"These are legal purchases."
Samuel shook his head.
"We need proof."
"Exactly."
Then the office door opened.
A young deputy rushed inside.
"Sheriff."
Cole turned.
"What?"
"The Apache woman."
Samuel stiffened.
"What happened?"
"She's gone."
They rode back to the ranch at full speed.
Samuel's stomach twisted.
When they arrived, Elena was nowhere to be seen.
The Apache riders were agitated.
Tomas was shouting orders.
Samuel dismounted.
"What happened?"
Tomas pointed toward the eastern trail.
"She left."
"With who?"
"No one."
Samuel saw tracks.
One horse.
No.
Two.
Someone had taken her.
He crouched.
The second horse had a distinctive shoe.
A narrow crescent-shaped mark.
Samuel had seen it before.
Silas Vane.
He stood.
"We know where she is."
Tomas looked at him.
"Where?"
"Vane's old mining camp."
It was fifteen miles north.
A place abandoned years earlier.
The tunnels were deep enough to hide people.
The group prepared to leave.
But Samuel stopped them.
"If three hundred riders go there, Vane will panic."
Tomas stared at him.
"And?"
"And that's what he wants."
Samuel looked around.
"He wants blood."
Tomas's expression hardened.
"What do you suggest?"
"We take ten."
"Ten?"
"Ten people can move quietly."
Tomas thought.
Then nodded.
He selected six Apache trackers.
Samuel took two deputies.
Tomas came himself.
They left before sunset.
No one knew whether Elena was alive.
No one knew whether the copper tube had been recovered.
And no one knew how much time remained before the valley exploded into violence.
The mining camp was silent.
Samuel dismounted behind a ridge.
Smoke rose from one building.
He pointed.
Two men stood outside.
Guards.
The Apache trackers disappeared into the darkness.
Minutes later, the guards were silently disarmed.
Samuel and Tomas entered the main building.
Inside, they heard voices.
Vane was speaking.
"By tomorrow morning, every rancher in the valley will believe the Apache attacked again."
Another man asked:
"And the woman?"
"She knows too much."
Samuel's hand tightened around his revolver.
Tomas moved toward the doorway.
Samuel stopped him.
Wait.
They listened.
Vane continued.
"The ranchers will demand protection."
"And the army?"
"I have people who will make sure the request is approved."
"And the land?"
"People don't hold onto land when they're afraid."
Samuel finally understood the entire plan.
Vane was not merely creating panic.
He was creating desperation.
Fear would make people sell.
Debt would make them sell cheaply.
Then Vane would own everything.
Water.
Land.
Roads.
Cattle routes.
The entire valley.
A shot would not give him that.
Panic would.
Tomas whispered:
"Elena."
Samuel heard something from the back room.
A faint cough.
They moved.
Two guards appeared.
The room erupted into chaos.
Samuel struck one.
Tomas disarmed the other.
The door opened.
Elena stood inside.
Her hands were tied.
Her face was bruised.
But she was alive.
Samuel rushed to her.
"You all right?"
She nodded.
"Now."
He cut the rope.
She looked at Tomas.
"I'm sorry."
Tomas shook his head.
"You came home."
Then Vane stepped from the shadows.
He held a pistol.
Everyone froze.
"You should have stayed on your ranch, Reed."
Samuel looked at him.
"You made a mistake."
Vane smiled.
"Which one?"
"You assumed people would rather hate each other than work together."
Vane's smile faded.
Outside, horses moved.
More riders.
Vane had brought men.
Samuel looked toward the window.
There were perhaps twenty.
Tomas had six.
Samuel had two deputies.
The odds were bad.
Then Elena whispered:
"Look behind him."
Samuel glanced.