II.

     "Thank-you Jason, Captain. The good Lord is surely watching out for me this day." He wiped at his smudged face with a dirty sleeve but only managed to deposit more soot where there had been none. Clancey and Jason smiled at each other, amused by this mysterious youth.

     "Now!" The sailor slapped one hand down on the worn table in front of them making the boy jump. " Out with it lad. What are you up to? Why were you running from the law?"

     "They just look like the law, Captain."

     "You said they would kill you," Jason began. "Why?"

     The boy took a deep breath before answering. "Those men just shot a man in cold blood. I saw them do it and... they saw me."

     "A murder?" Jason asked in disbelief. "Are you sure they weren't acting in self-defense?"

     "Why would they be chasing me if it was?" The boy's eyes flashed.

     Clancey nodded. "That's true, Jason."

     "Besides, I've been following these men and their victim for some time now. It was murder all right."

     "Why would a cub like you be following anybody around?" Clancey asked.

     "Because it's part of my job. I'm not really a paperboy, I'm a reporter from the Chicago Tribune and these men are part of a group of racketeers based in Chicago. My editor sent me out here to follow up on..." He stopped. Jason and Clancey were staring at him in wide-eyed disbelief.

     " A little squid like you, trailing gangsters across the country? You can't be more than fifteen!" Clancey had had enough. "Tell the truth now or its back on the street with you."

     The youngster looked to Jason for support but found him just as unconvinced.

     "It is hard to believe."

     The urchin sighed, then smiled. "You never did believe anything I said, Jason, even in the old days."

     "That's another thing, boy." Clancey leaned in toward him. "How do you know Bolt?"

     "Listen, I'm telling you the truth about the murder but..." Grinning, he removed his filthy cap to reveal a thick braid of golden hair wound round the top of her head. "I'm not a boy."

     The men stared in astonishment as she undid the braid and allowed a bounty of waves to tumble past her shoulders.

     "I am twenty-three, and a reporter for the Chicago Tribune on assignment in San Francisco." She spoke slowly, choosing her words with care. "I was born and raised on Bridal Veil Mountain in Seattle, Washington Territory and you, Jason Bolt, used to call me your sister."

     Clancey was completely stunned. Jason stared stupidly at her for a moment then tipped back in his chair and slapped his forehead.

     "Cricket Macready!"

     "In the flesh, brother." She laughed for the first time, and the sound of it filled the dark hold like music. Jason jumped from his chair to envelop his old friend in a warm hug, which was just as warmly returned.

     Poor Clancey, was more confused than ever by Jason's reaction. "Brother? What's this brother business? Have you a sister and never told me? Jason?" The two old friends ignored the man completely.

     "I can't believe it's you, of all people. It's been..."

     "Ten years," she laughed. "I'm surprised you didn't see through my disguise. This is the way I dressed when running wild on the mountain in your old hand-me-downs."

     "You were such an awkward, gangly thing when you left us." Jason took her face in his hands and discovered more and more of the girl he used to know.

     "Oh, Jason I've missed you, Josh and Jeremy so very much!" Her heart was overflowing with affection and true happiness now that she had received such a warm welcome from him. "How are they? Are they well?"

     "All grown up and as happy as any Bolt has a right to be. Wait until they find out about you."

     Clancey couldn't take it one second longer. "Will someone please explain all this?" He demanded. "Is this person really your sister?"

     Jason placed his arm around the girl and beamed, with pride. "She's as close as I've got. Clancey, this is Miss Kaitlyn Macready. We called her Cricket. Her parents were friends of my mother. They came with her from Scotland when my father returned to bring her to Seattle. The Macreadys and the Bolts settled on Bridal Veil together."

     "I was born on the mountain, Captain, and grew up with the only children around at the time, the Bolts. My mother passed away when I was five and Jason's mother became my own until she passed away."

     Jason picked up the tale. "Katie and her father left Seattle ten years ago and we haven't seen or heard from them since."

     "Til now." Kate grinned. Jason gave her another hug then suddenly became serious.

     "Would you kindly tell me how you happen to be so far from Illinois and why you're following dangerous criminals? I'll bet your father doesn't know about this. He took you back east to become a lady of quality if I remember right." Jason motioned to Kate to sit as he handed her a clean handkerchief for her face. Kate sat down and rubbed away at the dirt as she explained.

     "Papa died of pneumonia three years ago come November." Her voice became raspy but she continued. "He saw me graduate from college and get my first reporting job. He never was happy that I was a journalist, but even so, he convinced me that I could be the best reporter Chicago had ever seen. I was just beginning to get good wages for my work when he got sick." She paused to swallow the lump that had seemed to form in her throat. " We were planning to save our money, return to Seattle and buy our land back from you. Chicago was never the end of the rainbow that Papa thought it was. Living there was always hard but the tough times brought us together. When he died, I lost a father and my best friend."

     The ship was quiet. Jason took her hand in his. "My father would never have been able to settle the land without him. Andrew Macready was a good man and none of the Bolts will ever forget him."

     "Thank-you, Jason."

     "Why didn't you come home after he died, Cricket? Didn't you know you'd always be welcome?"

     She sighed, "Ten years is a long time. The loneliness didn't seem so bad when I was working as hard as I was. When I found out about this assignment in the west I drove my editor crazy until he gave it to me. I thought I might be able to stay out here for a while and eventually work my way up to Seattle for a visit."

     "You traveled all this way for a story on racketeers? What kind of editor would send a girl, alone, on a job like that?" Jason was incensed.

     "Our readers have a thirst to know about the seedier side of life. Crime and corruption sell papers on both sides of the Mississippi, brother. I knew this would be an important story so I spent months convincing my editor to send me here. I told him that a woman would be able to get into places a male reporter could not. Mr. Kurtz sent me only after he arranged for another reporter here in San Francisco to be my partner. Dan Sullivan and I have been working on this story for eight weeks." She got up and crossed to the porthole to see if anyone was still searching for her. "I've got to get to Dan soon to tell him of the murder. We have all we need to convict these men. Once we do, our story will be published in both California and Illinois and hopefully some very influential politicians will be behind bars."

     "What exactly happened today, Cricket?" Jason asked.

     "Let me back track a little. The district attorney has been the mastermind behind several plots to assassinate high-ranking members of the Chinese community."

     "Is it true?" Clancey asked.

     "It's true, and it's cost one of two eye-witnesses of the plot his life just a few moments ago." Kate's eyes drifted off as she replayed the murder in her mind. For all her direct, professional demeanor, Jason saw the sorrow the murder had brought her reflected in her brown eyes.

     "When is the trial, Cricket?" he asked softly.

     Kate blinked away the sorrow. "Tomorrow morning. I have to get to Dan before then. He needs to protect our other witness before they go after him too." She headed for the stairs. "Thank-you for helping me. I hope I'll see you again before you leave."

     In one swift move, Jason was blocking her way. "Hold on just one minute, Katie. You can't go out there now."

     "Jason, I have to." Her chin rose and her determined gaze challenged him. Jason almost smiled in spite of himself. Why were all the women he and his brothers knew so single-minded? Somewhere in the world there must be a female who wouldn't tire him out with constant challenges to his opinions. Kate had never been complacent as a child, in fact just the opposite and it didn't look as though she had learned the art of compromise in the past ten years. Jason braced himself and explained.

     "What good would it do for you to be murdered before you got to Dan?"

     "I know these streets Jason. I have to get to Dan." Kate's words were clear and cold. She never had been one to whine about anything.

     "There's a better way." He returned the challenged. "Interested?"

     Kate stepped back and returned to the table. "What is it?"

     Jason sat beside her. "Did the killers get a good look at you, Cricket?"

     "Yes. I was watching through a window. I hoped to keep them from pulling the trigger by yelling at them to stop. They shot him and then they aimed at me, fired and missed. My legs wouldn't move until then. I jumped down from the fire escape and ran for about four blocks before I ran into you."

     "She can't go out there, Jason. Every cop within a mile of here must be looking for her by now."

     Jason disagreed. "They're looking for a paper boy." He turned to her, "If you happen to own a dress we can get you out of here safely by tomorrow morning."

     Kate smiled, "Of course, I own a dress. In fact I own more than one! I live at Mrs. Miller's Boarding House, dockside. She's a very sweet old lady but completely deaf and almost blind. You shouldn't have any trouble getting in. It's room three on the second floor." Jason headed for the stairs. " Go to Dan's place next and tell him what's happened. I'll meet him at the prosecuting attorney's office at 7:00. Here, Jason." Kate pulled a pencil and small piece of paper from her pants pocket. She scribbled Dan's address for him as she spoke. "The territorial marshal and the prosecuting attorney, Mr. Jordan are the only ones Dan and I think aren't in on all of these attacks on the Chinese." She handed him the paper and the key to her room. "Dan lives alone. If he isn't at his place then he'll be at the Register on Main Street."

     "I'll find him." Jason gave her a wink.

     Kate took hold of his sleeve as he stood. "Be careful, Jason. Dan's home has been watched ever since we started this story."

     The tall lumberman placed his hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Clancey, you keep an eye on her. Don't let her off the ship if she starts to get impatient. She'd do that you know; used to run off and get herself and everyone else into all sorts of trouble."

     Clancey assured him, "I'll see that she stays put. Don't worry about that, bucko. I have a lot of questions for this young woman to answer. A lot of questions!"

     Kate smiled at them both. Finding these two was like finding a lighthouse on a stormy sea. Suddenly she knew that no matter what happened she wasn't so alone and that made her feel safe in a way she hadn't felt since her father had died.