NINE

Hoss Cartwright ran a hand through his sandy hair and placed his hat on his head. It was the start of a new day and from what he could tell they'd done been hornswoggled by that little brother of theirs. He and Adam had spent the time since they'd discovered Little Joe was missing traveling south, moving from one train station to the next. They'd made it to Eureka as the sun set and had rented a room for the night. Now that it was morning, they had to decide whether to go further south or turn back and go home and start all over again.

The big man narrowed his crisp blue eyes and looked at his brother. "I got a gut feelin' Joe ain't on the train."

Adam puffed out a little air and nodded. "I'm beginning to believe that too. Still, if they didn't head south, then where would they have gone? Del made it fairly clear it was his intention to return to Louisiana as soon as he had the funds."

Hoss didn't like the sound of it, but he said it anyway. "Maybe havin' Joe along changed his and Hoyle's plans for some reason."

Adam didn't look happy about it either. "Maybe."

He was getting worried. He knew Little Joe was old enough to look out for himself, counting on things being normal. The problem was the more time went by the less he got to thinking anything about Joe disappearing was 'normal'.

"I just can't help it, Adam. I sure got a bad feelin' about this. I mean, Joe was awful mad, but you know that boy, once he cools down he thinks better of bein' stupid."

Adam chewed his cheek a moment. "I'm afraid its because of me," he admitted. "I should have believed Joe over Hoyle. Like you said, Joe's my brother. Why believe a stranger?"

"Cause you're too danged logical for your own good," Hoss said as he began to check the straps on his saddle. "When somethin' don't make sense, it drives you plumb loco."

"Yeah." Adam scowled as he remounted. "I've been thinking about that too. If Hoyle deliberately lied there has to have been a reason, and the only reason I can think of is he knew it would make me mad enough to confront Joe, thereby giving Joe a reason for running."

Hoss' brows peaked toward the downy tumble of hair on his forehead. "You think Hoyle was tryin' to get Joe to run away? Whatever for?"

"Nothing good, I'm afraid." His older looked at the road ahead. "I think we need to split up."

"You goin' on to the next station?"

Adam snorted. "Don't I wish? No, I think I better let Pa know what's going on."

Hoss swallowed. "I sure wouldn't want to be in your shoes when Pa finds out Little Joe's missin'."

"I don't want to be in my shoes either, but its not fair to Pa to keep him in the dark. He needs to know about Joe, especially if there is more to this than one angry boy running away from home."

"You want me to go back to the house and check out them tracks again?"

From what they'd seen as they traveled along the first few hours, Del had done a pretty good job of covering the signs of their passage. At least, he assumed it was Del. They'd followed the three horse's prints about five miles until they veered off into the rocks and headed for the high country. Both of them had agreed it was a feint and they'd followed the train line instead..

" Yes. See what's left and then follow what you find as best you can. Maybe you can tell if they really went into the high country." Adam ran a hand along the back of his neck. "I'm thinking that it was just to throw us off. "

"I'll see what I can find. " The big man said as he too mounted his horse . "If I don't find nothin', you want me to head over Genoa way?"

"Pa's not due there for a couple of days," Adam replied. "I'm supposed to join him in Eagle Station. He 's meeting with a group of men there who have some information on Hawks' operations, both here and back East. " He thought a moment. "Why don't you plan on meeting us there the day after tomorrow."

Hoss nodded. "Hopefully I'll have little brother with me."

"Hopefully." Adam pulled on the reins and set Scout to moving. "I better get on my way."

"Tell Pa 'hello' for me when you see him."

His brother haled his horse and looked back. "I will. When I can get a word in, that is. After I tell Pa Joe took off, I have a feeling that might not be until the time you arrive."

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Joe was sitting on a lumpy bed, in a seedy hotel room, wondering what the heck he thought he was doing. He'd been so sure, so certain this was what he wanted – to get out from under brother Adam's thumb and to prove he could stand on his own two feet without him or Hoss or even his Pa watching over him every minute waiting for him to make a mistake, or get hurt, or...something.

Now, he wasn't so sure.

They'd arrived at the dingy hotel and gone straight up to the room Del rented. As soon as they tossed their hats and satchels on the bed, Del and Hoyle headed out. He'd asked to go with them, but Del said he couldn't, that it had to do with the business deal he was negotiating and, at the moment, he wasn't a partner. He'd been uncomfortable with being left behind even before the blond man had stopped at the door with his hand on the knob and, looking back, told him he was going to lock him in. When he'd asked why, Del had said it was for his safety. When that prompted him to ask just what this deal was about, Hoyle's older brother snorted and answered, "Money. What else?"

Then he locked the door.

Rising, Joe crossed to the window. He'd been so sure he could trust Del and Hoyle. He just knew the brothers were his friends. He and Hoyle had talked for hours about how much he wanted to see New Orleans because of his mama coming from there. Hoyle'd told him all about it, drawing pictures with his words of the ports and wharfs and the paddle wheelers coming in, of tall trees dripping with moss, of the narrow winding streets with their cast iron lace fences and tall locked gates covered with vines. All he things he'd seen and Joe so desperately wanted to see. Hoyle had woven a spell that had convinced him that in order to see them, he had to do it now.

He was only fourteen.

What was the hurry?

Joe leaned his hand on the glass and looked out at the sleazy back alley the hotel opened onto. Genoa was a growing city. Like all western towns, it had its good side and its bad side. They were in the older part of town now, which usually meant trouble. As he stood there looking out, he saw a man come up to a tough-looking woman and try to take her by the arm. She swung around and struck him with her palm, knocking him off his feet, and then walked off in a huff. A few seconds later two other men began trailing her.

Up to no good, no doubt.

Maybe Del was trying to protect him. He and Hoyle were certainly more experienced than he was. They probably couldn't do their business if they felt they had to watch out for him. Joe frowned as he pivoted and looked at the locked door.

Still, couldn't they have trusted him?

No, more and more he was beginning to think that he'd got it all wrong. Since he'd been locked in, he'd gone back through all the things Hoyle had said since that morning when Adam had blown up at him and accused him of lying. Any way you looked at it, Hoyle was doing his best to paint Adam in a bad light and to make sure he stayed mad at him. Hoyle'd bad-mouthed older brother from the minute he came in his window and told him he and Del were taking off and wanted him to come with him. What he couldn't figure out was why? Del had made some mention of him helping them at the bank since his pa kept money there. Right now he had a good amount in the vault since the cattle drive was coming up and he was dealing with that Hawks fellow. If things went bad with Hawks, Pa was gonna have to pay through the nose to buy back the land Stanfield Hawks said was his. It was important land. They needed it for their cattle. Still, he couldn't figure there was anything he could do at the bank to help with any kind of deal. Much as he hated to admit it, he was just a kid. If he'd been a little older Pa might have sent him along with a letter or something for the manager. Hoss had started doing that at about fifteen. Pa even had him carry a draft from one bank to the other one time so he could have money transferred.

Hoss had sure felt important and all grown up that day.

Pressing off the window, Joe returned to the bed and sat down and considered his options. He could stay with Hoyle and Del and hope that whenever they were done doing whatever it was they were doing, they'd still take him to New Orleans with them. Or, he could just tell them when they got back that he wanted to go home. Of course, Hoyle would make him feel like he was a little boy running home with his tail between his legs and not a man making a decision to do what he thought was best. Joe snorted and a tiny smile lifted his lips. His pa would be proud of him for making a decision like that.

He'd tell him he was a man.

Joe leaned back on the pillows with a sigh. When he first thought of running away all he could see was what lay ahead of him – a real big city with thousands of people and lots of excitement, plus it was the place his mama had loved and lived in. Sitting here, alone, thinking about it again in the light of the way Hoyle and Del were acting, he thought about how the Ponderosa was the place he loved and lived in, and how his mama had left New Orleans and chosen to live there instead. She'd left that old city of thousands and all its corruption behind, Pa said, for the rushing streams, the open air, and the honest scent of pine trees.

He missed his pa.

Heck, he even missed Adam.

A noise in the corridor caught his attention. Joe looked at the space between the door and the floor and saw shadows moving through the light in the hall. He heard the key turn in the lock and then Del and Hoyle stepped in – followed by another man. He was shorter than Del and kind of dumpy looking in his ill-fitting suit. He didn't know him. And he didn't think he wanted to know him. He looked, well...

Shifty.

"Joe, this is Weston McCloud. He's my...business associate," Del said.

McCloud was staring at him like he already didn't like him, which was odd since they'd never met.

"Mister McCloud," he said, sticking out a hand like his pa taught him.

The dumpy man didn't take it. Instead he said, "I understand you are in with us."

Joe frowned. He shot a look at Del and then Hoyle. They were both watching him closely. Hoyle looked...

Scared.

"That depends on what 'this' is," he replied, itching his voice to sound just a little bit like his pa's when he was being cautious.

"I see my associates have not yet explained your role in our proposed endeavor. That was very lax of you, DeLoyd."

Del...or DeLoyd shrugged.

Weston McCloud came to stand before him. He wasn't a big man, but he was bigger than Joe and he loomed over him.

"I understand you want to be considered a man, Mister Cartwright," he said.

"So" What's that to you?" Joe shot back – and then felt stupid for having said it.

"A man looks at an opportunity, weighs its advantages and disadvantages, and then comes to a conclusion he can live with."

"Don't you mean one he can be proud of?" he countered.

McCloud's cloudy gray eyes were fastened on him. "Perhaps."

When the man said nothing more, Joe prompted, "So you gonna to tell me what this is all about? Any of you?" He looked pointedly at Hoyle.

"Del?" McCloud asked.

Hoyle's brother went to his satchel in response. He pulled out an envelope and then slipped a piece of paper out of it. Moving forward, he held it out and wagged it until Joe took it from his hand.

When he saw what it was Joe paled.

"Where'd you get this?" he asked, still looking at the blank bank draft with his father's signature on it.

Del scoffed. "You left us alone plenty in that big house of yours. It was simple to slip over to the desk and remove one of the drafts from the back of the book. As to the signature, all I had to do was hold a piece of paper over the top draft note and run a pencil over it, and then imitate it."

Joe's heart was racing. "And what do you expect me to do with it?"

"We expect you to walk into that bank with us tomorrow, with a completed draft in your hand, and to present it to the bank manager. You will tell him who you are and that your father sent you as his emissary and that, " McCloud's gaze flicked to Del, "a pair of trusted ranch hands were sent along with you to guard both you and the money you are going to withdraw on the way home."

He was shaking his head. "What makes you think any bank manager would give me my pa's money? I'm just a kid."

"For your sake, Joe Cartwright, and the sake of those in the bank, I hope you are a very convincing 'kid'."

He swallowed hard. "What do you mean?"

"Its all up to you. Who lives to walk out of that bank, or who dies." Weston McCloud held his gaze. "Either you do it my way or I will order my associates to do whatever is necessary to retrieve the money. The safe will have to be blown. There will be a shoot-out. People will die and it will be your fault."

"No, it won't – "

"Yes, it will!" McCloud came to his side. He caught his collar in his fingers and pulled him up close, so he could smell the man's cheap cologne. "You listen to me, you little runt. Either you cooperate or I will order every hostage in the bank killed. And don't get any ideas about trying to let someone know what's going on. Hoyle will be with you every minute. Won't you, Hoyle?"

Was he imagining it, or did his former friend look uncomfortable?

"Yeah, I'll watch him."

"And I'll watch you!" the man in the suit snorted as he let go. "The plan was for you to pretend to befriend Joe Cartwright. Don't tell me the little rich kid's got under your skin!"

Joe looked from McCloud to Hoyle and then back again. McCloud had left the door open when he came in. If he was fast enough he could get by him. If he ran down the hall shouting and making a ruckus someone was sure to ask him what was wrong. Then he could tell them to get the sheriff. Maybe even, send someone to wire his pa. Joe wanted his pa right now so bad he could taste it. Pa would know what to do. Pa would know how to get him out of this predicament.

Pa would...save him.

Weston McCloud turned at that moment to face Del. Joe drew a breath and held it. This was it. It was a split second, but it was a split second he had to take advantage of. Without hesitation, Joe ducked under McCloud's arm and bolted for the door. He was small, so he slipped by without any trouble. He made it to the corridor and was headed for the stair when he heard it.

Click.

A hammer being cocked.

"Young man, I would stop where you are if I were you," the man in the suit hissed, his tone filled with the promised threat of the death that awaited him if he didn't.

Joe stopped cold.

"You will come back here. Now."

He considered it. He could still bolt. Maybe make it to the stairs. There was a chance the bullet wouldn't hit him.

Then again, there was a better chance that it would.

Joe drew in a gulp of air and let it out slowly. Then he turned and walked back to the room. Once inside he stood there breathing hard, his nostrils flaring and his heart racing as Weston McCloud closed the door.

And locked it this time.

McCloud holstered his gun and came to stand over him again. As he spoke he shook his head. "Didn't you Pa teach you to obey your elders? What am I going to do with you, boy?" As if in answer, a sly smile twisted the brown-haired man's lips as he rolled up his sleeves.

"Obviously, nothing that shows."

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"Sir. Sir?"

Ben Cartwright started and looked up from the pile of papers he was working his way through. When he did, he found a woman looking down at him. He was seated at a table in the better of Eagle Station's hotels. It as barely noon and already he was so caught up in business he'd failed to notice a dark-eyed beauty with raven-black hair trying to make conversation with him. The older man sighed.

He disliked Stanfield Hawks more and more every day, and he hadn't even met the man!

"Forgive me," Ben said as he put down the portfolio he had been perusing.

The young lady shrugged. "If you don't want to order anything, it's less work for me," she said with a dazzling smile, "but then again if you're hungry, I'd be more than happy to get something from the kitchen for you."

"That would be lovely."

The waitress handed him a menu. "Would you like a minute to look it over?"

It was his fourth day at the hotel and he knew the menu like the back of his hand. "The roast beef will do fine," he said.

"Potatoes and beans?"

"That'll do," he replied as he handed the menu back to her. "I've been here half the week. I don't think I've seen you before."

"Probably not. I'm filling in for a friend today."

"I see. Well, thank you...?"

"Juliet. Juliet Hallenberger."

"Thank you, Juliet," he said as he handed the menu back.

"Coffee?"

"Yes, please, and water."

The young woman smiled again and nodded and then headed for the kitchen.

Ben sat staring out the window that fronted the main street of the small burgeoning town. Eagle Station was developing nicely. The site had great potential and there was even talk of it one day becoming a seat of government – when Nevada became a state. The fact that it was a main route to Virginia City didn't hurt. He'd come here to talk to a group of men who'd been let go unfairly by Stanfield Hawks and were disgruntled with the man and ready to tell some of his secrets. From what he'd learned so far he now knew that Hawks had broken several laws when he purchased the tract of land that was in dispute. With that knowledge he'd managed to get the hearing delayed a few days until he could gather further evidence and until Adam found his way to town. His eldest was late and he'd sent no word as to why. The older man leaned his chin on his fist and fingered the papers laying in front of him. He understood what they said well enough, but he wanted his oldest boy's unique take on the situation. Adam had a wonderful head for business. He had come to rely heavily on him in the years since his eldest had returned from college. Sometimes he thought that was a bit unfair.

Hoss and Joseph had gotten to be boys, while Adam never had.

Ben chuckled as he leaned back in his chair. Joseph was still a boy, even though he didn't think he was. At fourteen his youngest was at that awkward stage. Joseph wanted so badly to be a man like his older brothers, but he still had a child's understanding of things. Due to the fact that he had grown up almost exclusively on the Ponderosa, the boy was really rather naive. Not childlike, but...well... He guessed the word he was looking for was 'innocent'. Of course, Joseph would take rare exception to that statement. His curly-haired boy's jaw would tighten and his nostrils flare. Then he'd get that look in his eyes – the one that was halfway between anger and astonishment. His son had grown up around ranch hands and, though he'd done his best to pick good men who would be a good influence on his sons, he knew Joseph had learned a thing or two about life. The main trouble with the boy was that he was too trusting. He saw good in every one and, while that was a wonderful thing, Ben worried that – in the end – it would lead him into deep trouble one day.

Juliet was back. She placed a china cup filled with steaming coffee on the table and a pot beside it. "Your food will be out in a few minutes."

"Thank you," he said. When she remained standing there, Ben looked up at her. "Can I help you with something?"

"I just..." She paused. "Well, it's none of my business. You looked kind of sad. Is everything all right?"

He nodded. "Yes. I was just thinking about my sons. I've been away on business and I guess I am missing them."

"How many do you have?"

"Three. Two of them are grown. It's the youngest one I was thinking of. Joseph is only fourteen."

"I have a brother about that age." Juliet laughed. "He's a handful. Actually, my ma says he's two."

He laughed as well. "That would be Joseph."

"You said you'd been here a little less than a week. Will you be heading home soon?"

"Not soon. I'm here waiting on my eldest son to join me. We have a bit of business to do in Eagle Station and then its on to Genoa and then finally home."

"I'm going to Genoa," the young woman said, "tonight, actually. My sister Jenny and her husband live there. I'm going for an extended visit."

"Well, that's a coincidence! Maybe I'll see you there."

Juliet grinned. "That would be nice. Then I'll know three people in town! I'll go get your food now. I imagine its ready."

"Thank you."

As the young woman left, Ben turned back to the window just in time to see the figure of a man in black garb move past. It made him think of and long for Adam.

As it turned out, he didn't have toolong to long.

"Pa."

Ben swiveled in his chair. His eldest son was standing there, framed by the arch that led into the dining room. Adam 's usually impeccable clothes were covered with trail dust. His son looked weary.

And worried.

Ben was on his feet in a second. "What's wrong?"

Adam's hazel eyes took in the dining room with all its patrons. "Do you have a room here, Pa?"

He nodded. "Why?"

His son met his challenging stare and said simply. "What I have to say needs to be said in private."

The walk to his room was one of the longest Ben had taken in his life. He knew Adam. Something was wrong – terribly wrong. He could see it in the way the young man held himself; in the troubled and apologetic look in his eyes. He didn't know why his mind went instantly to Joseph, but it did. By the time they reached his room, he was practically out of his mind.

"Well?" Ben demanded as he closed the door. Adam had proceeded him into the room. As his son turned and opened his mouth to reply, he cut him short. "Is it Joseph?"

Adam's hazel eyes went wide. "I don't know how you do it."

"What's happened? Is he hurt?"

"I hope not, Pa," his son answered.

The older man couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You hope not? You don't know? "

His eldest frowned. "We got into it, Pa. Just 'why' is not important now. I accused Joe of lying and it ended up he was telling the truth. You know Joe, he got mad..."

"And?"

Adam winced. "He ran away."

Ben felt like his son had slapped him. "What?"

"You remember Del and Hoyle, Pa? "

Of course, he did. He'd lived with them in his house for weeks. He didn't care about Del and Hoyle. He needed to know about Joseph.

"Yes. Yes. What about them?"

"It's them Joe took off with." At his surprised look, Adam added, "You know how they were always talking about New Orleans."

Ben went to the desk in his room and sat down on the chair beside it. He'd forgotten about the two men's connection with the town Joseph's mother had come from. "So you think he's headed for New Orleans?"

Adam was quiet a moment. "Actually, Pa, I don't."

Ben's stomach tightened. "But you just said – "

"I said Joe's with Del and Hoyle. Hoss and I, well, we figured – if they were headed for Louisiana – they'd use the train." His eldest shook his head. "We checked every station between Virginia City and Eureka and no one had seen them."

"Where is Hoss?"

Overcome by worry and fatigue, Adam sat on the edge of the bed. He closed his eyes for a second and then blew a breath and some tension out with it before continuing. "Hoss went back to the Ponderosa to start all over again. He's tracking them. It looked like they went up into the high country, but I'm not so sure."

The tightness in his stomach was becoming a knot. "You don't think they were really heading for New Orleans?"

"I don't know what I think, Pa, other than..." His son's troubled eyes fastened on him. "I think we trusted Del and Hoyle too readily."

Had they?

"Del saved your brother's life."

"I know that, Pa. But I can't help but wonder if he did it because he had a reason to do it."

"Such as?"

Adam shrugged.

Ben knew what it was like – that gut feeling where the welfare of someone he loved was concerned. There was no way to explain it, it just was.

The older man remained silent a moment and then he asked, "What is Hoss going to do if he can't pick up their trail?"

"Head for Genoa. I told him to be there the day after tomorrow. I knew you'd have to finish up whatever you were doing here and then head there like you planned."

Business couldn't wait, unfortunately, since the courts were involved, though there was no way he could concentrate on the fight with Hawks now.

Ben thought a moment. "Your youngest brother flies off the handle with little provocation, but he usually cools down just about as fast. He could be on his way back to the Ponderosa now."

His eldest was silent a moment. What he said next pulled that knot about as tight as it could get.

"If he can."

A chill ran through him, turning the blood in his veins to ice. "What aren't you telling me, Adam?"

"I'm not hiding anything, Pa. It's just a feeling." His son rose and came to his side. "I think Del and Hoyle deliberately magnified the trouble between me and Joe. I think they stoked the fire and kept him mad enough that he went with them. I think..." He drew a deep breath. "I think they have some plan and Joe's a part of it."

"But what kind of plan? What could they want with a fourteen year old boy?"

"I don't know, Pa. I really don't."

Ben didn't either. But come Hell or high water, Stanfield Hawks and his nefarious dealings not withstanding, he was going to find out.

END OF PART TWO