Rourke looked around.
For the first time, he realized something.
His greatest weapon had always been fear.
And fear only worked when people believed they were alone.
They weren't alone anymore.
Rourke drew his pistol.
Caleb raised his rifle.
Neither fired.
Then a bell rang.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The old church bell.
People poured into the street.
Ranchers from surrounding farms had arrived.
Rourke's men looked uncertain.
One lowered his gun.
Another followed.
Then another.
Rourke shouted:
"You're all dead!"
A voice came from the crowd.
"Maybe."
It was the bank manager.
"But we're together."
Rourke turned.
His own men abandoned him.
Then a shot came from a rooftop.
The bank manager fell.
Caleb looked up.
A Black Crow assassin.
He fired.
The assassin disappeared.
Caleb ran toward the building.
Anna followed.
They climbed the stairs.
The rooftop was empty.
Except for one thing.
A black crow feather.
Caleb picked it up.
The war had only begun.
THE NIGHT OF THE BURNING RANCHES
That night, every ranch around Black Creek was attacked.
Barns burned.
Fences were cut.
Cattle were driven into the desert.
Rourke's remaining men moved like ghosts.
They struck quickly and disappeared.
By midnight, six ranches were burning.
Caleb and the other ranchers fought fires.
Anna organized the women and children.
Samuel stayed near the church, guarding the documents.
Then a rider arrived.
He was barely conscious.
"Caleb."
Caleb caught him.
"What happened?"
"The Mercer ranch."
Caleb froze.
His ranch.
The place he had spent eleven years building.
His home.
His wife's garden.
Her grave.
He mounted immediately.
Anna grabbed his arm.
"Don't go alone."
"I have to."
"No."
She mounted behind him.
They rode into the night.
Smoke appeared on the horizon.
By the time they reached the ranch, flames were climbing the barn.
Caleb jumped from the horse.
He ran toward the house.
His wife's grave was surrounded by fire.
He stopped.
For a moment, everything inside him broke.
Then he heard something.
A child's cry.
Caleb turned.
Three children were trapped inside the barn.
He ran.
The roof was beginning to collapse.
Anna followed.
Together they broke through the side wall.
Caleb carried one child.
Anna carried another.
The third was too frightened to move.
A beam fell.
Caleb threw himself over the child.
The beam struck his back.
Anna screamed.
"Caleb!"
He pushed upward.
"Get her out!"
Anna dragged the child away.
Then Caleb rolled free.
They escaped seconds before the barn collapsed.
The children survived.
But the ranch was destroyed.
Caleb stood among the ashes.
Anna came beside him.
"You saved them."
Caleb looked at the ruins.
"My wife planted those trees."
"I know."
"She loved this place."
Anna was silent.
Then she said:
"Maybe saving it means saving what she would have wanted."
Caleb looked at her.
"What would she have wanted?"
"People to live."
He looked toward the children.
Then nodded.
"Yes."
At dawn, Samuel found something beneath the burned barn.
A trapdoor.
Caleb opened it.
A tunnel descended beneath the ranch.
The Black Crow's underground route.
They had found the entrance.
Caleb smiled without humor.
"Now we go hunting."
THE LAST RIDE INTO THE MOUNTAIN
The tunnel led deep beneath the earth.