Chapter 1

NO ONE IS WELCOMED

James slowly pushed the swinging doors of the bar. As he entered the old establishment , he had the distinct impression that he was not welcomed there. He quickly glanced at the men who were sitting at the small tables, sipping their drinks. They sure didn't look like choir boys. They were dirty men, filled with anger ready to pounce on someone or anyone for no reason, just because they felt like it. A couple of other men were playing darts at the back of the bar. The place was known to be filled with men who worked on cargo ships. It was not a place for a lady.

Once James finished his quick glance at the place, he then approached the bar, on his right, where a bartender, with an eye patch, was polishing a glass, sitting down on a stool behind the counter. The man looked like he didn't bathed for weeks!

"I'll have a scotch".

James stood at the bar, one feet resting on the bar rail. He reached into his small vest pocket to get his money out and waited.

The bar tender, barely looked at him, as if, not impressed by this new customer. He then slowly got up, as if, James was bothering him, and went to get the bottle of scotch.

When he came back to see James, the bottle in his hands, he nonchalantly poured him a glass, looking at James suspiciously.

"You're not from around here."

"No, you're right, I'm just passing. How much for the drink?" replied James, very calmly.

"10 cents" simply said the man, with a surprisingly low voice.

James then deliberately took his time to get the money out of his pocket. He slowly took out a 10 dollar bill and placed it right in front of the guy.

The man's face suddenly changed. He took the dollar bill in his hands and looked at it closely.

"I can't give you the change for a 10$ bill!"

He looked annoyed.

"Why not?" simply asked James with an innocent voice.

James stood there, poised as he could be, but knew that things were about to change. The bartender's voice got a little louder, as if he wanted his customers to hear their conversations.

"Your 10 bill is no good here! Do you understand? I won't accept your 10 dollar bill!"

James suddenly felt the eyes of the dirty men in his back.

"Why is that? Because it's fake!?"

As soon as James finished saying word "FAKE", he quickly bent down, because James saw, in the reflection of the mirror, that a chair had been thrown at him. He ducked as the chair crashed into the mirror behind the bar blowing it into little pieces.

The bartender was now hiding behind the counter as James turned around to meet his aggressors. The guy who had thrown the chair, tried punching him but Jim blocked him just in time to punch him right in the stomach.

While fighting his assailant, Jim saw, on the corner of his eyes, two other guys, coming his way, ready to assault him.

He grabbed a chair on his right and quickly threw it at the men. The chair made them fall to their backs.

Coming out of nowhere, a bottle was thrown at him, and James ducked just in time to let it crash on the wall behind him. The liquid splashed on the walls all around it.

"It's going to be harder then I thought."

James stood up, but didn't have time to stop a powerful uppercut to his jaw.

"Damn it" he thought, frustrated not not have seen this one coming. He felt the pain irradiate through his teeth.

His response was to reply with his best counterpunch and his assailant fell backwards on a small table that was behind him.

With not too much effort, James fought 3 other guys. He received a few punches but gave way more then he received. The other men that stood at the back of the bar, got up and left the place, realizing that James was not to be reckoned with.

As James threw his last punch and thought that the fight was over, he straightened up and suddenly felt an object pass near his head, nearly missing him by and inch.

His reaction was to look at the place the knife had landed. A poor woman, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, was standing at the entrance of the bar and had the misfortune to receive the knife right in her shoulder. She let out a terrifying scream just before falling to her knees on the floor.

James, still breathing heavily from the fight, quickly ran toward the wounded woman.

"Who are you?" he asked frantically as he quickly pulled out the knife and applied pressure to the wound with a pocket scarf he had in his vest pocket.

The woman had by now, trouble breathing. She was in deep pain.

"I'm Augusta Jackson ...I...I was supposed to meet you earlier tonight..."

The poor woman was now in a lot of pain. She had a terrified look on her face.

"Miss Jackson! Why on earth would you come here? We were supposed to meet at the post office!"

James frantically tried to stop the bleeding but his scarf was getting damped with blood by the second.

"I'm terribly...sorry..." said the woman with more and more difficulty to breath, " I was late and missed our rendez-vous...and..I thought I might find you here..."

She was now in total despair.

"Don't worry, it will be okay." said James, "I'll get you to the doctor."

James easily picked up Augusta from the floor and bolted out of the bar with the injured woman in his arms. He ran straight to the doctor's office.

The poor old doctor was very surprise when a man kicked his front door like it was made out of thin cardboard.

He stood up surprised by such an entrance.

"Who are you? What is wrong? "

And when he realized that James held an injured woman in his arms, he added, "What happened to this woman?"

James slowly placed Augusta on the small makeshift bed there was in the doctor's office. It wasn't much but he knew it was the place to be.

"She was stabbed in the arm. She is losing a lot of blood. Can you help her?"

Augusta was in a lot of pain and was shaking uncontrollably.

It showed that the good old doctor had seen worst; he was already prepared with his suture kit.

"It's gonna hurt like hell, give her some scotch while I prepare her for the intervention."

Jim looked around and quickly found the bottle on a small counter. He helped Augusta up a bit so she could take a couple of sips of the strong liquor. She was clearly not used to drinking and coughed a couple of times but Jim insisted she drank more. The doctor did not waste anytime and ripped the sleeve off her dress.

"It will help you feel more relaxed, you should drink 2 more sips." insisted James.

Augusta obeyed, hoping that this scotch would help her get through this horrific moment and lesser the pain. She was clearly not getting used to the strong scotch and coughed again.

James placed the bottle down and held her other hand while trying to change her mind from what was going to happen; he could see the doctor examining her wound, there was a lot of blood.

"Miss Jackson...how did you know who I was?"

"I saw you picture in the newspaper, you and your partner were standing with the President, and the article said you were two incredible agents...ouch!"

The good old doctor had started sewing her up.

Augusta tried looking at what the doctor's was doing to her but Jim placed himself between her and the doctor so she would not see all the blood. It was not a pretty scene indeed.

"So..you wrote me because...you said something about a missing person?" asked Jim, trying to get her mind on something else.

"Yes...ouch! "

"Don't move Miss! Let me get you stitched up!" said the doctor not waisting any time.

"I'm sorry, it's just that it really hurts!" said Augusta cringing and almost crying.

"Miss Jackson" continued James, " tell me who's missing, someone close to you?" He was hoping to make her focus on something else and wanted to know more about the missing person at the same time.

The young woman returned her attention to James who was still gently holding her hand.

"Yes...my uncle is missing. I thought you could help me find him, his name his Henry Jackson."

James looked away for a second then added, "Professor Henry Jackson? He is your uncle?" he asked with a surprised look on his face.

"Yes" she said wincing, " I went to meet him at his hotel, and he was nowhere to be found! He has been missing for a week now...we have to do something! I am really worried!"

Augusta grimaced. The doctor was doing a great job but it was a severe wound for such a tiny arm.

James continued his questioning .

"Miss Jackson, why did you come to that filthy bar? Why didn't you wait for me at the post office?" he asked still holding her hand.

"I'm truly sorry but I...I figured that since I was late, that you would have gone to take a drink...or something...and since this bar was the closest to the post office..."

"But, you were not late Miss Jackson, I wrote you in my telegram that I would meet you at 7 o'clock! It was barely 6:30!"

Augusta grimaced and realized that she had read the telegram all wrong.

"My mistake, probably, I... was convinced that we were meeting at 6 o'clock."

"No need to worry, I will help you find your uncle, because, believe or not, my parter once worked with your uncle and, he would be really mad at me if we did not help you find him."

Augusta was relieved to hear that, even though she was still wincing from the pain.

"Really? Your partner worked with him? What are the chances! You will help me find him?"

James nodded his head.

"I will forever be grateful! You don't know how I have been worried!"

"Do you have a place to stay for tonight?" asked Jim, wanting to make sure she would be okay.

"Yes, I have a room at the Cole hotel, down the street."

She grimaced again from the pain.

"Will she be okay to stay on her own, doc?" asked Jim , turning toward the doctor.

"She will sleep like a baby after I give her some medicine for the pain. I will go visit her, early tomorrow morning to see if she is doing okay. She should be okay, don't worry. I cleaned the wound and did a pretty good job sewing her up."

The doctor was now putting his suture kit away and started to place a huge bandage around her tiny arm.

Minutes later, James was gallantly walking Augusta back to her room. The scotch and the medication had started to make her feel a bit tipsy.

James helped her up the stairs back to her room and told her he would be back tomorrow to start looking for her uncle. He asked a woman who worked in the small hotel to help Augusta take her dress off and get ready for bed.

Moments later Augusta was lying down on her bed, and quickly fell asleep. It was too much emotion for one night.

Later that night...

After a long horse ride, James finally came back to the train and entered the wagon with only one thing in mind, get some good rest. As he was entering the main wagon, James stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Artie, trying to sleep on one of the small couch in the main living room. His feet stood out for the sofa and his blanket seemed to small to cover his whole body.

Jim stood there, in the darkness of the room and wondered what Artie was doing there.

"Artie?" he asked, whispering.

"Mmm?"

"What on earth are you doing there?" whispered James, curious.

"I'm sleeping here because there's a woman in my bedroom."

Artie's tone of voice was sleepy and irritated.

James arched his eyebrows.

"A... woman?"

Artie continued to speak to his partner without looking at him. He was trying to keep his eyes closed not to become too awaken. It was hard enough trying to fall sleep on this tiny sofa.

"Yes...a woman..." Artie sighed then continued, " Don't ask me to explain this situation tonight...it's been a long day and...I would like to get some sleep on this incredible tiny sofa...you understand, right?"

Jim repressed a laugh.

Artie then added,

"I would ask about your day, but I know it might wake me up even more because you have probably been in a fight and...well...we all know how it usually turns out...I'll wait until tomorrow for the details, you don't mind, Jim?"

"Of course not Artie...I guess you have a good explanation for the woman in your room, right?" replied James amused by this situation.

"Yes Jim...I will tell you...all in good time." Artie sighed then added " I just wanna get some sleep before tomorrow morning...but this stupid little sofa is it helping at all!"

Jim repressed a laugh again, and walked right by his partner who had his eyes half closed and was still trying to get comfortable.

"Sweet dreams Artie..."

"Sweet dreams Jim." said Artie knowing that his partner was laughing at the situation.

Then, just before James was almost out of sight, he added,

"No peaking into my room Jim, you will meet her tomorrow."

Artie heard James sigh, then disappear in the small corridor without any further conversation.

Those two would have lots of explaining to do.

The end chapter 1