Chapter 1

Jason Dunlap enjoyed walking the streets of San Francisco in the early evening, especially in the section of the city coming to be popularly known as the Barbary Coast. Jason fed off of excitement and conflict, food was something that kept his body going, but he just ate to live, he lived to experience danger. He was not armed in the conventional manner—a gun just made it too easy.

Jason's weapon of choice was a short staff four feet long and an inch and a half in diameter. The staff was intricately carved with erotic scenes, and many conventional types would be scandalized if they ever got a chance to examine the carving. At the balance point of the staff was carved a classic mermaid figure, and pressing on her breasts released two blades hidden within the staff. Each blade was eight inches long and sharpened to a razor's edge on two sides, with a point capable of penetrating a quarter inch thickness of steel. A blade was hidden in each end of the staff and spring loaded so that it jumped from its hiding place so rapidly that the human eye couldn't follow it. When extended, the blades locked into place and could not be pressed back into the staff unless the proper breast was pressed.

The staff was heavy enough to serve as a cudgel of awesome power. If Jason swung his staff at arm's length, it could easily crush a skull, yet it was light enough that his great strength allowed him to swing the cudgel back and forth as he might a simple twig. A fine example of this ease of movement was Jason's encounter with the cutpurse he had met just a few minutes before.

That individual had been lurking in a darkened alley and waiting for a victim to pass by. As Jason stepped passed the alley entrance, the would-be thief stepped out behind him and placed his left hand of Jason's left shoulder. He pressed a dirk against Jason's back just at his right kidney. "Stop right there, me hearty. I'll have your purse or your life."

Jason froze in position and let his shoulders sag as if he intended to follow instructions. Sensing success, the thief relaxed the pressure of his knife against Jason's back. As soon as he felt that, Jason whirled to his left, spinning the knife away from his back and bringing his staff around and pointed at the breastbone of the thief. A quick motion forward with the staff caught the thief in the breastbone exactly over the man's heart. The staff was driven forward with such force that the thief's sternum was shattered and splinters of bone were driven into his heart. The man simply dropped at Jason's feet, never to move on his own again. Jason sniffed in disgust, "Amateur!" and walked on his way.

Jason did not need the meager rewards he could glean from the dead man, so he left the body to be stripped by someone less fortunate than himself. This was, indeed, a pleasant way to start his evening, Jason thought as he wandered more deeply into the realm of the Sydney Ducks.

The Sydney Ducks ran this district of San Francisco strictly to their own liking, which meant that there was absolutely no law but theirs of theft, rape, and murder. Jason Dunlap was not a do-gooder out to eliminate this sinister element of San Francisco's society, no, he was here strictly for his own reasons. If there were no Sidney Ducks, or the equivalent, to contend with, Jason would have moved on to another city. However, he really loved San Francisco, so he was happy to find what he needed right at home.

Jason was beginning to be perturbed, he had walked two blocks since he encountered the previous thief, and he had not been accosted again. Was this section of the city going soft? Normally, there should be at least one thief in every block, anything less was an affront to Jason's ideas of propriety. Just as he was about to cross the street, his faith in the Barbary Coast was restored.

Two men rushed at him with knives drawn and ready to slash him to mincemeat. The attackers might have paused if they had seen the smile on Jason's face when he caught sight of the two muggers. However, everything happened too fast for Jason's smile to register.

Jason pressed the left breast of the mermaid and one blade popped out at the end of the staff pointing toward the two attackers. Jason casually let the staff fall from his shoulder where he had been carrying it so that it pointed directly at the neck of one of the men. When the man got close enough, Jason flicked his wrist, and the blade at the end of the staff whipped through the neck of that attacker so that the man's head went flying and blood was pumped all over his companion.

The spurting blood was enough of a distraction to the second man that Jason had plenty of time to stab that man in the heart, putting an end to the attack almost before it began. Jason did stop long enough to clean the blood from the blade and the staff before resetting the blade back in its recessed position.

At this point he heard light applause coming from across the street. He turned to see who was clapping his hands and found himself facing a pistol pointed at his body. The person standing across the street was a woman dressed in the height of fashion for a prostitute. Once she was sure that Jason had seen the pistol, she returned it to her reticule and smiled at him.

"Sir, that was neatly done. May I inquire as to your name?"

Jason tipped his top hat and said, "My name is Jason Dunlap. May I ask who I have the honor of addressing?"

"Certainly. I am Big Ass Betty, the owner of the bordello your are standing in front of. I am in need of assistance, and you look like the man who can help me, if you are willing."

"Madam Betty, I have heard of you, and I would be delighted to be of service. How may I help you?"

"Come with me to my office and I will tell you my problem, and what I would like for you to do."

They went into the bordello and Jason was impressed by the opulence of the place. They walked through a large room full of overstuffed chairs and sofas, full of customers and whores, on down a hall to an office that might have been the office of a bank manager. They sat down and Betty offered Jason a drink, he asked for coffee, Jason never drank anything stronger than beer, and rarely that.

Once coffee was served, Betty got right to the point. "I have been threatened. I was told to pay protection money to keep my business from being destroyed. I don't know who is behind the threat, but I suspect that it is Big Ed Johnson. He has tried to buy me out on several occasions, but I have refused to sell. The last time I turned him down, he told me that I would regret my decision. I need somebody who really will protect me, and who will put a stop to the threats. I will pay you handsomely for your assistance."

Jason did not need the money, but he was not foolish enough to refuse payment for something he would enjoy doing. "Madam Betty, I would be pleased to help you, but I would need free access to your bordello, and I would need a lot of information on Big Ed Johnson. I know him only by reputation, so I would need every detail that you can recall to tell me. Also, of course, I would like to know how much you are willing to pay for my services."

"I will pay you $50 a day for as long as you work for me. That's a lot of money, but it would be worth that to get rid of whoever is threatening me. Will you work for me, starting today?"

"Yes, I will take the job. Now please tell me everything you can about Big Ed."

Betty spent over an hour relating everything she could think of that she had ever heard about Big Ed Johnson, pointing out what was simply hearsay and what she knew for a fact. By the time she was finished, Jason could tell that he was going to enjoy taking Big Ed down. If he could eliminate Big Ed, he should earn all kinds of credit in heaven, which Jason knew that he sorely needed. Jason did not care whether or not Big Ed was actually the source of Betty's problem, he needed eliminating, and Jason looked forward to doing it.

Jason was dressed as a dandy, since that tended to attract the attention he normally sought, but he needed something a bit less conspicuous for this job. Therefore, he bid Betty goodnight and returned to his hotel to change clothes. Jason switched to a close fitting pair of black pants and a black sweater. He donned black gloves and black soft shoes, along with a black hood. For weapons, he chose a pair of throwing knives and his staff. His staff was already black, so he did not have to worry with that.