Taza nodded.
They waited until the riders were past.
Then moved in the opposite direction.
Two miles later, they found an abandoned shack.
Inside was a broken chair, a rusted stove and several crates.
Caleb opened one.
Mining tools.
Another.
Dynamite.
Nokan stared.
"Rourke."
Caleb shook his head.
"Maybe."
He found a third crate.
Documents.
Survey maps.
Caleb opened one.
His heart stopped.
The map showed the entire valley.
Not just the surface.
Underground lines had been marked.
Water channels.
Faults.
Rock layers.
The valley had been surveyed in extraordinary detail.
Someone had spent months mapping the earth beneath the camp.
Taza stared.
"They knew."
Caleb nodded.
"They knew exactly where the water was."
Nokan picked up another document.
"This is Rourke's signature."
Caleb looked.
It was an order.
The wording was simple.
Divert the eastern channel. Force abandonment before winter.
Caleb read it twice.
Then folded it.
"We have him."
A sound came from outside.
A twig breaking.
Caleb froze.
The three men reached for their weapons.
A voice came from the darkness.
"Don't shoot."
Caleb raised his revolver.
"Who are you?"
A young man stepped into the moonlight.
He wore a Rourke jacket.
But he had no gun.
"My name is Samuel."
"Samuel what?"
"Bell."
Caleb lowered the revolver slightly.
"What do you want?"
"I work in the county office."
"Why are you here?"
Samuel swallowed.
"Because Rourke knows you found the water."
Caleb looked at the papers.
"How?"
"He has people everywhere."
"Then why warn me?"
Samuel looked down.
"Because I signed some of the papers."
Caleb's expression hardened.
"What papers?"
"The false survey."
Taza raised his rifle.
Samuel flinched.
Caleb stopped him.
"Let him speak."
Samuel continued.
"I didn't know what the papers were for."
"Now you do."
"Yes."
"And?"
Samuel looked toward the ground.
"My wife is pregnant."
Caleb understood immediately.
"Rourke threatened you."
Samuel nodded.
"He said if I didn't change the survey, I'd lose my job."
"Only your job?"
Samuel looked at him.
"No."
The word hung in the darkness.
Caleb asked:
"What else?"
"My wife."
Silence.
Samuel reached inside his coat.
Caleb almost drew his gun.
Instead, Samuel produced a small key.
"This opens the county archive."
Caleb stared.
"The original survey is still there."
"I thought it was stolen."
"Rourke took the copy."
Samuel shook his head.
"The original never left the building."
Caleb smiled.
"Then we have a chance."
Samuel looked frightened.
"You don't understand."
"What?"
"The archive isn't guarded by the county."
Caleb waited.
"Who guards it?"
Samuel whispered:
"Deputy Marshal Crowley."
Caleb sighed.
He had heard the name before.
Crowley wasn't a lawman who protected documents.
He protected whoever paid him.
Caleb looked at the key.
Then toward Dry Creek.
"We go at dawn."
Samuel shook his head.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because Crowley is expecting you."
Caleb smiled.
"Then we'll surprise him."
They returned to the camp the following night.
The women were waiting.
Caleb laid the papers on the table.
Awan read the translated order.
His face became still.
Rourke hadn't merely wanted the land.
He had planned the water's destruction.
Mara stared at the document.
"He wanted our children to die."
Caleb shook his head.
"Maybe not."
She looked at him.
"He wanted you to leave."
"Is that better?"
Caleb didn't answer.
Because it wasn't.
Sani picked up the map.
She studied it.
Then looked at Caleb.
"You said we needed twenty-two witnesses."
"Yes."
She pointed toward the twenty-two women.
"Then you have them."
Caleb smiled.
"Tomorrow we get the original survey."
Awan looked toward the ridge.
"And if Rourke stops you?"
Caleb checked his revolver.
"Then we'll see how much power a piece of paper really has."
Outside the camp, unseen in the darkness, a man watched the fire.
He had followed them back.
He turned his horse.
And rode north.
Toward Rourke.
The message he carried was simple.
They found the order.
Rourke read it beside his fireplace.
He stared into the flames.
Then smiled.
"Good."
His assistant looked confused.
"Good?"
Rourke folded the note.
"Now I know exactly what to take from them."
"What?"
Rourke stood.
"Their evidence."
He walked toward the door.
"And their cowboy."
Dry Creek looked different in the morning.
Caleb had passed through the town once before.
Then it had seemed ordinary.
Now every building appeared to have a watcher.
Every doorway looked occupied.
Every horse tied outside a saloon looked like it belonged to someone dangerous.
Caleb entered town shortly after sunrise with Taza and Nokan.
They did not ride together.
That was the first rule.
Three men arriving together attracted attention.
One arriving alone looked like a traveler.
Caleb left June at the livery.
Taza disappeared behind the general store.
Nokan entered the blacksmith's shop.
They would meet at noon.
If anything went wrong, they would not come looking for one another.
Caleb walked toward the county building.
The courthouse was a two-story stone structure.
The county archive occupied the basement.
Samuel had given him the key the previous night.
But Samuel had warned him.
Crowley watched the building.
Caleb stood across the street for several minutes.
A woman exited the courthouse.
Two men entered.
A deputy stood beside the door.
Another smoked beneath the balcony.
Caleb smiled.
"Too obvious."
He turned away.
Instead of entering through the front, he walked around the building.
Behind it was a narrow alley.
A basement window had been boarded over.
Caleb examined the boards.
One was loose.
He removed it.
Darkness.
He squeezed through.
The basement smelled of dust and old paper.
Caleb lit a match.
Shelves.
Boxes.
Ledgers.
Maps.
Records belonging to dead men who had probably believed their signatures would survive forever.
Caleb found the archive room.
The key worked.
He entered.
The original survey was supposed to be in cabinet seven.
He found cabinet seven.
Locked.
Caleb used Samuel's key.
The lock opened.
Inside were dozens of rolled maps.
He found the valley.
The original survey.
Exactly as Samuel had promised.
Caleb unrolled it.
The boundary line was clear.
The spring belonged to the community's traditional territory.
Rourke's claim did not include it.
Caleb smiled.
Then he saw something else.
A second document.
A letter.
Dated twelve years earlier.
It was from Rourke's father.
Caleb read it.
The old man had already known about the underground water system.
More importantly, he had known that the Apache families had used the valley for generations.
The letter contained a warning.
Do not attempt to remove them. The valley will become a graveyard for anyone who ignores the water rights.
Caleb read the sentence twice.
Then he understood.
Silas Rourke hadn't discovered the secret.
He had inherited it.
His father had known.
And he had chosen not to take the land.
Silas had chosen differently.
Caleb rolled the letter and the survey together.
Then he heard footsteps.
He blew out the match.
Someone entered the basement.
A voice.
"Search every room."
Crowley.
Caleb crouched behind a cabinet.
Two deputies entered.
They began searching.
One moved toward the archive.
Caleb looked for another exit.
There.
A narrow door behind the shelves.
He opened it.
Stairs.
He descended.
The passage smelled like damp earth.
Caleb followed it.
It led beneath the courthouse.
He found another door.
He opened it.
And stepped into the alley.
He closed it.
Then walked away.
He reached the blacksmith shop at noon.
Taza was already there.
Nokan arrived shortly afterward.
Caleb placed the survey on the table.
"We have it."
Taza smiled.
"Then we win."
Caleb shook his head.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because Rourke knows we have it."
Nokan looked toward the street.
"How?"
Caleb pointed toward the courthouse.
"Crowley searched the archive."
Taza swore.
They returned to the livery.
June was gone.
Caleb froze.
The stall was empty.
He looked at the stable owner.
"Where is my horse?"
The man avoided his eyes.
"Someone came."
"Who?"
"Three men."
"What did they say?"
"They said the horse was theirs."
Caleb stared.
"Did you believe them?"
The stable owner shook his head.
"I didn't have much choice."
Caleb turned.
Across the street, a man stood watching him.
He wore Rourke's black coat.
Then he disappeared.
Caleb smiled.
"They want me angry."
Taza frowned.
"Why?"
"Because angry men make mistakes."
Nokan looked at the empty stall.
"What now?"
Caleb walked toward the road.
"We go back."
"On foot?"
"Yes."
Taza laughed.
"You are joking."
"No."
Caleb adjusted his hat.
"We have evidence."
He looked toward the southern road.
"And Rourke has my horse."
Three days later, they returned to the valley.
The camp was waiting.
Caleb entered on foot.
Mara ran toward him.
"Where is June?"
"Rourke took her."
Mara frowned.
"He took your horse?"
"Yes."
Sani approached.
"Why?"
"Because he wants me angry."
She smiled.