Chapter Two

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There were times – many times – when Bella questioned the wisdom of having married Joe Cartwright. Not that she didn't love him more than her own life, but the combination of his 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.

She was sure she had lost at least two years in the past five minutes.

With a sigh, the blonde woman turned to the small man standing beside her. Hop Sing nodded his graying head and gave her an understanding smile.

"Wise old Chinese man once say children give great comfort in old age." He paused and then added, "Help reach it faster too."

Bella blew a puff of exasperated air out.

Wise old Chinese man certainly knew what he was talking about!

"You try call again. Boy come to mother when he not come for any other."

She felt a smile tug at the end on her lips. "Oh? And why is that?"

Hop Sing's black eyes sparkled. "More afraid of mother than of any other."

She'd come down from looking in on Ben to find Eric swaddled in his favorite blanket and sound asleep on the settee. A plate of cookie crumbles and a half-finished cup of hot chocolate sat on the low table before the fire. She couldn't chide Hop Sing – he was such a help to her – but he did spoil the boy. Apparently Eric's resemblance to his father at that age was remarkable.

She just wished her son only looked like her mischievous husband.

After tucking the blanket around Eric's shoulders – the room had a chill with the approach of winter – she'd gone to the kitchen to check in on the meal plans for the next few days. It hadn't been more than fifteen minutes before she and Hop Sing returned to the great room.

Only to find it empty.

They searched the house from bottom to top. She'd 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. They were careful not to disturb the older man as they continued to search the second floor – and then the first floor again – and then the yard...

Panic was setting in.

Bella pursed her lips and scowled. "When I find that boy, I will give him a reason to be afraid of his mother."

"Hop Sing go search stable. Boy love horses like his pa. Maybe he there."

She nodded. "If you don't find him, please go back to the house and check on Ben. I hate to leave him alone too long." Her father-in-law had been much improved when she last visited, but he was still weak.

"Where Missy Bella go look next?"

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. Due to several mis-adventures Eric's little backside had been tanned enough times that he had finally learned to be obedient and remain outside the fence.

Most of the time.

"I'll head to the pasture. You know how he is about watching the horses."

Hop Sing nodded. "Just like Little Joe."

Bella had to smile. The first time she'd met her husband – when she had helped save him from a burning structure – he'd been seventeen and known as 'Little' Joe. Now, at thirty-five, no one called him that.

No one but Hop Sing.

With a nod, the Chinese man headed toward the stable. 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. She had Eric's heavy coat, hat, and mittens in hand. It was after dark and the temperature was dropping. She couldn't imagine what had possessed the boy to go outdoors. While Eric wasn't afraid of the dark, he wasn't one to go very far afield. Like his father, their son liked people around him and grew frightened after only a short time alone. 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. He could already ride and his father had taught him basic survival skills. Still, he wasn't quite five years old.

He was just a baby.

As she walked Bella placed her hand on her belly, which had grown large of late. She'd lost the last baby early on in the pregnancy a year or so back. Doctor Martin had assured her that is was common, especially as young as she was. It had been a difficult time for both of them, but especially for Joe. Over the last eight months as this baby grew he had barely left her side, as if his presence alone was proof against disaster.

And now, here he was away from the house and Eric was missing.

Bella paused and turned back toward the house. She knew if Hop Sing located her son in the stable, he would call out. She waited a moment and, when she heard nothing, began to move forward again, calling her son's name. She was sure when she found him, Eric would have some reasonable explanation for his evening excursion. The boy was prone to flights of fancy, often making up the most outrageous stories to explain why he'd done what he'd done.

Hop Sing said his father had been the same.

Halting as she came to the first length of fence, Bella called again and was startled to receive an answer. Her son spoke a few words and then fell silent. Eric's voice was odd. It sounded as if he was behind or under something. Or maybe...

As if there was a hand over his mouth and someone had stifled his reply.

Terror stabbed her like a knife. Ben had told her of the times one or the other of his sons – most often Joe as the youngest – had been the target of kidnappers. But how could someone have gotten past the hands who patrolled the perimeter of the ranch? Did they lure her son out of the house, or was he already outside and had simply blundered into danger? Neither she nor Hop Sing had heard anything before noticing he was missing.

"Eric?" Bella called. "Eric, it's mama! Where are you?"

This time her son's voice rang clear.

"Mama? Mama! Help!"

Bella sucked in air. She forced herself to remain calm; to sound confident. "Tell mama where you are, sweetheart, and she'll come and take you home."

"Mama? I –ah!"

"Eric?" She'd been walking. Now she ran. "Eric! Answer me!"

Her son's cry had come from the direction of the shack at the edge of the yard that had once been used to house supplies. It was a ramshackle old thing now. She'd warned Joe that it should be taken down, but her husband had stubbornly said it still had its uses – one of them being the root cellar under it.

If Eric had gone in and the floor had given way...

Bella quickened her pace, running for all she was worth. She was out of breath by the time the shack came into view. She paused to catch her breath and then continued to run.

Or she would have, if a man had not stepped out of the shadows and grabbed her.

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Candy Canaday walked out of the livery shaking his head. Right after Joe spurred Cochise on and took off like a cat with his tail on fire, his horse had come up lame. Fortunately, she'd 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. So they'd ambled along like a schoolmarm on a Sunday afternoon jaunt until they arrived in Virginia City. He'd 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. The owner of the livery told him Joe had dropped Cooch off late afternoon, saying he'd be back shortly.

And hadn't seen him since.

Puzzled and more than slightly concerned, he'd stood stock-still for a moment, unsure of what to do. He doubted the sheriff would be in his office this late, so he doubted Joe was at the jail. The only thing he could think of was that his friend had gone to the saloon and gotten suckered into a poker game. 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' about him and Joe'd gone to find him and run into some kind of trouble. Candy kicked at a clod of dirt and started moving across the windy semi-deserted street.

Best try the sheriff's office anyhow and then panic.

The brown-haired man blew out a sigh of relief as the office of the law came into view. There was a lamp burning inside, which meant someone was still there. Stepping onto the boardwalk that fronted it, Candy raised a hand and brought it down hard several times on the door. He heard the legs of a chair scrape the floor and then footsteps. Finally, the door opened.

"Ain't you out kind of late, son?" Roy Coffee asked with a mock scowl and a wink.

"Ain't you up kind of late, old man?" he replied with a grin.

"Clem figures I sleep enough durin' the day, I'd just naturally be up all night anyhow," the older man replied with a chuckle as he stepped aside. "Come on in, Candy. I got some coffee hot on the stove." As he moved into the room, Roy added, "I heard Ben's feelin' better. He send you on an errand?"

Candy drew a breath against the fear Roy's words caused to tingle along his spine. "Roy, are you tellin' me you haven't seen Joe today?"

The older man had the coffee pot and a graniteware cup in his hands. He turned eyes narrowed with concern on him. "Joe Cartwright?" Roy shook his head. "Ain't seen hide nor curl. Should I of?"

The brown-haired man nodded. "I told him what you said. 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' me in the dust. I couldn't catch up 'cause my horse came up lame. Took me hours to get here." Candy glanced out the window. "Cochise is at the livery. I was hopin' I'd find Joe here."

Roy held out the cup. As he took it, the lawman asked, "How long's it been?"

He glanced at the clock on the wall and counted up the hours. He and Joe had parted ways, he thought, around four o'clock. It was nine now.

"Five hours, give or take an hour either way."

Silence hung between them. Anything could happen in four or five hours.

And this was Joe Cartwright they were talking about.

Roy was heading for the hook on the wall that held his gun belt. As he fastened it on, he said, "You and me better head on over to Clem's, and then make our way to Chinatown."

"Chinatown?" Candy asked, surprised. "What for?"

The retired lawman hesitated. "Well, I guess it don't hurt no way now to tell you. That man that was askin' questions about Joe – he was a China man."

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Bella stifled a scream as the man drew her into the trees. If Eric was nearby – and conscious – she didn't want to frighten him any further. She twisted and looked up at the man who held her, but saw only a shadowy figure. Whoever he was, he was about Joe's height.

And strong.

"Let me go!" she demanded, her words a sharp whisper driven out between clenched teeth.

"Think twice, act once," the man responded, holding on. "Any hasty action may involve an improper consideration of important aspects."

Bella blinked. "What? Who are you?"

The man shifted his grip so he was able to look over her head toward the shack. When he spoke again, his words were soft as the whisper of a leaf on stone. "Long years ago I told the son of the tiger to look before leaping. I tell you the same now. It is not I who am your enemy."

Not buying it for one minute, Bella demanded, "Where is my son? What have you done to him?"

"I have done nothing. It is with regret that I see this trouble come to your house." The man hesitated. "And even greater regret that I was not in time for the boy."

Bella stiffened. Not in time? Tears began to flow. "Is he...is Eric all right?"

The shadow that held her grunted. "For now," he replied. "As I drew near, I saw the boy. He was wandering through the field as if lost. I could hear his cries. Unfortunately, the ones who took him heard him as well and reached him first. I was close by when he told them who his father was." The shadow shook its head. "This was not wise."

"Are they kidnappers?" she asked.

The man turned and looked down. As he did a beam of moonlight struck his eyes. They were black as the night and glinted hard as diamonds, but she sensed no malice in his gaze. "It is what they have become," he replied.

Bella began again to pull against the man's strength. "Please! Let me go to them. I can talk to them. He's...Eric is just a baby!"

"No!" His tone was firm. "You must leave this to me. These men would crush the child underfoot if it served their purposes."

Bella stopped struggling. She swallowed over her horror. "They'd...murder a four-year-old?"

The man released her. He took several steps back and remained hidden. "The boy is a means to an end for them, nothing more."

"Who are they?" she demanded. "Who are you?"

The stranger hesitated and then moved forward into the moonlight. He was a handsome man. He appeared to be in his late forties, maybe fifty. 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. He was dressed in a black suit of a European cut and wore a dark shirt, so he nearly vanished into the night – would have, if it had not been for those piercing black eyes. They were narrowed, not with intent but by God.

He was Chinese.

"Who are they?" he echoed. "They are men whose purpose is to bring about the end of Joseph Cartwright. As to who I am," he paused, "I am a shadow of the past come to bring hope for the future.

"My name is Jian."

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Gibberish. He was hearin'...gibberish.

No, maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was Hop Sing.

A lazy grin lifted the corner of Joe's lips. If it was Hop Sing, he was hoppin' mad!

The grin lasted only a second – just long enough to let Joe know there was something wrong with his lips. His tongue moved to wet them and he discovered what it was – well, the two things it was. First of all he was gagged.

Second, his tongue tasted blood.

Joe lay where he was for a moment, takin' his oldest brother's oft-spoken and even more oft-ignored advice to think before actin' to heart. A groan had welled up behind the gag, but he held it in. If someone had gagged him then that probably meant someone had a use for him. Otherwise they would have killed him outright. That gave him an advantage. It gave him time to figure out who they were and what they wanted. Best for him if they thought he was still unconscious. That way they wouldn't guard what they said and maybe he could figure out what the hell was going on. Of course, it would have helped if they were speaking English, which they weren't.

They were talkin' in Chinese.

He'd heard it his whole life, of course. 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. Oh, he knew a few words and could give as good as he got in a shouting, match, but he didn't really know the language. That had been about the time Alice died. He'd set out then to learn more, at least enough to let Hop Sing know he was tryin'. Trouble was, old dogs had hard heads. Nothin' much had stuck.

Still, what he did understand was enough to let Joe know that the two men standing a few feet away from him weren't exactly exchangin' recipes.

Keeping his eyes closed he concentrated and listened, though concentrating only made him aware of how much his head hurt. It had taken him a moment to realize that the blood he'd tasted on his lips had come from a trail running off his forehead and down his cheek. He still couldn't remember what had happened. He'd turned around to leave the alley – after bein' a good boy and choosin' the safer route to the sheriff's office – and then, everything went black.

As black as his prospects looked at the moment.

The Chinese men were arguin' about what they were going to do with him. He heard one of them mention something about 'orders', to which the other replied 'dangerous.' That was one word he knew well. Hop Sing had shouted it at him often enough as he grew up. The word 'now' followed, and again, 'dangerous'. As the men spoke, their voices grew louder and their words more heated. Joe fought back a smile. Maybe they'd fall out and kill each other and then all he would have to do was wait for someone to come find him – wherever he was. He could hear sounds beyond the walls of whatever place they had him in. The meager light of the lantern hooked on a pole above his head didn't reveal much – just the boards under his feet and rafters above his head – but it looked like a warehouse of some sort. The sounds were people – and a good many of them. 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. Whoever these men were they must have brought him to Virginia City's Chinatown.

Maybe they were Hop Sing's cousins and they'd decided to make him pay for all the practical jokes he'd pulled on their cook over the years.

Joe stifled a snort. If only.

There were two of them. One was obviously older. His voice was quiet as a rattlesnake before the strike. The younger one was hot-headed and loud. He reminded him of himself when he was young. There was a certainty in his voice that said he knew he was right even if he was wrong as hell. He was yellin' something about payment. What he couldn't tell was if the man was talking about bein' paid or payin' for something. He kind of thought it was the latter. A minute later, Joe knew for certain which one it was when he heard something else. The older man said it. Not a word, but a name.

Khu Zhuang.

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Khu Zhuang.

Bella frowned. She'd heard the name before. Joe had mentioned it in connection with a terrible time in his youth. 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's honor, and the other just as bent on killing that man and retrieving the object he had stolen. Joe had nearly died. It had been close for the rest of the family as well as the tong leaders battled it out. 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. From what she understood, the Cartwrights had had no hand in Khu Zhuang's death.

According to Jian, the current leader of the tong believed otherwise.

"So these men have come here to take revenge on Joe?" she asked.

Jian nodded even as he continued a close watch on the shack. "This one learned of their intent and left as soon as possible. Unfortunately, it was not soon enough."

His regret was genuine, she could tell. And while the Chinese man had not brought this danger upon them, she couldn't help but wonder if his coming to Virginia City hadn't somehow hastened its arrival.

Abruptly, Jian's hand gripped her shoulder. She looked up at him and then at where he looked. One of the pair of men who had taken Eric was riding off.

"I will go now," he said.

"Go where?"

"To free Joseph Cartwright's son."

Her gaze returned to the shack. "Is it safe?"

"Distrust is the mother of safety," Jian replied cryptically.

"I'm coming with you," she stated flatly.

He had begun to edge toward the shack. The Chinese man stopped and turned back. "You will not come."

Bella planted her hands on her hips and glared at him. "And you will not stop me! I'm his mother and that's my son who is in that madman's hands!"

Jian's lips twitched with barely concealed amusement. "It does not surprise this one that tiger cub found tiger wife." He glanced at the building and then turned back to her again. "You will not come with me..."

"You are not going to – "

He held out a hand. "But you will help save your son."

Her eyes on the shack, Bella demanded, "How?"

Jian's smile, when it broke was not pleasant.

"Small fierce woman will be bait."

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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. He'd dutifully followed Roy to the section of Virginia City east of the downtown that was occupied by upwards of fifteen hundred Chinese. 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. 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's prosperity. There was a lot of crime here. But then, there was a lot of crime everywhere now.

It seemed his friend had fallen afoul of it.

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. They were led by a man named Junjie which, amusingly, meant 'handsome hero'. Chan Junjie was about his age and height and looked like he'd spent most of his youth wrasslin' with some angry bears. He was covered with scars from one end to the other, though the ones you couldn't avoid staring at were the two that crisscrossed his right cheek in an 'x', and the one above his left eye that had puckered and left him with a perpetual frown. His eyes were keen and piercing and, amazingly, hazel-green like Joe's. Junjie knew Hop Sing and had been out to the Ponderosa a few times, once for a supper to which he'd been invited. Ben had asked the lawman to tell his story and he had, in part. Seems Junjie's grandfather had been an Englishman who had defied his family to marry a Chinese woman while in Shanghai on business. In time they had come to America, hoping for a better chance for their children.

Hoping, not finding it.

Candy glanced at the window of what passed for a law office. He could see Roy Coffee inside. The older man was gesturing with his hands. He was pretty animated for an old guy. Junjie had looked about as pleased as a foal eyein' a rattler when they'd stepped into his office ten minutes back. He'd listened to the two lawmen talk and then, growing impatient, stepped outside. The buildings in this area were built side by side for the most part. As a cowpoke used to wide open spaces, it amazed him that people could live in such close quarters – and even more that they would want to. Everybody knew everybody's business.

At least, he hoped they did.

Stepping into the street, Candy headed for what passed as the local saloon. Its lights were still bright even though it had to be going on midnight. He and Joe had been there a few times, admiring the scenery. Joe's heart was all for Bella, but his friend still appreciated feminine beauty. They'd come here to pick up supplies for Hop Sing more than once. The Cartwrights' cook wasn't old yet, but just like Virginia City, he was slowing down. 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. Of course Hop Sing wouldn't admit it. Joe'd had to come up with some pretty inventive excuses for them to take over – some plausible and others just plain laughable. Still, in the end, his friend had come out on top and if he had to admit it, he really didn't mind the time they spent here.

Those Chinese gals sure were lookers!

As he ambled across the street, the brown-haired man looked right and left, payin' attention just in case anything appeared out of place. Seeing nothing on his way, he stepped up onto the porch of the Canton Cantina – the name came from the original partnership of a Chinese man and one from Mexico – and pushed open the batwing doors. It was kind of quiet inside. A couple of Chinese men were playing a game in the corner. An older woman wearing a sheath of blue silk was singing. A white man in a citified suit was consuming the last of a meal, just reaching for a whiskey to wash it down.

Candy glanced around the perimeter of the room and then headed for the bar. "Still open?" he asked the man behind it.

He was Chinese and fairly young. Name of Gwong Bo. He went by Bo, which seemed just about perfect for a barkeep.

"What Bo can do for Mister Candy of the Ponderosa?" the bar-keep asked as he finished polishing a glass and placed it on the counter.

"Whiskey. A small one. I need to be able to sit my horse and get home."

As he complied, Bo asked, "What Mister Candy do in town so late?"

He took a sip, smacked his lips in satisfaction, and then said – watching the other man for a reaction. "Came into town with my friend Joe. Still here lookin' for him. He's missing."

Bo blinked. "Missing? Mister Joe?"

Candy nodded as he shifted and leaned his back against the counter so he could watch the other patrons in the saloon. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about it, would you?" he asked, careful to keep his voice low. "He went missing this afternoon."

Bo was quick to answer. "No, sir! Bo know nothing. Keep bar all day and night."

The brown-haired man nodded. "Syun in?" She was one of the girls who liked to flirt with Joe.

"Syun know nothing, just like Bo," the barkeep answered.

A little too fast.

Candy took another sip and then looked him straight in the eye. "Now Bo, you don't sound too sure about that."

"You not talk to Syun," Bo replied, his tone sharp. "Not bring her trouble."

Joe admired Syun's beauty. Bo was sweet on her.

Turning toward the other man he spoke, his voice tight and low. "Now, if you just tell me what I need to know, then I won't have to bring her trouble...will I?"

"Bo know nothing!"

Which, of course, meant Bo knew plenty.

Candy thought a moment. "How about this, Bo? I'm gonna walk out that door. How about you tell me which direction to go – and then I won't have to ask Syun."

The man looked truly frightened. It made him wonder just what Joe had stumbled into.

Bo's eyes darted about the saloon. He drew a deep breath and then said, his voice pitched so low he could hardly hear it. "Mister Candy need find Cho Ban. He at warehouse near end of street. He have what you need."

What he needed. Was that information...or Joe?

Candy finished his whiskey and then tipped his hat. "Nice talkin' to you, Bo," he said and then added deliberately, "I'll be sure to come back and talk to you again if Cho doesn't have what Ineed."

Bo's skin was normally pale. It was fish belly white now.

"Mister Candy desire to extract a tooth from a tiger's mouth. Best if he go back to Ponderosa."

Bo didn't seem to understand. He'd walk into the den and take that tiger by the tail if it meant saving his friend.

With a tip of his hat, Candy replied, "He who sups with the Devil needs a long spoon." Then he sighed.

He'd been around Hop Sing far too long.

It seemed to the Ponderosa's foreman that every eye in the place followed him as he moved to the bat wing doors and stepped outside. 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 began to sing once more. He wondered where Syun was and what she knew and why. If Joe had been taken – and it seemed he had – he wondered what the 'why' was in that too. Roy hadn't said much about the man who was asking about his friend, but he had said he was Chinese.

He had a real bad feeling about all of this.

Candy halted and stood for a moment, considering whether or not he should go find Roy and Junjie and tell them what he'd learned. It was one of those choices a man made a thousand times a day.

And it was one of them that was wrong.