"You have something that belongs to me."
Ethan raised his rifle.
"I have several things."
"The survey."
"No."
"The letters."
Ethan's eyes narrowed.
"How do you know about those?"
Vane smiled.
"Your father was not as clever as you think."
Mara stepped beside Ethan.
Vane noticed.
"You should leave this to the men."
Mara raised her rifle.
"I've buried men who said that."
Vane's smile disappeared.
"You have until sunrise."
"For what?"
"Sell Cedar Ridge."
"And if I don't?"
Vane looked at the house.
"Then you will lose it."
He turned his horse.
Ethan watched him leave.
Mara lowered her rifle.
"What now?"
Ethan looked at the letters.
"Now we stop running."
The Night of Fire
The attack came at midnight.
Ethan woke to the sound of glass breaking.
Then fire.
Mara screamed from the kitchen.
"Ethan!"
He jumped from bed.
Flames were climbing the outside wall.
He grabbed a rifle and ran downstairs.
Two men were firing from the trees.
Another threw a burning bottle onto the barn roof.
Ethan fired.
One attacker fell.
Mara dragged buckets toward the well.
"Don't fight them!"
"I have to."
"No. Save the horses."
She was right.
Ethan ran to the barn.
The horses were panicking.
He opened the stalls.
"Come on!"
One by one, the animals burst into the night.
A shot struck the barn door.
Ethan ducked.
Then he heard something else.
Hooves.
Dozens of them.
Apache riders emerged from the darkness.
Tomas led them.
They had come to help.
The attackers fled.
The fire was eventually contained.
The barn was badly damaged.
But Cedar Ridge still stood.
Tomas dismounted.
"You see?"
Ethan looked at him.
"What?"
"You are not alone."
Ethan laughed quietly.
"Neither are you."
They stood among the smoking ruins.
Then Tomas handed Ethan a folded piece of paper.
"What is this?"
"Your father gave it to me years ago."
Ethan opened it.
A map.
Not of Dry River.
Of an abandoned railroad survey line.
The route crossed a canyon north of the valley.
Tomas pointed.
"If Vane loses the legal claim, he may still try to force the railroad through here."
Ethan studied the map.
"There's a pass."
"Yes."
"And the railroad survey team?"
"Arrives tomorrow."
Ethan understood.
They had one chance.
If the railroad engineers learned the land claim was disputed, they might stop construction.
But they needed proof.
The letters weren't enough.
They needed Vane's original records.
Tomas knew where those were.
"His headquarters."
Ethan nodded.
"Mercer."
They had kept Caleb Mercer locked in an old storage room.
He had spent hours refusing to talk.
But after seeing the burned ranch, something changed.
Ethan entered.
Mercer sat with his hands tied.
"You came."
"I need information."
Mercer laughed.
"Why would I help you?"
"Because Vane burned your loyalty along with my barn."
Mercer looked away.
"He'll kill me."
"Probably."
"You don't sound sorry."
"I didn't say I was."
Mercer was silent.
Then he spoke.
"The records are in the company office."
"Where?"
"Behind the courthouse."
"How do we get them?"
"You don't."
"Why?"
"Because Vane expected you to come."
Ethan frowned.
Mercer leaned forward.
"There is a trap."
"What kind?"
"Everyone who enters leaves dead."
Ethan smiled.
"Then we'll enter through the roof."
Mercer stared.
"You're crazy."
"Probably."
"How many men do you have?"
Ethan looked toward the window.
"Enough."
That night, Ethan, Mara, Tomas, and four riders rode into Mercy Creek.
The town was dark.
Company men guarded the streets.
The courthouse stood at the center.
Ethan climbed onto the roof.
Mara followed.