A letter.
Tom's handwriting.
Ellen waited until Jacob returned.
He arrived near midnight.
She handed it to him.
"For you."
Jacob sat on the porch.
He opened it.
Jacob,
If you're reading this, I'm probably dead.
I know that sounds dramatic, but you've always enjoyed dramatic things, so maybe you'll appreciate it.
I found the old survey.
Vale doesn't have it.
I hid it where we first became thieves.
Jacob stopped reading.
His hands trembled.
Daniel sat nearby.
"What?"
Jacob handed him the letter.
Daniel read.
Then looked up.
"The mission."
Jacob nodded.
Twenty years earlier, the three boys had stolen food from an abandoned Spanish mission.
It had been their first theft.
They had laughed for days.
The mission stood twenty miles south.
Ellen said:
"You're going."
"Yes."
"I'm coming."
"No."
She picked up a rifle.
"That wasn't a question."
Ben appeared in the doorway.
"I want to come."
Both adults said:
"No."
Daniel laughed.
They reached the abandoned mission at noon.
The roof had collapsed.
Jacob remembered being sixteen.
Hungry.
Wild.
Tom beside him.
Daniel watching the road.
He found the old storage room.
Inside, behind a loose adobe brick, was a leather tube.
Jacob pulled it free.
The Avery survey.
Original.
Signed.
Sealed.
Judge Foster had been correct.
It showed Black Canyon and the surrounding water basin as public territorial resource land.
No individual could legally own the primary spring.
Vale's entire empire had been built on a false premise.
Ellen stared.
"This ends it."
A voice behind them said:
"No."
Silas Crane stood in the doorway.
Six men surrounded the mission.
Jacob sighed.
"You got loose."
Crane smiled.
"I chewed through the rope."
"Really?"
"No."
He raised his gun.
"Give me the map."
Jacob looked at Ellen.
Then at Crane.
"No."
Crane shot.
Jacob pulled Ellen down.
Gunfire exploded.
Adobe walls shattered.
Jacob returned fire.
Two men retreated.
Ellen shot another man's rifle from his hands.
Crane moved behind a pillar.
"You're trapped!"
Jacob looked upward.
The bell tower.
Broken stairs led to the roof.
He whispered:
"Climb."
Ellen nodded.
They climbed.
Crane followed.
Jacob reached the roof.
Beyond the wall was a fifteen-foot drop into sand.
"Jump."
Ellen stared.
"You're insane."
"Frequently."
They jumped.
Jacob hit hard.
Pain shot through his shoulder.
Ellen landed beside him.
They ran toward the horses.
Crane emerged from the mission.
"Stop!"
Jacob turned.
Crane fired.
The bullet hit Jacob.
He fell.
Ellen screamed.
Blood spread across his side.
Crane approached.
"Map."
Jacob laughed weakly.
Crane frowned.
"What?"
"You still don't understand."
"Understand what?"
"The map isn't here."
Crane froze.
Ellen smiled.
Before leaving Red Mesa, Jacob had given the original to Daniel.
They had carried a copy.
Crane stared at the paper in Ellen's hand.
Then rage crossed his face.
He raised his revolver.
A rifle fired.
Crane dropped.
Daniel rode over the ridge.
Behind him were Sheriff Walter and six ranchers.
Daniel dismounted.
"I told you not to do anything stupid."
Jacob looked at his bleeding side.
"Little late."
Ellen knelt.
"Stay awake."
"Wasn't planning on sleeping."
She pressed cloth against the wound.
"You promised you'd come back."
"I did."
"Barely."
Jacob looked at her.
"Still counts."
The bullet passed through.
No major organ had been hit.
Jacob spent the night at Ellen's ranch.
At sunrise, Judge Foster arrived.
She examined the original survey.
Then Tom's notebook.
Then Walter's files.
"This is enough."
"For what?" Daniel asked.
"Everything."
She issued warrants.
Horace Vale.
Silas Crane, if he survived.
Several land agents.
Two county officials.
But when Walter rode to Vale Ranch, it was empty.
Vale had gone.
So had forty armed men.
Jacob knew where.
"Black Canyon."
They rode north.
The canyon was abandoned.
Then Ben shouted:
"Smoke!"
Jacob turned.
Smoke rose from Red Mesa.
Vale had gone south instead.
Toward the town.
The Burning of Red Mesa
The first building Vale burned was the courthouse.
The second was Walter's office.
He wanted the records destroyed.
By the time Jacob and the others returned, flames covered half the street.
Townspeople carried buckets.
Gunfire cracked from rooftops.
Vale's riders controlled the western end of town.
Jacob dismounted.
His wound tore open.
Ellen grabbed him.
"You can't fight."
"Seems I'm already here."
"You can barely stand."
"That's why God invented walls."
She nearly slapped him.
Instead, she kissed him.
Once.
Hard.
Jacob stared.
"What was that?"
"Insurance."
"For what?"
"Coming back alive."
Then she grabbed her rifle and ran toward the hotel.
Jacob smiled despite himself.
Daniel crouched beside him.
"You look stupid."
"Shut up."
Walter joined them.
"Vale has thirty men."
"Where is he?"
"Bank."
Jacob frowned.
"Why?"
Daniel understood.
"The deeds."
Vale kept copies of every fraudulent property transfer inside the bank vault.
If the courthouse records survived but the bank records did not, the case weakened.
Jacob looked toward the bank.
"We need Vale alive."
Walter nodded.
"He needs to testify."
Daniel laughed.
"You think he's going to surrender?"
"No."
Jacob checked his revolver.
"But I think his men might."
They spread the word.
Any rider who surrendered would receive immunity consideration from Judge Foster.
At first, none came.
Then one.
Then three.
Then eight.
Men who had worked for Vale because he paid them began realizing the empire was collapsing.
By noon, Vale had twelve men left.
Jacob walked into the street.
"Vale!"
Gunfire stopped.
Horace Vale appeared on the bank balcony.
"You."
Jacob stood in the open.
"Your men are leaving."
"Cowards."
"They're smart."
Vale held a rifle.
"You ruined everything."
Jacob laughed.
"I opened a gate."
"You destroyed twenty years of work!"
"You stole twenty years."
Vale aimed.
Jacob did not move.
"You were part of it!" Vale shouted. "You brought me the survey!"
The town heard him.
Jacob's face changed.
"I know."
People looked at Jacob.
Vale smiled.
"You think you're a hero?"
"No."
"Tell them what you were."
Jacob raised his voice.
"I was a thief."
Silence.
"I stole the Avery survey fourteen years ago. I sold it without knowing what it was. Vale used it to build this."
Vale laughed.
Jacob continued.