s words caused to tingle along his spine.\u00a0 \u201cRoy, are you tellin\u2019 me you haven\u2019t seen Joe today?\u201d<\/p>\n The older man had the coffee pot and a graniteware cup in his hands.\u00a0 He turned eyes narrowed with concern on him.\u00a0 \u201cJoe Cartwright?\u201d\u00a0 Roy shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cAin\u2019t seen hide nor curl.\u00a0 Should I of?\u201d<\/p>\n The brown-haired man nodded.\u00a0 \u201cI told him what you said.\u00a0 We were heading to town together when Joe decided he was thirteen instead of thirty-five and took off on that damn racehorse of his, leavin\u2019 me in the dust.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t catch up \u2018cause my horse came up lame.\u00a0 Took me hours to get here.\u201d\u00a0 Candy glanced out the window.\u00a0 \u201cCochise is at the livery.\u00a0 I was hopin\u2019 I\u2019d find Joe here.\u201d<\/p>\n Roy held out the cup.\u00a0 As he took it, the lawman asked, \u201cHow long\u2019s it been?\u201d<\/p>\n He glanced at the clock on the wall and counted up the hours.\u00a0 He and Joe had parted ways, he thought, around four o\u2019clock.\u00a0 It was nine now.<\/p>\n \u201cFive hours, give or take an hour either way.\u201d<\/p>\n Silence hung between them.\u00a0 Anything could happen in four or five hours.<\/p>\n And this was <\/em>Joe Cartwright they were talking about.<\/p>\n Roy was heading for the hook on the wall that held his gun belt.\u00a0 As he fastened it on, he said, \u201cYou and me better head on over to Clem\u2019s, and then make our way to Chinatown.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cChinatown?\u201d Candy asked, surprised.\u00a0 \u201cWhat for?\u201d<\/p>\n The retired lawman hesitated.\u00a0 \u201cWell, I guess it don\u2019t hurt no way now to tell you.\u00a0 That man that was askin\u2019 questions about Joe \u2013 he was a China man.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bella stifled a scream as the man drew her into the trees.\u00a0 If Eric was nearby \u2013 and conscious \u2013 she didn\u2019t want to frighten him any further.\u00a0 She twisted and looked up at the man who held her, but saw only a shadowy figure.\u00a0 Whoever he was, he was about Joe\u2019s height.<\/p>\n And strong.<\/p>\n \u201cLet me go!\u201d she demanded, her words a sharp whisper driven out between clenched teeth.<\/p>\n \u201cThink twice, act once,\u201d the man responded, holding on.\u00a0 \u201cAny hasty action may involve an improper consideration of important aspects.\u201d<\/p>\n Bella blinked.\u00a0 \u201c<\/em>What?\u00a0 Who are you?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The man shifted his grip so he was able to look over her head toward the shack.\u00a0 When he spoke again, his words were soft as the whisper of a leaf on stone.\u00a0 \u201cLong years ago I told the son of the tiger to look before leaping.\u00a0 I tell you the same now.\u00a0 It is not I<\/em> who am your enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n Not buying it for one minute, Bella demanded, \u201cWhere is my son?\u00a0 What have you done to him?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI have done nothing.\u00a0 It is with regret that I see this trouble come to your house.\u201d\u00a0 The man hesitated.\u00a0 \u201cAnd even greater regret that I was not in time for the boy.\u201d<\/p>\n Bella stiffened.\u00a0 Not in time?<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0 Tears began to flow.\u00a0 \u201cIs he…is Eric all right?\u201d<\/p>\n The shadow that held her grunted.\u00a0 \u201cFor now,\u201d he replied.\u00a0 \u201cAs I drew near, I saw the boy.\u00a0 He was wandering through the field as if lost.\u00a0 I could hear his cries. Unfortunately, the ones who took him heard him as well and reached him first.\u00a0 I was close by when he told them who his father was.\u201d\u00a0 The shadow shook its head.\u00a0 \u201cThis was not wise.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAre they kidnappers?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n The man turned and looked down.\u00a0 As he did a beam of moonlight struck his eyes.\u00a0 They were black as the night and glinted hard as diamonds, but she sensed no malice in his gaze.\u00a0 \u201cIt is what they have become,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n Bella began again to pull against the man\u2019s strength.\u00a0 \u201cPlease!\u00a0 Let me go to them.\u00a0 I can talk to them.\u00a0 He\u2019s…Eric is just a baby!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo!\u201d\u00a0 His tone was firm.\u00a0 \u201cYou must leave this to me.\u00a0 These men would crush the child underfoot if it served their purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n Bella stopped struggling.\u00a0 She swallowed over her horror.\u00a0 \u201cThey\u2019d…murder <\/em>a four-year-old?\u201d<\/p>\n The man released her.\u00a0 He took several steps back and remained hidden.\u00a0 \u201cThe boy is a means to an end for them, nothing more.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWho are they?\u201d she demanded.\u00a0 \u201cWho are you?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The stranger hesitated and then moved forward into the moonlight.\u00a0 He was a handsome man.\u00a0 He appeared to be in his late forties, maybe fifty.\u00a0 His dark hair fell two inches beneath his ears and was brushed back on the sides as was the current style in the East with men of leisure and the arts.\u00a0 He was dressed in a black suit of a European cut and wore a dark shirt, so he nearly vanished into the night \u2013 would <\/em>have, if it had not been for those piercing black eyes. \u00a0They were narrowed, not with intent but by God.<\/p>\n He was Chinese.<\/p>\n \u201cWho are they?\u201d he echoed.\u00a0 \u201cThey are men whose purpose is to bring about the end of Joseph Cartwright.\u00a0 As to who I am,\u201d he paused, \u201cI am a shadow of the past come to bring hope for the future.<\/p>\n \u201cMy name is Jian.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Gibberish.\u00a0 He was hearin\u2019…gibberish.<\/p>\n No, maybe it wasn\u2019t.\u00a0 Maybe it was Hop Sing.<\/p>\n A lazy grin lifted the corner of Joe\u2019s lips.\u00a0 If it was Hop Sing, he was hoppin\u2019 mad!<\/p>\n The grin lasted only a second \u2013 just long enough to let Joe know there was something wrong with his lips.\u00a0 His tongue moved to wet them and he discovered what it was \u2013 well, the two<\/em> things it was.\u00a0 First of all he was gagged.<\/p>\n Second, his tongue tasted blood.<\/p>\n Joe lay where he was for a moment, takin\u2019 his oldest brother\u2019s oft-spoken and even more oft-ignored advice to think before actin\u2019 to heart.\u00a0 A groan had welled up behind the gag, but he held it in.\u00a0 If someone had gagged him then that probably meant someone had a use for him.\u00a0 Otherwise they would have killed him outright.\u00a0 That gave him an advantage.\u00a0 It gave him time to figure out who they were and what they wanted.\u00a0 Best for him if they thought he was still unconscious.\u00a0 That way they wouldn\u2019t guard what they said and maybe he could figure out what the hell<\/em> was going on.\u00a0 Of course, it would have helped if they were speaking English, which they weren\u2019t.<\/p>\n They were talkin\u2019 in Chinese.<\/p>\n He\u2019d heard it his whole life, of course.\u00a0 One day, later than it should have, it had dawned on him how arrogant him and his father and brothers had been to make Hop Sing learn their language without learning his.<\/em>\u00a0 Oh, he knew a few words and could give as good as he got in a shouting, match, but he didn\u2019t really know<\/em> the language.\u00a0 That had been about the time Alice died.\u00a0 He\u2019d set out then to learn more, at least enough to let Hop Sing know he was tryin\u2019.\u00a0 Trouble was, old dogs had hard heads.\u00a0 Nothin\u2019 much had stuck.<\/p>\n Still, what he did understand was enough to let Joe know that the two men standing a few feet away from him weren\u2019t exactly exchangin\u2019 recipes.<\/p>\n Keeping his eyes closed he concentrated and listened, though concentrating only made him aware of how much his head hurt. \u00a0It had taken him a moment to realize that the blood he\u2019d tasted on his lips had come from a trail running off his forehead and down his cheek.\u00a0 He still couldn\u2019t remember what had happened.\u00a0 He\u2019d turned around to leave the alley \u2013 after bein\u2019 a good boy and choosin\u2019 the safer<\/em> route to the sheriff\u2019s office \u2013 and then, everything went black.<\/p>\n As black as his prospects looked at the moment.<\/p>\n The Chinese men were arguin\u2019 about what they were going to do with him.\u00a0 He heard one of them mention something about \u2018orders\u2019, to which the other replied \u2018dangerous.\u2019\u00a0 That was one word he knew well.\u00a0 Hop Sing had shouted it at him often enough as he grew up.\u00a0 The word \u2018now\u2019 followed, and again, \u2018dangerous\u2019.\u00a0 As the men spoke, their voices grew louder and their words more heated.\u00a0 Joe fought back a smile.\u00a0 Maybe they\u2019d fall out and kill each other and then all he would have to do was wait for someone to come find him \u2013 wherever he was.\u00a0 He could hear sounds beyond the walls of whatever place they had him in.\u00a0 The meager light of the lantern hooked on a pole above his head didn\u2019t reveal much \u2013 just the boards under his feet and rafters\u00a0 above his head \u2013 but it looked like a warehouse of some sort.\u00a0 The sounds were people \u2013 and a good many of them.\u00a0 He had to concentrate again, which made him want to scream, but he could make out a little bit of what the muffled voices were saying and it was in Chinese too.\u00a0 Whoever these men were they must have brought him to Virginia City\u2019s Chinatown.<\/p>\n Maybe they were Hop Sing\u2019s cousins and they\u2019d decided to make him pay for all the practical jokes he\u2019d pulled on their cook over the years.<\/p>\n Joe stifled a snort.\u00a0 If only.<\/em><\/p>\n There were two of them.\u00a0 One was obviously older.\u00a0 His voice was quiet as a rattlesnake before the strike.\u00a0 The younger one was hot-headed and loud. \u00a0He reminded him of himself when he was young.\u00a0 There was a certainty in his voice that said he knew <\/em>he was right even if he was wrong as hell.\u00a0 He was yellin\u2019 something about payment.\u00a0 What he couldn\u2019t tell was if the man was talking about bein\u2019<\/em> paid or payin\u2019 for <\/em>something.\u00a0 He kind of thought it was the latter.\u00a0 A minute later, Joe knew for certain which one it was when he heard something else.\u00a0 The older man said it.\u00a0 Not a word, but a name.<\/p>\n Khu Zhuang.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Khu Zhuang.<\/p>\n Bella frowned.\u00a0 She\u2019d heard the name before.\u00a0 Joe had mentioned it in connection with a terrible time in his youth.\u00a0 Nearly twenty years before two Chinese tong leaders had come to the Ponderosa, one bent on finding a man he blamed for the loss of his family\u2019s honor, and the other just as bent on killing that man and retrieving the object he had stolen.\u00a0 Joe had nearly died.\u00a0 It had been close for the rest of the family as well as the tong leaders battled it out.\u00a0 In the end the one killed the other and then returned to the Sacramento area to assume leadership of the darker side of its Chinese population.\u00a0 From what she understood, the Cartwrights had had no hand in Khu Zhuang\u2019s death.<\/p>\n According to Jian, the current leader of the tong believed otherwise.<\/p>\n \u201cSo these men have come here to take revenge on Joe?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n Jian nodded even as he continued a close watch on the shack.\u00a0 \u201cThis one learned of their intent \u00a0and left as soon as possible.\u00a0 Unfortunately, it was not soon enough.\u201d<\/p>\n His regret was genuine, she could tell.\u00a0 And while the Chinese man had not brought this danger upon them, she couldn\u2019t help but wonder if his coming to Virginia City hadn\u2019t somehow hastened its arrival.<\/p>\n Abruptly, Jian\u2019s hand gripped her shoulder.\u00a0 She looked up at him and then at where he looked. One of the pair of men who had taken Eric was riding off.<\/p>\n \u201cI will go now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cGo where?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTo free Joseph Cartwright\u2019s son.\u201d<\/p>\n Her gaze returned to the shack. \u201cIs it safe?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDistrust is the mother of safety,\u201d Jian replied cryptically.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m coming with you,\u201d she stated flatly.<\/p>\n He had begun to edge toward the shack.\u00a0 The Chinese man stopped and turned back.\u00a0 \u201cYou will not come.\u201d<\/p>\n Bella planted her hands on her hips and glared at him.\u00a0 \u201cAnd you<\/em> will not stop me!\u00a0 I\u2019m his mother and that\u2019s my<\/em> son who is in that madman\u2019s hands!\u201d<\/p>\n Jian\u2019s lips twitched with barely concealed amusement. \u201cIt does not surprise this one that tiger cub found tiger wife.\u201d\u00a0 He glanced at the building and then turned back to her again.\u00a0 \u201cYou will not come with me….\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou are not going to \u2013 \u201d<\/p>\n He held out a hand.\u00a0 \u201cBut you will help save your son.\u201d<\/p>\n Her eyes on the shack, Bella demanded, \u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n Jian\u2019s smile, when it broke was not pleasant.<\/p>\n \u201cSmall fierce woman will be bait.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Candy kicked at a clod of dirt driving it so hard that, when it struck the side of the wooden boardwalk, it shattered against the dry, aging boards.\u00a0 He\u2019d dutifully followed Roy to the section of Virginia City east of the downtown that was occupied by upwards of fifteen hundred Chinese.\u00a0 It covered several blocks and was made up of a collection of a few fine, but mostly ramshackle buildings that contained lodgings and businesses such as laundries, noodle parlors, herb shops, and small mercantiles.\u00a0 Once it had been a bustling part of the ever-expanding city, but as the silver coming up out of the mines had ebbed, so had it\u2019s prosperity.\u00a0 There was a lot of crime here.\u00a0 But then, there was a lot of crime everywhere now.<\/p>\n It seemed his friend had fallen afoul of it.<\/p>\n There was something that passed for the law here, a kind of constabulary made up of a half-dozen honest men trying to keep their homes and their families safe.\u00a0 They were led by a man named Junjie which, amusingly, meant \u2018handsome hero\u2019.\u00a0 Chan Junjie was about his age and height and looked like he\u2019d spent most of his youth wrasslin\u2019 with some angry bears.\u00a0 He was covered with scars from one end to the other, though the ones you couldn\u2019t avoid staring at were the two that crisscrossed his right cheek in an \u2018x\u2019, and the one above his left eye that had puckered and left him with a perpetual\u00a0 frown.\u00a0 His eyes were keen and piercing and, amazingly, hazel-green like Joe\u2019s.\u00a0 Junjie knew Hop Sing and had been out to the Ponderosa a few times, once for a supper to which he\u2019d been invited.\u00a0 Ben had asked the lawman to tell his story and he had, in part.\u00a0 Seems Junjie\u2019s grandfather had been an Englishman who had defied his family to marry a Chinese woman while in Shanghai on business.\u00a0 In time they had come to America, hoping for a better chance for their children.<\/p>\n Hoping, not finding it.<\/p>\n Candy glanced at the window of what passed for a law office.\u00a0 He could see Roy Coffee inside. \u00a0The older man was gesturing with his hands.\u00a0 He was pretty animated for an old guy.\u00a0 Junjie had looked about as pleased as a foal eyein\u2019 a rattler when they\u2019d stepped into his office ten minutes back.\u00a0 He\u2019d listened to the two lawmen talk and then, growing impatient, stepped outside. \u00a0The buildings in this area were built side by side for the most part.\u00a0 As a cowpoke used to wide open spaces, it amazed him that people could live in such close quarters \u2013 and even more that they would want to.\u00a0 Everybody knew everybody\u2019s business.<\/p>\n At least, he hoped they did.<\/p>\n Stepping into the street, Candy headed for what passed as the local saloon.\u00a0 Its lights were still bright even though it had to be going on midnight.\u00a0 He and Joe had been there a few times, admiring the scenery.\u00a0 Joe\u2019s heart was all for Bella, but his friend still appreciated feminine beauty.\u00a0 They\u2019d come here to pick up supplies for Hop Sing more than once.\u00a0 The Cartwrights\u2019 cook wasn\u2019t old yet, but just like Virginia City, he was slowing down.\u00a0 A four hour ride in a wagon, a day spent haggling and bartering, and four hours back was just about more than the old fellow could take.\u00a0 Of course Hop Sing wouldn\u2019t admit it.\u00a0 Joe\u2019d had to come up with some pretty inventive excuses for them to take over \u2013 some plausible and others just plain laughable.\u00a0 Still, in the end, his friend had come out on top and if he had to admit it, he really didn\u2019t mind the time they spent here.<\/p>\n Those Chinese gals sure were lookers!<\/p>\n As he ambled across the street, the brown-haired man looked right and left, payin\u2019 attention just in case anything appeared out of place.\u00a0 Seeing nothing on his way, he stepped up onto the porch of the Canton Cantina<\/em> \u2013 the name came from the original partnership of a Chinese man and one from Mexico \u2013 and pushed open the batwing doors.\u00a0 It was kind of quiet inside.\u00a0 A couple of Chinese men were playing a game in the corner.\u00a0 An older woman wearing a sheath of blue silk was singing.\u00a0 A white man in a citified suit was consuming the last of a meal, just reaching for a whiskey to wash it down.<\/p>\n Candy glanced around the perimeter of the room and then headed for the bar.\u00a0 \u201cStill open?\u201d he asked the man behind it.<\/p>\n He was Chinese and fairly young.\u00a0 Name of Gwong Bo.\u00a0 He went by Bo, which seemed just about perfect for a barkeep.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat Bo can do for Mister Candy of the Ponderosa?\u201d the bar-keep asked as he finished polishing a glass and placed it on the counter.<\/p>\n \u201cWhiskey.\u00a0 A small one.\u00a0 I need to be able to sit my horse and get home.\u201d<\/p>\n As he complied, Bo asked, \u201cWhat Mister Candy do in town so late?\u201d<\/p>\n He took a sip, smacked his lips in satisfaction, and then said \u2013 watching the other man for a reaction.\u00a0 \u201cCame into town with my friend Joe.\u00a0 Still here lookin\u2019 for him.\u00a0 He\u2019s missing.\u201d<\/p>\n Bo blinked.\u00a0 \u201cMissing?\u00a0 Mister Joe?\u201d<\/p>\n Candy nodded as he shifted and leaned his back against the counter so he could watch the other patrons in the saloon.\u00a0 \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t happen to know anything about it, would you?\u201d he asked, careful to keep his voice low.\u00a0 \u201cHe went missing this afternoon.\u201d<\/p>\n Bo was quick to answer.\u00a0 \u201cNo, sir!\u00a0 Bo know nothing.\u00a0 Keep bar all day and night.\u201d<\/p>\n The brown-haired man nodded.\u00a0 \u201cSyun in?\u201d\u00a0 She was one of the girls who liked to flirt with Joe.<\/p>\n \u201cSyun know nothing, just like Bo,\u201d the barkeep answered.<\/p>\n A little too <\/em>fast.<\/p>\n Candy took another sip and then looked him straight in the eye. \u00a0\u201cNow Bo, you don\u2019t sound too <\/em>sure about that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou not talk to Syun,\u201d Bo replied, his tone sharp. \u201cNot bring her trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe admired Syun\u2019s beauty.\u00a0 Bo was sweet on her.<\/p>\n Turning toward the other man he spoke, his voice tight and low.\u00a0 \u201cNow, if you just tell me what I need to know, then I won\u2019t have to bring her trouble…will I?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBo know nothing!\u201d<\/p>\n Which, of course, meant Bo knew plenty.<\/em><\/p>\n Candy thought a moment.\u00a0 \u201cHow about this, Bo?\u00a0 I\u2019m gonna walk out that door.\u00a0 How about you tell me which direction to go \u2013 and then I won\u2019t have <\/em>to ask Syun.\u201d<\/p>\n The man looked truly frightened.\u00a0 It made him wonder just what<\/em> Joe had stumbled into.<\/p>\n Bo\u2019s eyes darted about the saloon.\u00a0 He drew a deep breath and then said, his voice pitched so low he could hardly hear it.\u00a0 \u201cMister Candy need find Cho Ban.\u00a0 He at warehouse near end of street.\u00a0 He have what you need.\u201d<\/p>\n What he needed.\u00a0 Was that information…or Joe?<\/p>\n Candy finished his whiskey and then tipped his hat.\u00a0 \u201cNice talkin\u2019 to you, Bo,\u201d he said and then added deliberately, \u201cI\u2019ll be sure to come back and talk to you again if Cho doesn\u2019t <\/em>have what I need.\u201d<\/p>\n Bo\u2019s skin was normally pale.\u00a0 It was fish belly white now.<\/p>\n \u201cMister Candy desire to extract a tooth from a tiger\u2019s mouth.\u00a0 Best if he go back to Ponderosa.\u201d<\/p>\n Bo didn\u2019t seem to understand.\u00a0 He\u2019d walk into the den and take that tiger by the tail if it meant saving his friend.<\/p>\n With a tip of his hat, Candy replied,\u00a0 \u201cHe who sups with the Devil needs a long spoon.\u201d\u00a0 Then he sighed.<\/p>\n He\u2019d been around Hop Sing far<\/em> too long.<\/p>\n It seemed to the Ponderosa\u2019s foreman that every eye in the place followed him as he moved to the bat wing doors and stepped outside.\u00a0 The brown-haired man glanced back through the doors, checking to see if anyone was following him, and then moved into the street as the silk-wrapped woman inside the Canton Cantina<\/em> began to sing once more.\u00a0 He wondered where Syun was and what she knew and why.\u00a0 If Joe had been taken \u2013 and it seemed he had \u2013 he wondered what the \u2018why\u2019 was in that too.\u00a0 Roy hadn\u2019t said much about the man who was asking about his friend, but he had<\/em> said he was Chinese.<\/p>\n He had a real bad feeling about all of this.<\/p>\n Candy halted and stood for a moment, considering whether or not he should go find Roy and Junjie and tell them what he\u2019d learned.\u00a0 It was one of those choices a man made a thousand times a day.<\/p>\n And it was one of them that was wrong.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n THREE<\/p>\n Bella drew in a sharp breath and let it out slowly to steady her nerves.\u00a0 Then she stepped out of the leaves and into full view.\u00a0 The moon was up and its cool light shone on the grassy field, painting it silver-blue.<\/p>\n It would have been a beautiful sight if not for the fact that her son\u2019s life was in danger.<\/p>\n Cupping her hands around her lips, she called, \u2018Eric?\u00a0 Sweetheart?\u00a0 It\u2019s Mama.\u00a0 Eric, if you\u00a0 can hear me, answer Mama!\u201d<\/p>\n She moved a few steps closer to the shack.\u00a0 It sat there, silent, unmoving, like a predator poised to strike.<\/p>\n \u201cEric! \u00a0Baby, let mama know where you \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou will advance no further!\u201d a voice commanded even as the door to the shack creaked open.\u00a0 A moment later a black-clad sleeve appeared and then a small head of tousled dark blond curls.\u00a0 Eric\u2019s captor \u2013 a man from China like Jian \u2013 shouldered the door the rest of the way open and then turned to face her.\u00a0 Her son was locked under his arm. A gloved hand covered the little boy\u2019s mouth.\u00a0 Eric was disheveled; his little face muddied with dirt and tears.\u00a0 His eyes, so like his father\u2019s, were wide with fear.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you dare<\/em> harm my son, I\u2019ll kill you,\u201d she promised between clenched teeth.<\/p>\n \u201cStriking the grass alerts the snake,\u201d the man sneered as he drew a small silver gun from inside his jacket and pointed it at her.\u00a0 \u201cIf you will not see your son die, you will do as I<\/em> say.\u201d<\/p>\n Bella fought the urge to search the surrounding shadows for Jian.\u00a0 She knew he had taken up a position somewhere behind the shack.\u00a0 She wanted so<\/em> to look, but that really would<\/em> have been striking the grass.<\/p>\n Remembering the role she\u2019d agreed to play, she let her shoulders sink and dissolved into tears.\u00a0 \u201cWhat…what do you want me to do?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou will go to your home and bring the one who owns you to me,\u201d the man said.<\/p>\n Bella hesitated, unsure of whether admitting Joe wasn\u2019t home would be wise or foolish.\u00a0 Finally, she shook her head.\u00a0 \u201cI won\u2019t leave my child.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou will, or you will watch him die.\u201d\u00a0 The man shifted the gun until the end of the barrel pushed into Eric\u2019s curls.\u00a0 Her son squirmed, trying to get away from the cold metal and held his little hands out toward her, pleading.<\/p>\n It broke her heart.<\/p>\n \u201cEric, keep still!\u201d she ordered and watched as her terrified son obeyed. \u00a0\u201cPlease, let him go,\u201d she breathed a second later.\u00a0 \u201cTake me as a hostage, but let Eric go.\u00a0 He\u2019s just a baby.\u201d<\/p>\n The kidnapper shook his head. \u00a0\u201cA mother fights with fangs of wolf and claws of dragon to keep child safe,\u201d he said as he took a step forward.\u00a0 \u201cYou will do what I say because you know I say what I mean.\u201d<\/p>\n Bella\u2019s heart was pounding.\u00a0 She\u2019d seen a shadow fall across the ground to the right of the shack and then disappear into the puddle of blackness surrounding it.\u00a0 Her jaw clenched with terror.\u00a0 The man\u2019s gun still rested against Eric\u2019s head.<\/p>\n If Jian tried to make a move….<\/p>\n \u201cAll right,\u201d she said, commanding the man\u2019s attention.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll go to the house and get Joe.\u201d\u00a0 Bella inched forward, closing the gap between her and her precious child just a bit.\u00a0 \u201cWhat do you want me to tell him?\u201d<\/p>\n The Chinese man\u2019s head cocked to the right.\u00a0 A cruel sneer curled his upper lip.\u00a0 \u201cTell him Khu Qian awaits.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cKhu Qian?\u201d she repeated.\u00a0 \u201cIs that you?\u201d<\/p>\n The man didn\u2019t laugh as much as bark.\u00a0 \u201cWhen the dragon comes, his fire will consume all.\u00a0 I am but one of his claws, poised to strike.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJin Chen!\u201d<\/p>\n Bella jumped as the shadows beside the man who held her son came to life.\u00a0 Everything happened so fast, she had no time to react.\u00a0 Jian struck.\u00a0 Jin Chen snarled.<\/p>\n The gun went off.<\/p>\n Fear struck Bella blind and<\/em> dumb for several long interminable heartbeats.\u00a0 Then she felt a hand on her shoulder.\u00a0 When she found the courage to look, she discovered that Jian was standing in front of her with Eric in his arms.<\/p>\n Her son wasn\u2019t crying.\u00a0 He was strangely quiet.\u00a0 His green eyes were closed and his little face, deathly pale.<\/p>\n Except for the vivid trail of red running from his temple to his cheek.<\/p>\n \u201cI was not fast enough,\u201d Jian said simply.<\/p>\n Bella\u2019s heart stopped.\u00a0 For a second.\u00a0 Then, as Eric blinked and opened his eyes, the Chinese man added, \u201cHe is alive.\u201d<\/p>\n Her hands reached for her baby.\u00a0 \u201cEric,\u201d she whispered.<\/p>\n That was all it took.\u00a0 Eric began to shriek.<\/p>\n Jian released him and watched as she gathered the boy into her arms.\u00a0 The Chinese man indicated the trees nearby. \u201cGo!\u00a0 His cries may cause the other to return.\u201d<\/p>\n Bella\u2019s fingers combed through her son\u2019s matted curls.\u00a0 She cooed and kissed him and told him he was safe.\u00a0 As the boy\u2019s gasping sobs slowly gave way to normal tears, she asked Jian, \u201cWhat are you going to do?\u201d<\/p>\n He glanced at the man on the ground who was regaining consciousness.\u00a0 \u201cJin Chen lives.\u00a0 I will…speak to him.\u00a0 Take the boy home.\u00a0 Go inside.\u00a0 Lock the door.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWill you come?\u201d<\/p>\n He nodded.\u00a0 \u201cI will knock three times and then two more.\u00a0 You will ask me for the tiger cub\u2019s name.\u201d<\/p>\n Looking at her son, she smiled, \u201cEric.\u201d<\/p>\n Jian\u2019s own smile was tight.<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u00a0 Little Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cMister Cartwright go back to bed!\u00a0 You no supposed to be up!\u00a0 You end up dead!\u201d<\/p>\n Ben Cartwright swayed as he gripped the back of the well-used blue chair near the bottom of the staircase.\u00a0 He knew he wasn\u2019t supposed to be out of bed yet, but he\u2019d found that he suddenly felt better and would be damned <\/em>if he was going to lay flat on his back feeling useless one more minute!\u00a0 After he\u2019d awakened he\u2019d laid in bed for a while awaiting Bella\u2019s return, thinking he would have her help him up, but her absence had grown from minutes to over an hour and that intuition that he\u2019d always had where his youngest son was concerned had begun to clang like a ship\u2019s bell tolling out the advent of an approaching storm.<\/p>\n Something was wrong.<\/p>\n His eyes were weak but they were good enough to see that, except for him and Hop Sing, the house was empty.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere is Bella?\u201d he demanded.<\/p>\n Hop Sing went blank for a moment, then he said, \u201cShe put little boy to sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben fought to keep his temper.\u00a0 He hadn\u2019t expected to catch his long-time friend in a lie so soon.\u00a0 \u201cI checked both Bella and Eric\u2019s rooms.\u00a0 They\u2019re not there.\u00a0 Now, where are they?\u00a0 And where\u2019s Joseph?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMister Joe go to town with Mister Candy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe truth, Hop Sing!\u201d<\/p>\n The little man deflated.\u00a0 \u201cSheriff send for Little Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben managed to limp from the chair to the settee.\u00a0 Taking hold of the back of it, he steadied himself. \u00a0\u201cWhat for?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHop Sing not know.\u00a0 Sheriff not tell Mister Candy why.\u00a0 Only that it important.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben held his old friend\u2019s gaze. \u00a0The fact that Hop Sing didn\u2019t look away told him the man from China was speaking the truth.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat about Bella and Eric?\u201d\u00a0 When no answer was forthcoming, he raised the volume on his voice to the level his boys used to call \u2018hurricane gale force\u2019.\u00a0 \u201cWell?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cLittle boy go missing,\u201d Hop Sing admitted, deflating.\u00a0 \u201cMissy Bella go search for him.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben\u2019s gaze went to the window.\u00a0 It was pitch black outside.\u00a0 \u2018When?\u201d<\/p>\n Hop Sing sucked in air and then the dam broke.\u00a0 \u201cIt been hours!\u00a0 Too many<\/em> hours!\u00a0 Hop Sing want to go with missy, but she send him away, back to house.\u00a0 Not good Missy Bella out there alone!\u201d<\/p>\n Ben slumped.\u00a0 \u201cBecause of me.\u00a0 She sent you back because of me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMistah Ben not….\u201d<\/p>\n He held up his hand.\u00a0 \u2018Mistah\u2019 Ben was an old man who needed a nursemaid; an old sick<\/em> man who languished in bed while those he loved were in danger.<\/p>\n Well, no more.<\/p>\n \u201cGet my gun,\u201d he said as he stumbled toward the door.<\/p>\n \u201cYou not go out!\u00a0 Doctor say you not well!\u201d<\/p>\n Ben\u2019s jaw grew tight.\u00a0 \u201cI will not sit idly by like some invalid when Bella and my grandchild \u2013 my two <\/em>grandchildren \u2013 are in danger!\u00a0 You will get my gun and coat and \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n He stopped.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is it?\u201d Hop Sing asked.\u00a0 \u201cWhat you \u2013?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShh!\u201d\u00a0 He\u2019d heard a sound outside.\u00a0 A thud like something had fallen and now, crying.<\/p>\n Taking hold of the latch, Ben threw open the door and stepped out \u2013 and almost stumbled over Bella where she lay on the stoop holding Eric and sobbing.\u00a0 Tossing a look at Hop Sing that shouted \u2018Go get some brandy!\u2019, the older man knelt beside his daughter-in-law.<\/p>\n \u201cBella, child, what is it?\u201d<\/p>\n Bella\u2019s eyes were wide with fear.\u00a0 She tried to speak.\u00a0 Nothing came out but a low, guttural sound such as an animal makes when it\u2019s almost beyond its strength.\u00a0 He took her face in his hands and turned it toward him. It was then he knew his intuition had been right.<\/p>\n There was blood on her cheek.<\/p>\n \u201cBella?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n \u201cNot mine…it\u2019s Eric\u2019s…\u201d she breathed.\u00a0 \u201cBen, he\u2019s…hurt.\u00a0\u00a0 I….\u201d<\/p>\n He reached out for his grandson.\u00a0 \u201cLet me take him \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo!\u201d\u00a0 Bella shouted as she clutched her son tightly to her breast.<\/p>\n It frightened him that the boy made no sound as she did.<\/p>\n \u201cBella, if Eric is hurt, he needs looking after,\u201d he gently insisted.\u00a0 \u201cLet\u2019s take you both in where I can see to help him.\u201d<\/p>\n For a moment she didn\u2019t respond. \u00a0Then, like a somnambulist, Bella rose and let him lead her to the settee.\u00a0 Hop Sing handed him a glass of brandy as they arrived and he quickly passed it on.\u00a0 While the distraught woman downed it, the older man\u2019s eyes went to his son\u2019s child.\u00a0 The boy had a deep gash on his temple.\u00a0 It was odd and looked like both a cut and a burn.\u00a0 The wound was still bleeding, though it was also crusted with dried blood indicating the accident had happened some time before.<\/p>\n Turning to the Chinese man, he said softly, \u201cHop Sing, please bring some alcohol and bandages.\u201d<\/p>\n His old friend nodded once and then vanished into the kitchen.<\/p>\n As he did, a sound caught Ben\u2019s attention and he turned back to find his grandson stirring.\u00a0 Eric moaned and then opened his eyes.\u00a0 The child looked at him somewhat perplexed, and then \u00a0turned to look at his mother. \u00a0When he saw she was crying, he started crying too.<\/p>\n He had a set of lungs, that boy.<\/p>\n As gently as he could, Ben reached out and placed a hand on Bella\u2019s shoulder.\u00a0 Over Eric\u2019s cries, he said, \u201cBella, look at me.\u00a0 You have to tell me what\u2019s going on.\u00a0 How did Eric get hurt?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe\u2019s wife looked at him \u2013 well, through<\/em> him really \u2013 and then went white.\u00a0 Bella stiffened as she turned toward the door, which was still open.<\/p>\n \u201cClose it!\u201d she shrieked.\u00a0 \u201cClose it and lock it!\u00a0 Ben, lock the door!\u201d<\/p>\n He nodded to Hop Sing who had reappeared.\u00a0 As the small man hastened to do as she asked, the older man turned to look again at his daughter-in-law who was trembling from head to toe.\u00a0 It was obvious whatever fright she had taken was immense.<\/p>\n Bella was made of stern stuff.<\/p>\n As Hop Sing joined them, holding out the alcohol and a cloth, he dropped his hand to her arm. \u201cBella?\u00a0 You need to turn Eric so I can tend to that wound.\u201d<\/p>\n Bella looked at his hand and then directly at him.\u00a0 It was as if she was seeing him for the first time.\u00a0 \u201cPa?\u00a0 You\u2019re out of bed,\u201d she said with a frown. \u00a0\u201cYou shouldn\u2019t be out of bed.\u201d<\/p>\n In spite of everything he almost chuckled.<\/p>\n \u201cIt seems the fates have conspired to get me up and moving,\u201d he replied.\u00a0 \u201cNow, please, turn Eric around so I can see to that cut. \u00a0It looks angry.\u201d<\/p>\n Bella planted a kiss on her small son\u2019s curls and then did as he asked.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s not a cut,\u201d she said as she did so, her voice husky with unspoken terror.<\/p>\n Ben frowned.\u00a0 He looked at the wound again as he reached out with the cloth and when he saw what it was \u2013 a deep gully left by the path of a bullet \u2013 he was overcome with rage.<\/p>\n \u201cDear Lord!\u201d he exclaimed.\u00a0 \u201cWho<\/em> would…?\u201d<\/p>\n Three knocks on the door cut him short.\u00a0 Bella jumped and Eric began to cry again as two more came in rapid succession.<\/p>\n \u201cMistah Cartwright want me see who it is?\u201d Hop Sing asked.<\/p>\n Ben wobbled as he rose, but managed to keep his feet.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u00a0 I\u2019ll get it.\u201d<\/p>\n Bella caught his hand and held him back. \u00a0\u201cPa.\u00a0 Wait.\u00a0 Ask him who the tiger cub is first.\u201d<\/p>\n He frowned at her.\u00a0 \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPlease<\/em>, Ben.\u00a0 Ask him.\u201d<\/p>\n The older man loosed himself from her grip and went to the door.\u00a0 He moved slowly.\u00a0 The adrenaline rush of finding Bella and Eric on the porch had kept him going, but he was beginning to fade.\u00a0 Leaning hard on the credenza, the rancher called out, \u201cWho is the tiger cub?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLittle Joe,\u201d a soft voice answered..<\/p>\n Bella let out the breath she had been holding.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s all right, Pa.\u00a0 Let him in.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben turned toward her.\u00a0 \u201cBella, who is it?\u00a0 What is this all about?\u201d<\/p>\n Tears streamed down her cheeks as his daughter-in-law clutched her son to her chest and replied.<\/p>\n \u201cHope.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hope.<\/p>\n He\u2019d had it, but it was gone now.\u00a0 It had run like the rats bedded down in the straw he lay on had when the lantern\u2019s light hit them; like a stallion when you looked him in the eye and he knew his days of freedom were over.<\/p>\n His<\/em> days of freedom were over.<\/p>\n These men, whoever they were, were out for blood.\u00a0 They had come to Virginia City to restore the honor of the House of Khu.\u00a0 For some reason they blamed him for the death of the tong leader, Khu Zhuang, even though he had had nothing to do with the man\u2019s demise.<\/p>\n Joe flinched as a familiar shadow fell across him.\u00a0 He sucked in air as he was struck again and stars exploded before his eyes.\u00a0 Planting his teeth in his busted lip, Joe lifted his head and pinned the dark-haired, dark-eyed man who beat him with a defiant stare just to let him know that \u2013 even though he was on his knees and tied between two posts, dripping blood and sweat \u2013 there was no way in Hell<\/em> he was going to admit to something he hadn\u2019t done.\u00a0 The thug who loomed over him glared back at him as if that defiance was a personal affront.<\/p>\n Who knew?\u00a0 Maybe it was.<\/p>\n Even though he knew it would cost him, Joe peeled his split lip back in a grin.<\/p>\n \u201cThat all you got?\u201d he asked, spitting blood.<\/p>\n The thug\u2019s eyes narrowed. \u00a0He was an odd lookin\u2019 fellow, one part Chinese and three parts somethin\u2019 else.<\/p>\n Possibly gorilla.<\/p>\n His name was Cho Ban.<\/p>\n His tormentor leaned in and breathed fire.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI will break <\/em>you, little man.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe made a tsking sound.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t think your dragon master is gonna like that.\u201d<\/p>\n The brute sneered as he gripped his throat and began to apply pressure.\u00a0 \u201cAnd how will Khu Qian know?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe swallowed against Cho Ban\u2019s fingers. In spite of what Adam had always thought, he really wasn\u2019t that <\/em>stupid.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t want to die.\u00a0 Ban was a flunky \u2013 a strong arm used for intimidation.\u00a0 Since the new tong leader wanted him, Cho had to be under orders not to kill him in spite of what he said.<\/p>\n He really hoped he was under orders not to kill him.<\/p>\n Joe blinked several times, trying to dispel the darkness rising before his eyes.\u00a0 He had a plan.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t sure how good it was, but it was the only one he had been able to come up with.\u00a0 He had<\/em> to get away and he wasn\u2019t going to do that if he was tied hand and foot and the center of attention like he was now.\u00a0 If he pushed Cho Ban far enough, the thug would believe he\u2019d passed out.\u00a0 Then, most likely, he would cut him down and leave him alone so he could plan his escape.<\/p>\n Tears ran down Joe\u2019s dirt and blood-stained cheeks as he either put his plan into action or signed his death warrant.<\/p>\n \u201cTell me, Cho,\u201d he said, and then waited for the Chinese giant to look at him.\u00a0 \u201cThose big…fingers of yours…make up for somethin\u2019 else you got that\u2019s small?\u201d<\/p>\n The pressure intensified.\u00a0 Air was denied him and things began to go black. \u00a0Then, blessedly, he heard a voice order in Chinese.<\/p>\n \u2018T\u00echng d\u00e0i!<\/em>\u2019\u00a0 \u2018Cease!\u2019<\/p>\n Cho Ban froze, but the pressure on his throat didn\u2019t decrease.\u00a0 The thug scowled as he turned his beefy face into the darkness.\u00a0 \u201cAnd why should I listen to you, j\u00ec n\u01da<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe scowled.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know that one, but he was guessing it wasn\u2019t nice.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know the voice that answered either.\u00a0 It had the timber of a woman, but was gravelly as a man\u2019s.<\/p>\n \u201cYou would be wise to fear the wolf in front and the tiger behind, Cho Ban. \u00a0If he dies, you<\/em> die.\u201d<\/p>\n Somewhere in the distance thunder rumbled.\u00a0 Or at least he thought it had.\u00a0 Then he realized it had been a low guttural sound driven from the thug\u2019s throat by his impotency.<\/p>\n A moment later Cho Ban\u2019s fingers were gone and he was on the ground eating sweat-soaked straw and dirt.<\/p>\n Joe lay where he had fallen, trying hard not to suck in the life-sustaining air his lungs so desperately needed.\u00a0 If he did, it would reveal he was still conscious.\u00a0 Instead, he sought to relax as Hop Sing had taught him, to breath in air slowly through his nose and to expel it quietly through his parched, barely parted lips.<\/p>\n Hop Sing had taught him another thing.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t sure if the proverb was Chinese or not.\u00a0 \u2018Three feet of ice is not formed in a day\u2019.\u00a0 In other words, all good things come to him who can wait.<\/p>\n Joe Cartwright snorted quietly.<\/p>\n He had nothin\u2019 else to do.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jian.\u00a0 The name of a mythological creature in China.\u00a0 It was a type of ghost.<\/p>\n So, it seemed, was the man sitting before him.<\/p>\n Ben Cartwright shifted in his chair.\u00a0 He refused to admit it, but he was bordering on exhaustion.\u00a0 He wanted nothing more than to return to his bed and to sleep through supper the next<\/em> night, but he couldn\u2019t.\u00a0 If even half of what Jian had related so far proved to be true, Joseph was in grave danger.\u00a0 Ben\u2019s eyes flicked to Bella who was half-reclining on the settee.\u00a0 She\u2019d wrapped Eric in a warm woolen blanket and drawn him close, tucking her small son into the cranny between her swollen belly and the back of the couch.\u00a0 The boy was barely awake.\u00a0 Eric had one hand raised, the fingers of which were entwined in his mother\u2019s long blonde curls.\u00a0 His other hand was balled in a fist, the thumb placed firmly between his lips. \u00a0It was a habit his mother and father were trying to break him of.\u00a0 Of course, he understood why Bella had chosen to do nothing about it now.<\/p>\n The trauma the boy had been through today was enough to make him<\/em> want to suck his thumb!<\/p>\n Ben\u2019s gaze shifted to his grandson\u2019s face.\u00a0 The furrow the bullet\u2019s passage had plowed had finally stopped bleeding.\u00a0 It was unlikely infection would set in, though one could never be sure. \u00a0When he had time, he\u2019d send one of the hands to town to get Julian, the young man Paul Martin had recently turned most of his patients over to \u2013 the Cartwrights included.<\/p>\n \u2018New life needs new hands,<\/em>\u2019 his old friend had said the last time he visited. \u00a0\u2018Ones that don\u2019t shake.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n He and Paul were of an age.\u00a0 Their lives had been full and rich compared to many of their contemporaries.\u00a0 It wouldn\u2019t be long now until Joe came into his full inheritance \u2013 until the Ponderosa was his and his alone.\u00a0 At sixty-four, he could only count on a few more years.\u00a0 If those years saw Joe settled, his own family growing and safe, he could die content.<\/p>\n It was the \u2018safe\u2019 part Ben was worried about right now.<\/p>\n \u201cJian, you say these men have come here to avenge the death of Khu Zhuang, but that doesn\u2019t make sense,\u201d he said, his eyes returning to the taut, modest-size Chinese man standing before the fire.\u00a0 \u201cJoe didn\u2019t kill him.\u00a0 None of us did.\u201d<\/p>\n Jian drew a breath, his shoulders rising and falling slowly, and then turned to look at him.\u00a0 \u201cIt is a lie, but it is a lie Qian Khu believes.\u00a0 It is Joseph Cartwright he blames for the death of his grandfather.\u201d<\/p>\n In spite of the gravity of the situation, Ben felt a smile tug at his cheeks.\u00a0 No one but Bella \u2013 and perhaps, Hop Sing \u2013 could get by calling Joe \u2018little\u2019 anymore.\u00a0 But then the last time this man had seen his son, Joe had been in his early teens.\u00a0 He\u2019d asked Jian about that day \u2013 the one when the former tong member had fled the house after abducting Joseph, with the intent of taking his son to Khu Zhuang.\u00a0 Somewhere along the way Jian had a change of heart and instead of delivering Joe, he helped his son escape.\u00a0 Jian had had Joe climb a tree and remain hidden while he drew their pursuers off.\u00a0 There was a scuffle at the river\u2019s edge and all signs pointed to the Chinese man drowning after being thrown in and carried away toward the falls.\u00a0 Jian had listened quietly as he\u2019d explained what they believed had happened.\u00a0 With a wry smile he admitted that he had indeed gone into the river, but he had not been \u2018thrown\u2019 in \u2013 he had jumped!\u00a0 He was a strong swimmer, Jian said, but in his weakened state the current had proven too much and even he<\/em> had doubted he would survive.\u00a0 By the time he made his way to shore and rested long enough to gather strength, everything was over.\u00a0 He had come to the Ponderosa and watched from the shadows as they returned.\u00a0 Once he saw that Joe had survived and was safe he\u2019d left, having no desire to draw the tong\u2019s attention back to their home.<\/p>\n Ben grunted.\u00a0 Poor Joe.\u00a0 His son had suffered deeply over the loss of this man he had come to think of as a friend.\u00a0 Still, he understood Jian\u2019s motives.<\/p>\n It was something he himself would have done.<\/p>\n Jian went on to tell them that, after that, he\u2019d returned to the Sacramento area where he kept a low profile and a careful watch on the tong\u2019s new leader, Da Chao.\u00a0 Chao held the city in his dragon\u2019s claw for fourteen years, ruling a combined tong made up of the surviving members of what had once been his and Khu Zhuang\u2019s organizations.\u00a0 In the fifteenth year, the older man died under mysterious circumstances, throwing Sacramento and Vallejo\u2019s Chinese criminal element into disorder.\u00a0 No cause was ever determined, but poison was suspected.\u00a0 Not long after that Khu Zhuang\u2019s grandson, Khu Qian, arrived to take up the reins of power.\u00a0 Qian was a ruthless man \u2013 if possible, even worse than his grandfather \u2013 who quickly began a campaign to make every shop, saloon, and cat house pay him a percentage of their profits in order to secure the tong\u2019s \u2018protection\u2019.<\/p>\n The owner of one of these establishment\u2019s was Ah Kum, the late Da Chao\u2019s wife.<\/p>\n Jian paused then, his face reflecting some sort of inner battle, before going on.\u00a0 He started off by saying that he had known the owner of the Delectable Dragon<\/em> for years and regretted her fate.\u00a0 For reasons of her own \u2013 chief among them the desire to save her own neck \u2013 Ah Kum had submitted to Qian. \u00a0Rumor on the street was that it was the Dragon\u2019s<\/em> madame who had told Khu Qian that the man who had killed his grandfather was Joseph Cartwright.<\/p>\n Ben shifted forward in his chair.\u00a0 If Jian was right, Joseph \u2013 really, all<\/em> of them \u2013 were in dreadful danger.<\/p>\n The older man\u2019s gaze returned to Bella and Eric, and then lighted on his daughter-in-law\u2019s expanded middle.<\/p>\n He had to get them out of here.<\/p>\n He\u2019d been thinking about it ever since Jian began to spin his tale.\u00a0 The Chinese man knew the way to Sacramento.\u00a0 Rosey O\u2019Rourke lived on a spread just outside of it.\u00a0 He had kept up a correspondence with the beautiful, older woman over the years, sharing joys and sorrows alike. A year or two back Rosey had informed him that her son Rory had tired of San Francisco and big city living and they were planning on relocating to the small town where he had grown up.\u00a0 Bella and Eric could go with Jian \u2013 who would prove a more<\/em> than competent protector \u2013 while he and Joe stayed behind to deal with this new threat.\u00a0 Bella wouldn\u2019t be happy, but when Joe came home he would be able to convince his wife that it was in her \u2013 and their children\u2019s \u2013 best interest to go.<\/p>\n \u201cMister Cartwright…?\u201d<\/p>\n The older man started.<\/p>\n He was <\/em>getting old!<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sorry, Jian.\u00a0 My mind was wandering.\u201d\u00a0 Ben\u2019s smile was chagrined.\u00a0 \u201cIt seems to happen frequently these days.\u00a0 What I don\u2019t understand is why Ah Kum, or anyone for that matter, would lay the blame for Zhuang\u2019s death at my son\u2019s feet?\u00a0 Joe was even less responsible than me!\u201d\u00a0 Ben coughed and felt the remnants of his former illness pull at him.\u00a0 Undaunted, he continued.\u00a0 \u201cIt would make more sense to blame me.\u201d<\/p>\n Jian inclined his head.\u00a0 \u201cMeaning no disrespect, Mister Cartwright, but you are an older man and in Qian\u2019s eyes, would be an unworthy opponent.\u00a0 Madame Ah Kum would know this.\u00a0 For this reason she chose Little Joe as Khu Zhuang\u2019s killer.\u00a0 In doing this, she believes she has set Khu Qian on a path toward destruction.\u00a0 She knows you would do anything to save your son\u2019s life and that you and your sons defeated his grandfather before.\u201d\u00a0 Jian paused.\u00a0 \u201cWith Qian out of the way, she would be free.\u201d<\/p>\n Thirty-five years old and Joseph still drew trouble like a magnet.<\/p>\n Ben glanced at Bella again.\u00a0 The poor thing had fallen asleep out of sheer exhaustion.\u00a0 Eric was asleep too.\u00a0 He knew because the boy was snoring to rival his namesake.\u00a0 The older man rose wearily to his feet.\u00a0 He found his balance and then signaled Jian to follow him to the dining room table.\u00a0 Once there, the rancher leaned on one of the chairs for support.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is it you would like to say, Mister Cartwright, that you do not wish Mrs. Little Joe to hear?\u201d<\/p>\n Shrewd, this man.<\/p>\n \u201cBen, please.\u00a0 You saved my boy\u2019s life all those years ago.\u00a0 I think that has earned you the right to address me by my first name.\u201d<\/p>\n Jian considered it. \u00a0Finally he nodded.\u00a0 \u201cBen.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a favor I would ask of you \u2013 if Joe approves.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou would have me take Mrs. Joe and her son away,\u201d the Chinese man said.<\/p>\n Very <\/em>shrewd.<\/p>\n \u201cYes. You\u2019ll be returning to the Sacramento area.\u00a0 My friend, Rosey \u2013 you remember her? \u00a0She lives near there and I hoped you could take Bella and Eric to her.\u00a0 Rosey would be more than happy to….\u201d\u00a0 His voice trailed off. \u00a0The look on Jian\u2019s face was unmistakable.\u00a0 \u201cHas something happened to Rosey?\u201d he asked. As this new revelation sapped the last of the strength he had, Ben sat down on one of the dining room chairs.\u00a0 \u201cTell me what has happened to her.\u201d<\/p>\n Jian hesitated, as if thinking through his reply.\u00a0 At last he said, \u201cShe is missing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMissing? How?\u201d\u00a0 Ben swallowed over a growing fear.\u00a0 \u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n Jian moved to the window behind the table and looked out.\u00a0 \u201cSeveral months ago Rosey\u2019s son, Rory, was offered a position in England.\u201d\u00a0 He glanced over his shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cDid you know this?\u201d<\/p>\n Ben shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cNo, her last letter said nothing of it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt came about suddenly.\u00a0 I have kept watch over Rosey and her family.\u00a0 The last time I saw her, she had made a choice.\u00a0 If Rory went, she would not go.\u00a0 She told me her grandchildren were old enough.\u00a0 Both girls are at a boarding school in the east and the boy is nearly a man.\u201d\u00a0 Jian returned to the table and sat down as well.\u00a0 \u201cIt was five, perhaps six weeks back, that Rory and his wife and children set sail.\u201d<\/p>\n Leaving Rosey alone.<\/p>\n Ben shook his head.\u00a0 Only God\u2019s grace had saved him that particular heartbreak, though he often wondered where Adam was and if his far-wandering son had finally married and had a family.\u00a0 His eldest had written diligently for the first five years. \u00a0After that Adam\u2019s correspondence had fallen off and, over the last three years, stopped.<\/p>\n They didn\u2019t know if he was alive or dead.<\/p>\n \u201cDid you check on Rosey after that?\u201d<\/p>\n Jian nodded.\u00a0 \u201cOnce, but for the most part I was engaged in watching Khu Qian as he took power and began to exercise it.\u00a0 I became the shadow to the mouse in order to listen and learn. When at last I returned to her house, it was empty.\u00a0 I checked with those who live to either side of her.\u00a0 One saw her leave the house late at night with a valise in hand.\u00a0 She has not returned.\u201d<\/p>\n A chill ran through him.<\/p>\n Rosey rivaled Marie for being independent-minded and bull-headed.\u00a0 If the beautiful older woman thought something needed to be done, she would have set out to do it \u2013 no matter the danger to herself.<\/p>\n \u201cDid you find any sort of a trail?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n Jian\u2019s black eyes locked on his.\u00a0 \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell?\u201d Ben demanded.\u00a0 \u201cWhere <\/em>was she headed?\u201d<\/p>\n The Chinese man let out a sigh.\u00a0 It surprised him.\u00a0 It was the first time he had ever heard him do so.<\/p>\n \u201cShe was headed here.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n FOUR<\/p>\n The tall distinguished man with thinning salt and pepper hair sighed as he closed his valise and turned toward the hotel window.\u00a0 It had been a long hard trip from Europe marked with both anticipation and apprehension. \u00a0His success in navigating both the path to the U.S. and the tangled web his life had become had not seemed truly<\/em> real until the snow-capped mountain peaks appeared in the distance and the scent of pine trees became the common currency.\u00a0 Now, as he was overtaken by the spectacle of Nevada\u2019s majestic landscape and a peace seldom known of late descended upon him, he was finally able to accept the fact that, after three, long lonely years, \u00a0he might finally be able to put the life he had chosen behind him.\u00a0 As Michel de Montaigne put it.\u00a0 \u2018…home…It is my retreat and resting place from wars. \u00a0I try to keep this corner as a haven against the tempest outside, as I do another corner in my soul.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n He was home.<\/p>\n Adam Cartwright lifted his arms high above his head, stretching, pushing his sore back muscles to the limit and feeling their limit scream back at him.\u00a0 It felt good, but it hurt too.<\/p>\n Just like <\/em>coming home.<\/p>\n For the life of him he didn\u2019t know what he was going to do when he got to the Ponderosa.\u00a0 Just open the door and shout, \u2018Hello everyone, I\u2019m home!\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n Somehow, he didn\u2019t think so.\u00a0 While his father would be happy to see him \u2013 more<\/em> than happy \u2013 he had grave doubts about the reception he would receive from his youngest brother.\u00a0 Theirs had ever been a strained relationship. \u00a0Though they loved one another deeply, they were like oil and water.\u00a0 No.\u00a0 That wasn\u2019t the right image.\u00a0 The corner of Adam\u2019s full lips quirked with amusement. \u00a0He and Joe were like nitro and an unsteady hand.<\/p>\n Though he was unsure which was which.<\/p>\n Lowering his arms, Adam adjusted his wine-colored shirt and then reached out and opened the window on a city going to sleep. Ahead of him lay the last sleep he<\/em> would have before he reached the ranch house \u2013 if<\/em> he could rest, that was.\u00a0 If everything went according to plan, his arrival there would bring an end to his current life and the start of yet another <\/em>new one.\u00a0 It seemed he\u2019d lived three lifetimes in the decade and a half he\u2019d been away.\u00a0 The first was spent on a sailing ship as a student of life and the world.\u00a0 The second, as an English professor at a British university where he had met and married Kate and fathered two beautiful children.\u00a0 And then there was the third \u2013 the one that had chosen him.<\/em><\/p>\n Ironically, it was the third<\/em> life that had finally succeeded in driving his wandering feet toward home.<\/p>\n That, and his middle brother\u2019s death.<\/p>\n It still effected him deeply \u2013 how he\u2019d found out about Hoss in such a casual manner.\u00a0 A friend of his father\u2019s was in Hong Kong, working on a project just as he was.\u00a0 They\u2019d happened upon one another in the street and had both felt a pang of homesickness.\u00a0 After a few minutes they\u2019d agreed to meet later at a local eatery, ironically run by a distant cousin of Hop Sing.\u00a0 They\u2019d finished their meal and were chatting, sipping a fine liqueur and growing maudlin and sentimental, when the man remarked, \u201cIt\u2019s a shame about Hoss. \u00a0He was one of the finest men I ever knew.\u201d<\/p>\n Was.<\/p>\n Knew.<\/p>\n What?<\/em><\/p>\n After that, well, the welfare of his birth family had taken on a sudden import.\u00a0 He\u2019d chosen to keep his marriage a secret, hoping one day to surprise his father.\u00a0 He and Kate had planned to head to the states for that \u2018surprise\u2019 shortly after Joe and Bella\u2019s first child was born, but…things had come up.\u00a0 He\u2019d been forced by circumstances beyond his control to do an abrupt about-face and disappear.\u00a0 Adam ran a hand over his chin as he turned back into the room.\u00a0 The main impetus \u2013 the reason<\/em> he had made it through these last three desolate years \u2013 was the knowledge that what he was doing would keep not only Kate and his children safe, but his father and remaining brother as well.\u00a0 He\u2019d always known he\u2019d go back home one day.\u00a0 He\u2019d expected, when he did, that he\u2019d be greeted at the door by his aging father and two fat and sassy \u2013 whole and hearty \u2013 and well-contented, married brothers.\u00a0 Instead, Hoss was dead.<\/p>\n Joe could be dead and he wouldn\u2019t even know it.<\/p>\n Adam Cartwright stretched again and looked at his valise where it lay on the bed.\u00a0 He should get back to packing, but his heart wasn\u2019t in it.\u00a0 There was something \u2013 a presentiment \u2013 that made his feet drag like a clock winding down.\u00a0 He\u2019d been completely out of touch with his family for just over three years. \u00a0Joe was going to be a hard sell.\u00a0 Adam snorted as he pushed off the sill. No, Joe was going to be royally pissed!\u00a0 It had been a tough choice, but when he had signed on to do what had to be done, he\u2019d had to agree to leave everything<\/em> behind; his old life, his father and brother \u2013 even Kate and the kids.<\/p>\n These last three years had been pure agony.<\/p>\n The tall man, whose once black hair was thinning at the top and going gray above his ears, permitted himself a tight smile. Kate was already in the States.\u00a0 She and the children were set to arrive in Virginia City on the fifteenth of the month, about two weeks from today.\u00a0 By then, he should receive word that the project he had signed on for was completed. \u00a0Adam shook his head and ran a hand over his cleanly shaved chin.\u00a0 Those two weeks were going to feel like a century.<\/p>\n Which was about how old he felt most of the time.<\/p>\n As he drew in a breath, the scent of pine trees wafted through the hotel room, reminding him of his childhood. \u00a0It was almost over.\u00a0 He could put it all behind him.<\/p>\n He was almost…free.<\/p>\n As the tall man stood there, savoring the scent and the memories it stirred, the door to the room opened and his traveling companion stepped in.\u00a0 Calling back to someone in the hall, the Englishman said in his distinct accent, \u201cThank you, good man.\u00a0 Stoddard and I will be leaving at first light tomorrow. \u00a0If you could have our things ready, it would be much appreciated.\u00a0 There will be something extra in it for you.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam snorted.\u00a0 Stoddard.\u00a0 It was the name he\u2019d gone by for the last three years.\u00a0 Stoddard Benjamin Eric Josephs.<\/p>\n The smile returned.\u00a0 It seemed that, even though you could take the boy off the ranch, you could never entirely take the ranch out of the boy.<\/p>\n As the door closed, his friend turned toward him.\u00a0 \u201cClyde will have our trunks ready and loaded on the stage by the time we finish breakfast.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam drew in a breath as the man came toward him.\u00a0 It struck him every time.\u00a0 That head of tousled curls, his hazel eyes; even the way he turned a phrase.\u00a0 All of it reminded him of his ornery little brother. \u00a0But then, that had been the problem back when Joe was twelve and he had first met Jude Randolph.\u00a0 A man with vengeance in his heart, who hoped to destroy their father, had kidnapped Joe as a replacement for the handsome mulatto.\u00a0 Now, nearly fifty, Jude\u2019s head of tousled light brown curls was turning to silver.<\/p>\n His lips quirked.<\/p>\n Joe…with silver hair?\u00a0 Imagine that!<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s good,\u201d Adam said as he moved across their Spartan room.\u00a0 The hotel was a small one, inconspicuous and \u2013 he hoped \u2013 unnoticed.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019d like to leave before the other patrons, even if it means eating somewhere down the road. \u00a0I want to travel alone on the stage if possible.\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019d run into Jude when he was in London and they\u2019d become friends.\u00a0 In a way, it was kind of like having an older version of Joe with him.\u00a0 Jude\u2019s laugh was unaffected and contagious; another thing that reminded him of Joe.<\/p>\n \u201cGarrulous, you are not,\u201d Jude remarked.\u00a0 \u201cBut then again, that doesn\u2019t come as a surprise.\u00a0 You never were much of a talker.\u201d<\/p>\n No.\u00a0 Joe had done enough talking for all four <\/em>of them.<\/p>\n God!\u00a0 How he missed him.<\/p>\n Jude crossed to the window and looked out before heading to his bed and dropping onto it.\u00a0 \u201cIf you mean to be up with the lark, it would be well to have supper sent up and then get some sleep.\u00a0 Don\u2019t you think?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam nodded absent-mindedly.\u00a0 \u201cYes, though I don\u2019t feel much like eating \u2013 or sleeping for that matter.\u201d<\/p>\n His friend remained silent for a moment.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re concerned about the welcome you will receive.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be.\u00a0 It will be as if the last few years never happened.\u201d<\/p>\n He glanced at the other man.\u00a0 \u201cBut they did<\/em> happen.\u201d<\/p>\n Jude hesitated a moment before rising to his feet.\u00a0 As he came to stand beside him, he reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder.\u00a0 Inadvertently Jude, along with Bella Carnaby\u2019s younger brother Jack, had been drawn into the tangled web that was his life.\u00a0 The liberty to touch him was a privilege he accounted to only a handful of people and, only then, when the situation was dire enough to warrant it.\u00a0 It was something the other man knew only too well.<\/p>\n \u201cAdam,\u201d he said, \u201cYour brother Joseph will understand. \u00a0Once you tell him why you \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo!\u201d\u00a0 He pulled away.\u00a0 \u201cI can never tell them, you know that!\u00a0 No matter what.\u00a0 The danger….\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou know he would face it willingly.\u201d<\/p>\n Yes, he knew it as well as he knew his brother.\u00a0 If Joe got wind of the fact that his older brother\u2019s life was in danger \u2013 that even now there were men scouring the Old and New World for him \u2013 there would be no stopping him.\u00a0 Even if they clashed like a pair of stallions fighting over a brood mare, Joe would die for him as he would die for Joe.<\/p>\n It might still come to that if things went wrong.<\/p>\n Jude regarded him for a moment and then nodded.\u00a0 With a quirk of his full lips, he said, \u201cSupper \u00a0it is, then.\u00a0 How about shepherd\u2019s pie?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam couldn\u2019t help but smile.\u00a0 It was an old joke between them.\u00a0 When he\u2019d first come to England, he\u2019d been offered the local dish.\u00a0 Being a cattle rancher, the idea of eating the entrails of a sheep stuffed with God only knew what had turned him green. He\u2019d spent the remainder of the evening bringing up just about everything inside him.<\/p>\n \u201cHow about not<\/em>?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll order two then,\u201d came the accustomed reply.<\/p>\n Sometimes he wondered if luck \u2013 or perhaps fate \u2013 had not drawn the two of them together and, if it had not, if he would have made it through these last three years.\u00a0 Jude was a tie \u2013 albeit the thread was slender \u2013 to what he had left behind in Nevada.\u00a0 It frightened him, what he didn\u2019t <\/em>know.\u00a0 What else had happened in the time he had been out of communication with his family?\u00a0 Here he was expecting to find Joe at home with his wife, with his little nephew and maybe a niece on his knee.\u00a0 And his beloved pa. \u00a0And dear old Hop Sing.\u00a0 The man from China would be in the kitchen complaining in Cantonese while he worked away.\u00a0 But Pa was getting older.\u00a0 What if….<\/p>\n What if everything he had given up everything for was gone?\u00a0 What if the man he had worked so hard to take down had somehow gotten wind of what was to come and decided to do something to stop it, like attack his family?<\/p>\n What if it had all<\/em> been for nothing?<\/p>\n Adam Cartwright swallowed hard over his fears.\u00a0 Then he laughed.\u00a0 He was doing what he always accused his little brother of doing \u2013 leaping before he looked. \u00a0Home was only a day away.<\/p>\n He\u2019d know soon enough.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When Candy Canady came back to consciousness, they first thing he noticed was that his knees were on fire.\u00a0 Or, at least, it felt<\/em> like they were on fire.<\/p>\n Probably because two great big Chinese yahoos were draggin\u2019 him through the dust.<\/p>\n Keeping his eyes narrowed, Candy sized them up, considerin\u2019 his chances.\u00a0 The one to his left who had his mitt rammed into his armpit was about six foot tall.\u00a0 The other one, who was trying to tear his left arm off, was, well, taller, and frankly, built like a box car.<\/p>\n Who knew they bred them that big in China?<\/p>\n His head was still ringing like a dinner bell and the trail of fresh blood that ran down his forehead and across his lips made him think maybe raw meat had been on the menu.<\/p>\n Him, in other words, served up nice and cold and dead.<\/em><\/p>\n The only good thing was that the pair spoke English.\u00a0 Well, some sort of English since he couldn\u2019t make most of it out.\u00a0 Or maybe that was just the ringing in his head, keepin\u2019 him from hearing right.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know really. \u00a0Anyhow, he\u2019d caught Joe\u2019s name and from the sound of it, his friend was probably worse off than he was right now.\u00a0 Apparently Joe had been…uncooperative…when questioned.<\/p>\n Imagine that.\u00a0 Joe Cartwright. \u00a0Uncooperative.<\/p>\n Candy bit back a snort by planting his teeth in his lip, which was really stupid because it was covered with blood and he hated the taste of blood.\u00a0 Since he couldn\u2019t spit it out, he had to swallow it and that made him mad.<\/p>\n Probably about as mad as Joe had been when he was being \u2018uncooperative\u2019.<\/p>\n Where was Joe anyway and where were these bruisers dragging him?\u00a0 Opening his eyes just a bit more the cowboy sneaked a look at where they were going.\u00a0 It was some kind of a warehouse, set between a couple of disreputable looking lodging houses.\u00a0 Candy frowned.\u00a0 He oughta know all the warehouse districts in Virginia City.\u00a0 But then again, the city had grown a lot in the years he\u2019d been away.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t like people much, so the more people there were in town, the more he avoided it. \u00a0Now that he thought about it, other than the Bucket and a few other rather er…salacious…establishments, he really didn\u2019t know much about Virginia City anymore.<\/p>\n And since Joe was married, he didn\u2019t really know all that much about those <\/em>places either.\u00a0 Most nights it was just him and the steers croonin\u2019 to one another under the moonlight.<\/p>\n Damn.\u00a0 He needed to get a life.<\/p>\n That was, if whoever it was these two worked for didn\u2019t kill him first.<\/p>\n As they came to a halt, the man pinching his pit growled several low words in Cantonese that were answered by several more comin\u2019 from within the warehouse.\u00a0 A few seconds later the door creaked open and Candy was dragged inside, banging his shins on the threshold along the way.\u00a0 If he\u2019d had any thought of takin\u2019 on the two bruisers \u2013 not that he had \u2013 it was too late now.\u00a0 The door slammed shut behind him, cutting off the alley and the pale light cast by the one meager street lamp at its end.\u00a0 He waited for someone to light a lantern.\u00a0 When no one did, he figured they had to be part cougar or somethin\u2019.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t see anything, but the two who were draggin\u2019 him seemed to know exactly where they were going. He was bumped up a short ladder, turned around, and unceremoniously dumped onto a wooden floor covered with stinkin\u2019 straw and debris, before being bound hand and foot with his hands behind his back. Behind him was a wall of wooden crates that loomed ominously, and in front of the crates was a man who was also bound hand and foot.<\/p>\n Joe Cartwright\u2019s eyes followed the pair of Chinese gargantuans as they left the loft and descended the ladder, leaving them alone.<\/p>\n \u201cShouldn\u2019t that..have been the other…way around?\u201d Joe asked, his words slightly slurred.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d Candy replied as he worked his way to his feet and kind of hopped over to his friend\u2019s side.\u00a0 Joe was seated with his back against the lowest tier of crates. \u00a0He was half-hidden in shadow. \u00a0\u201cPersonal delivery to your parlor. Who could ask for…more….\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou got…a…problem?\u201d Joe snarled.<\/p>\n Candy winced.\u00a0 \u201cYou remember what I said this morning about you lookin\u2019 awful?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah….\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s just say, compared to what you look like now, you could have won a beauty contest.\u201d<\/p>\n Someone had beaten the hell out of him.<\/p>\n Candy lowered himself to the debris strewn floor and looked right into Joe\u2019s eyes. \u201cYou okay?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe winced as he shifted.\u00a0 \u201cCouple of busted…ribs, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDidn\u2019t Doc Martin say you\u2019d broke all you had?\u201d<\/p>\n His friend\u2019s curly head nodded.\u00a0 \u201cSeveral times.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re gonna do somethin\u2019, you may as well do it right, I always say.\u201d\u00a0 Candy\u2019s eyes roamed his friend\u2019s lean form as he kept up the banter they used to create a barrier for their emotions.\u00a0 Plain and simple, they loved each other as brothers, but they were both too damn stubborn. They never let it show.<\/p>\n Well, almost never.<\/p>\n Candy looked away, partly to give Joe a break from his gawking and partly to see if he could make any sense of where they were. The fact that they weren\u2019t gagged meant there wasn\u2019t anyone close enough to hear if they shouted.<\/p>\n After a second, he looked back at his friend.\u00a0 Joe\u2019s left eye was swollen shut.\u00a0 His lower lip was split in two places, one of which was bleeding pretty badly.\u00a0 The shirt he was wearin\u2019 had been ripped so his left shoulder was exposed and what skin showed was turnin\u2019 black and blue. \u00a0But those bruises had nothin\u2019 on the ones on his throat.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s gotta hurt,\u201d he said quietly.<\/p>\n Joe shrugged \u2013 and then cussed.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what I thought,\u201d the cowboy snorted.\u00a0 \u201cThey want somethin\u2019 in particular?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe looked at him and then leaned his head back and rested it against the crates.\u00a0 The one above them groaned ominously as he did, but his friend didn\u2019t seem to notice.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was before…your time.\u00a0 I…was just a kid.\u00a0 Fourteen, fifteen…can\u2019t remember.\u201d\u00a0 Joe sucked in air. \u00a0\u201cA pair of tong leaders out of the Sacramento area…decided to make the Ponderosa their…battlefield.\u201d\u00a0 The curly-haired man shifted again, this time pressing his bound hands against his left side.\u00a0 \u201cOne ended up…killing the other.\u00a0 For some reason these thugs…think I did it.\u00a0 Wanted me to admit it.\u201d\u00a0 Joe moved again.\u00a0 This time a gasp escaped his lips.<\/p>\n Candy sized him up again.\u00a0 Joe was really <\/em>in pain.\u00a0 \u201cYou mighta considered it,\u201d he said softly.<\/p>\n \u201cDead…either way.\u00a0 This way…I get to live longer.\u00a0 Maybe have a chance….\u201d<\/p>\n A chance to get back to Bella and their children.<\/p>\n \u201cDamn,\u201d he sighed.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t…go all mushy on me,\u201d Joe said, tight-lipped.<\/p>\n \u201cWho\u2019s goin\u2019 mushy? \u00a0Not me.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe smiled that cocky smile he had, the one where his cheek went up and his eyebrow went down.\u00a0 \u201cWell, it sure…ain\u2019t me.\u201d<\/p>\n After that, they fell into a silence, both lost in their own thoughts \u2013 Joe thinking about his wife and children, and him thinking about the fact that he didn\u2019t have either.<\/p>\n Thinking about the fact that he had a lot less to lose.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t you go doin\u2019…anything stupid,\u201d Joe growled as if reading his mind.<\/p>\n \u201cWho me?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI…know that look.\u00a0 You just…get it out of your eye.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat look?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe winced again and sucked in air.\u00a0 He was breathin\u2019 hard.\u00a0 \u201cHow long have…we known…each other?\u00a0 Ten years?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c \u2018Bout that.\u00a0 Why?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd how many times…have we…raised hell in those ten years?\u201d<\/p>\n Candy had been looking around for some means of creating a distraction.\u00a0 He was eying the crates above their heads.\u00a0 They\u2019d work great \u2013 if they didn\u2019t all come down at once and crush both of them before they could get out of the way.<\/p>\n Joe wasn\u2019t lookin\u2019 like he\u2019d be movin\u2019 fast anytime soon.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t know.\u00a0 Ain\u2019t done it for a while, what with you bein\u2019 a married man and all.\u201d\u00a0 Candy had wiggled his way to his feet again.\u00a0 He\u2019d hopped to the edge\u00a0 and was looking over.\u00a0 \u201cJoe?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t you think its kind of funny that they put the two of us up here together and didn\u2019t leave a guard at the bottom of the ladder?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n Candy nodded.\u00a0 \u201cNot a soul in sight.\u00a0 Now that means one of two things.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBein\u2019?\u201d Joe asked as he began to work his way to his feet.<\/p>\n \u201cEither they\u2019re damn sure of themselves \u2013 \u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOr they want us to try to escape.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOr….\u201d<\/p>\n Candy\u2019s eyes were scanning the warehouse below.\u00a0 It was as dark and still as a tomb.<\/p>\n This time he<\/em> winced.\u00a0 Bad<\/em> choice of words.<\/p>\n \u201cCandy, come on…help me.\u00a0 I can\u2019t….\u201d<\/p>\n He looked.\u00a0 Joe was halfway up, beet-red in the face and sweatin\u2019 like a freshly branded steer.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not like you\u2019re gonna miss anything,\u201d he said as he hopped over to him.\u00a0 \u201cAin\u2019t nothing goin\u2019 on…below….\u201d<\/p>\n Joe\u2019s eyes went wide.\u00a0 \u201cDo you hear that?\u201d<\/p>\n He nodded.\u00a0 Yes, he heard it.\u00a0 A cracking, a popping and hissing sound, kind of like when you tossed a sappy pine log into the middle of a campfire.\u00a0 It did that \u2013 just before it exploded.<\/p>\n Candy swallowed hard.<\/p>\n He guessed maybe they didn\u2019t try to escape fast enough.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam Cartwright was awakened from a deep sleep by the sound of someone screaming.<\/p>\n It took a moment to realize it was him.<\/em><\/p>\n Jude was on his feet and moving.\u00a0 The Englishman caught hold of the oil lamp on the desk and turned up the wick, casting light as well as weird, disturbing shadows on the walls. \u00a0Adam stared at them for a moment, completely lost, and then he remembered.<\/p>\n The Ponderosa had been on fire.<\/p>\n He sat up in bed and dropped his head into his hands and shuddered.<\/p>\n \u201cWould talking about it help?\u201d Jude asked.<\/p>\n Adam looked up and smiled weakly.\u00a0 Jude knew all about nightmares.\u00a0 In the stillness of the night Jude frequently traveled back to the dark dank hole on the ship Independence <\/em>where Wade Bosh had held him captive a little over thirty-five years before; the hole from which his own father, Ben Cartwright, had freed him.\u00a0 For Jude, sharing the stuff of his night terrors eased his pain, as if bringing his fears to light had the power to chase the demons away.<\/p>\n It was different for him.\u00a0 He supposed he<\/em> had been influenced by Hop Sing\u2019s beliefs since, as a boy, it had been the Chinese man who had often tended to him and his brothers when they had a bad dream.\u00a0 He remembered his father\u2019s s friend saying \u2018When man dream, soul speaks.\u2019<\/p>\n
\nVictor Hugo<\/p>\n