Inside was a leather-bound ledger.

The pages were filled with names.

Dates.

Amounts.

Locations.

Some names belonged to families who had disappeared.

Others belonged to men known throughout the territory.

Then Ayana saw one name.

Victor Harrow.

Beneath it were payments.

Large ones.

Beside them were initials.

Officials.

Sheriffs.

Judges.

Men who had accepted money.

Men who had signed documents.

Men who had protected the traffickers.

Elias turned another page.

There was Samuel's name.

But beside it was something else.

A location.

A mine.

An abandoned silver mine near Black Mesa.

Ayana's breathing stopped.

"He's alive?"

Elias read the entry again.

The date was two years old.

"Not necessarily."

She looked at him.

"What does it say?"

Elias hesitated.

"Samuel was transported to the mine."

Ayana closed her eyes.

For five years she had believed he chose to leave.

Now she knew he had been imprisoned.

Perhaps killed.

Perhaps worse.

She pressed both hands against the ledger.

"I need to know."

Elias nodded.

"Then we'll find out."

Outside the ruins, a horse whinnied.

Elias froze.

Someone was coming.

Then another horse.

Then another.

Taza whispered.

"Men."

Elias closed the ledger.

"How many?"

Ayana looked through a broken window.

"Six."

Elias glanced toward the rear wall.

"Then we leave through the cemetery."

They slipped through the ruins.

But before they reached the horses, gunfire erupted.

The hunters had surrounded the mission.

Elias pushed Ayana behind a stone wall.

"Stay here."

She shook her head.

"I'm coming."

"No."

"I can shoot."

"You can also get killed."

"So can you."

He looked at her.

For a moment, neither moved.

Then Elias handed her a rifle.

"Stay behind me."

This time she obeyed.

Not because she was helpless.

Because she trusted him.

The first attacker came around the chapel.

Elias fired.

The man fell behind a gravestone.

Another shot struck the wall.

Ayana fired.

Her bullet struck the attacker's horse, forcing the rider to retreat.

They fought their way to the horses.

Elias grabbed the ledger.

Ayana mounted.

Taza climbed behind her.

They rode east.

Behind them, the abandoned mission disappeared beneath clouds of dust.

But the hunters followed.

Now they knew something important.

The ledger existed.

And the man who wanted it would kill anyone standing between him and the evidence.

Black Mesa rose from the desert like a fortress.

Its dark cliffs absorbed the afternoon sunlight.

The abandoned mine lay somewhere beneath them.

According to the ledger, prisoners had been held there before being transported farther south.

Elias and Ayana reached the area at dusk.

They dismounted.

Taza stayed with the horses.

Elias examined the ground.

Fresh tracks.

"Someone has been here."

Ayana looked toward the mine entrance.

"Recently?"

"Yes."

They approached carefully.

Inside, the mine smelled of damp stone and old smoke.

A lantern burned near the entrance.

Someone had been there.

They moved deeper.

Then they heard voices.

Men.

Elias raised a hand.

They stopped.

The voices became clearer.

"Search every tunnel."

"She has the ledger."

"Then find her."

Ayana looked at Elias.

Victor Harrow's men.

Elias whispered.

"We leave."

But before they could retreat, a man stepped from the darkness behind them.

"Too late."

He struck Elias with the butt of a rifle.

Elias collapsed.

Ayana screamed.

Another man grabbed her.

She fought violently.

The man struck her.

Taza shouted from the entrance.

A gunshot echoed.

The boy ran.

The men chased him.

Ayana screamed his name.

"Elias!"

Elias forced himself upright.

His vision blurred.

He reached for his revolver.

One shot.

Then another.

The tunnel erupted into chaos.

Ayana kicked the man holding her.

He stumbled.

She grabbed his knife.

Elias tackled another.

For several seconds, no one knew who would survive.

Then the mine went silent.

Two men lay unconscious.

Another fled.

The others followed.

Taza returned with the horses.

Ayana ran to Elias.

Blood covered his forehead.

"I'm fine."

"You're bleeding."

"I've been worse."

She tore a piece from her sleeve.

"Sit down."

He obeyed.

She cleaned the wound.

Her hands trembled.

Elias noticed.

"You okay?"

"No."

He looked at her.

"I thought they killed you."

"I'm still here."

"I know."

She continued wrapping his head.

Then she whispered.

"I don't want to lose another person."

Elias said nothing.

He understood.

Later, they searched the mine.

They found chains.

Old blankets.

Empty food crates.

And names carved into the walls.

Ayana found Samuel's name.

She touched it.

Her fingers trembled.