“Daniel?”
He did not answer.
He opened the wooden box.
Inside lay a folded photograph.
A silver ring.
And a letter sealed with dark red wax.
Daniel lifted the photograph.
It showed six men standing outside a large brick building.
Five were strangers.
The sixth was Caleb Voss.
Daniel recognized him immediately.
But it was the man standing beside Voss who made him stop breathing.
He was tall, broad-shouldered, with dark hair and a narrow face.
His expression was cold.
His left hand rested on a walking cane.
Daniel knew that face.
He had seen it before.
Not in Colorado.
Not in Kansas.
But in a place he had spent five years trying to forget.
Abigail watched his expression.
“Who is he?”
Daniel did not answer.
He turned the photograph over.
A name had been written on the back.
Edward Ashcroft.
Rachel frowned.
“Who is Edward Ashcroft?”
Daniel looked up.
His face had gone pale.
“He was the man who ordered Eleanor's murder.”
Lucy gasped.
Abigail covered her mouth.
Daniel stared at the photograph.
“And I thought he was dead.”
Before anyone could speak, a distant sound echoed through the underground passage.
Footsteps.
Daniel froze.
Rachel lifted her revolver.
“Did you hear that?”
He nodded.
Another sound followed.
A man's voice.
Then the scrape of metal against stone.
Daniel extinguished one lantern.
“Someone's coming.”
Abigail looked toward the door.
“How many?”
Daniel listened.
At least four.
Possibly more.
He moved quickly.
“Rachel, help Lucy gather the letters. Abigail, take the notebook.”
“What about the safe?”
“Leave it.”
“But the gold—”
“Forget the gold.”
Daniel closed the wooden box and handed it to Abigail.
“Keep this with you.”
The footsteps grew louder.
A voice echoed through the passage.
“Mercer!”
Wade Briggs.
Daniel swore quietly.
Rachel's eyes widened.
“How did they find us?”
Daniel looked toward the open iron door.
“Doesn't matter.”
Briggs called again.
“Come on out, Danny! Mr. Voss wants a word!”
Daniel checked his rifle.
The chamber was loaded.
He looked at the three sisters.
“There must be another way out.”
Abigail glanced around the room.
“Where?”
Daniel pointed toward the underground stream.
“Water has to go somewhere.”
Rachel stared at the narrow opening where the stream disappeared beneath the stone.
“You can't be serious.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Do I look like I'm joking?”
She glanced toward the passage.
Then toward the water.
“It's barely three feet high.”
“Then we'll crawl.”
Lucy looked frightened.
“What if it collapses?”
Daniel knelt beside the opening.
Cold water flowed over smooth stones.
Beyond the narrow entrance, the passage widened slightly.
He could feel a faint current of air.
That meant another opening existed somewhere beyond.
He stood.
“It's our best chance.”
Briggs's voice came again.
“Mercer! You hear me?”
Daniel looked toward the iron door.
Then he answered.
“Loud and clear, Wade.”
Briggs laughed.
“Good. Saves me the trouble of coming down there.”
“You always were lazy.”
“Still got that mouth on you.”
“Still got that ugly beard?”
One of the gunmen laughed.
Briggs cursed.
“Mr. Voss wants the women and whatever they found.”
Daniel glanced toward Abigail.
She was already helping Lucy toward the stream.
“Tell Voss he's welcome to come ask me himself.”
Briggs's voice hardened.
“You know how this ends.”
Daniel lifted his rifle.
“Not yet.”
A gunshot exploded through the passage.
The bullet struck the stone beside the iron door.
Abigail screamed.
Daniel fired once into the ceiling near the passage entrance.
Stone fragments showered down.
The gunmen retreated.
Daniel turned.
“Go!”
Rachel crawled into the water first.
Lucy followed.
Abigail hesitated.
“Daniel!”
“Go!”
“What about you?”
“I'll be right behind you.”
She stared at him.
He met her eyes.
“Abigail. Trust me.”
For one heartbeat, she seemed about to argue.
Then she nodded.
She disappeared into the narrow passage.
Daniel fired another shot toward the entrance.
The gunmen ducked.
He stepped backward toward the stream.
Water soaked his boots.
He crouched.
Then, just as he was about to follow the sisters, he heard a different voice.
A voice that made his blood turn cold.
“Daniel Mercer.”
He stopped.
The voice was older.
Smooth.
Almost pleasant.
“It's been a long time.”
Daniel slowly turned.
At the far end of the passage, a man stepped into the lantern light.
He wore an expensive dark coat.
His silver hair was neatly combed.
A polished walking cane rested in his right hand.
Daniel stared.
Edward Ashcroft.
Alive.
Standing less than thirty feet away.
The man smiled.
“Hello, Daniel.”
Daniel raised his rifle.
Ashcroft did not flinch.
“I see you still remember me.”
Daniel's voice was barely more than a whisper.
“You murdered my wife.”
Ashcroft sighed.
“Eleanor was a remarkable woman.”
Daniel tightened his grip.
“Don't say her name.”
“She was clever. Brave. Unfortunately, she was also terribly unwilling to mind her own business.”
Daniel aimed directly at his chest.
Ashcroft looked almost amused.
“You could shoot me.”
Daniel said nothing.
“But if you do, my men will kill those three young women before they reach the surface.”
Daniel's expression changed.
Ashcroft smiled.
“Ah. There it is.”
He took one step closer.
“The same weakness that ruined you five years ago.”
Daniel's finger tightened against the trigger.
Ashcroft raised his free hand.
“Love.”
The word echoed through the chamber.
“You always did let it make your decisions for you.”
Daniel stared at the man who had destroyed his life.
Behind him, the stream continued flowing through the darkness.
Somewhere beyond the stone, Abigail and her sisters were crawling toward an uncertain escape.
And before him stood the man he had spent five years believing was dead.
Ashcroft lowered his hand.
“Now,” he said pleasantly, “let's discuss what you're going to do for me.”
Daniel did not lower his rifle.
“What makes you think I'll do anything for you?”
Ashcroft smiled.
“Because, Mr. Mercer, I know something about Eleanor that you never discovered.”
Daniel went still.
The older man leaned on his cane.
“Your wife didn't die because she found my secrets.”
He paused.
“She died because she discovered yours.”
And for the first time in five years, Daniel Mercer felt a fear greater than grief.
The fear that the woman he had loved had taken a terrible truth to her grave.