The road literally shook beneath them.
Eleanor stood on her porch.
Lucas stood beside her.
The riders stopped.
One man removed his helmet.
He was tall and gray-haired.
"Lucas!"
Lucas walked toward him.
The man embraced him.
Then he looked at Eleanor.
"You're the grandmother."
Eleanor glared.
"Apparently everyone thinks I'm someone's grandmother."
He laughed.
"My name is Ryder Kane."
"Lucas's brother."
"Yes."
"You're late."
Ryder smiled.
"Road problems."
Eleanor looked behind him.
"How many?"
"Seventy-three."
She stared.
"I said a few dozen."
Ryder shrugged.
"We're bad at counting."
Lucas laughed.
Then Ryder's expression became serious.
"We found the roadblock."
"Where?"
"South entrance."
"Black Ridge?"
"Yes."
Eleanor looked toward the mountain.
"Then they're close."
Ryder nodded.
"We need to know what happened to your husband."
Eleanor went inside.
She returned with an old metal box.
She placed it on the porch table.
Inside were maps.
Photographs.
Notes.
And a small cassette tape.
Lucas looked at it.
"What is this?"
"My husband left it."
"Why didn't you listen?"
"I didn't have a player."
Ryder stared.
"We do."
He brought a portable recorder.
They played the tape.
Static.
Then a man's voice.
Eleanor recognized it instantly.
Thomas Hayes.
Her husband.
"If you're hearing this, I didn't come home."
Eleanor closed her eyes.
Thomas continued.
"I found a tunnel under the northern ridge."
Lucas leaned forward.
"There's a shipment route running beneath the mountain."
The recording crackled.
"They aren't mining."
Silence.
Then:
"They're moving weapons."
Everyone on the porch became still.
Thomas continued.
"The people involved include someone inside the county government."
Eleanor opened her eyes.
The tape ended.
Nobody spoke.
Finally, Ryder said:
"How old is this?"
"Twenty years."
Lucas looked toward the mountains.
"The route is still active."
Eleanor nodded.
"Then my husband wasn't killed because he fell."
"No."
Lucas looked at her.
"He was killed because he found the route."
That afternoon, Black Ridge attacked.
They came from three directions.
Pickup trucks.
Motorcycles.
Armed men.
The first shots were fired near the eastern bridge.
Ryder immediately organized the riders.
"No one chases them."
"No one fires unless necessary."
"Protect civilians."
The Iron Valley Riders moved through town.
They weren't soldiers.
They weren't police.
But they knew how to protect people.
Some blocked roads.
Others escorted families away.
Medics prepared a temporary clinic.
Mechanics moved vehicles.
Firefighters checked buildings.
Eleanor stood inside the community center.
She treated wounded people.
Then the doors burst open.
A young deputy stumbled inside.
"Mrs. Hayes!"
"What happened?"
"The sheriff is working with them."
Eleanor looked at him.
"I knew it."
"He gave them the eastern road."
"How many?"
"Too many."
Eleanor looked outside.
The town was surrounded.
Lucas entered.
"We have a problem."
"What?"
"Black Ridge isn't trying to escape."
"Then what?"
"They're looking for the tunnel."
Eleanor's face changed.
"The tunnel under the northern ridge."
Lucas nodded.
"They know about it."
"How?"
"Someone told them."
Eleanor looked toward the sheriff's office.
Then she understood.
"Mercy Creek."
"What?"
"Twenty years ago, my husband wrote the name of the county surveyor."
She opened the old notebook.
The name was there.
Sheriff Cole Benton.
Lucas stared.
"The sheriff was involved twenty years ago?"
"He was a deputy then."
Ryder entered.
"We have to move."
"Where?"
"The northern ridge."
Eleanor grabbed her coat.
Lucas shook his head.
"No."
She glared at him.
"Don't start."
"You stay here."
"No."
"It's dangerous."