“Stay behind me.”
The door burst open.
Two men entered.
Caleb fired once into the ceiling.
The gunshot terrified the horses outside.
In the confusion, Mae grabbed Lily and June.
“Back door!”
They ran.
Caleb fought one man in the doorway.
Boone fired from outside.
The bullet struck the wall.
Caleb tackled the second man.
Mae escaped with the girls.
But the ledger remained behind.
Caleb had seconds.
He grabbed it.
Then ran.
They regrouped at the creek.
Everyone was breathing hard.
Mae looked at the ledger.
“You still have it.”
Caleb nodded.
“Then we're not dead yet.”
Lily suddenly pointed.
“Look.”
Across the ridge, several lanterns were moving.
More men.
Caleb understood.
They had only one option.
They had to reach the mine before Vane did.
The abandoned silver mine was hidden beneath a ridge of black stone.
Caleb had visited it once years earlier.
He remembered the tunnels.
The unstable beams.
The flooded shafts.
It was the perfect place to hide someone.
It was also the perfect place to kill someone.
They reached the entrance shortly before dawn.
Caleb told Lily and June to stay behind the rocks.
They refused.
“We're coming.”
“No.”
“Mama is inside.”
Caleb stared at Lily.
The girl didn't blink.
He finally nodded.
“Stay close.”
They entered.
The mine smelled of damp earth and rust.
Far inside, they heard a cough.
Then a voice.
“Who's there?”
Lily screamed.
“Mama!”
Caleb grabbed her.
“Wait.”
A lantern appeared.
Then a woman stepped from the darkness.
Thin.
Exhausted.
But alive.
Clara Bell.
Lily and June ran.
Clara collapsed to her knees as her daughters threw themselves into her arms.
“My babies.”
Lily cried.
“You didn't come back.”
“I tried.”
“You promised.”
“I know.”
June buried her face against her mother's shoulder.
Caleb turned away.
He gave them privacy.
But he heard Clara whisper:
“Who brought you?”
“Caleb.”
Clara looked toward him.
Their eyes met.
“Thank you.”
He nodded.
“We have to leave.”
Clara shook her head.
“They won't let us.”
“Why?”
“Because Vane knows the ledger exists.”
Caleb held it up.
“Then we're ahead of him.”
Clara stared.
“You found it?”
“Your daughters did.”
Clara closed her eyes.
“My brave girls.”
Then a voice echoed through the tunnel.
“Touching.”
Silas Vane stepped forward.
Boone Clegg stood behind him.
Sheriff Holt was beside them.
Caleb drew his gun.
Holt drew his.
“Put it down.”
Caleb didn't move.
Vane smiled.
“You've caused a great deal of trouble.”
Caleb answered:
“You murdered Elias Bell.”
Vane laughed.
“Can you prove it?”
Caleb lifted the ledger.
“Yes.”
Vane's smile disappeared.
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
“Then these children die with their mother.”
Clara pulled the girls behind her.
Caleb remained still.
He needed time.
He needed a way out.
And then Lily whispered:
“There's another tunnel.”
Caleb looked at Clara.
She nodded.
But the tunnel was too narrow for adults.
Only children could pass.
Caleb made a decision.
“Lily.”
She looked at him.
“You and June are going to crawl through.”
“No.”
“You'll reach the other side.”
“What about you?”
“We'll follow.”
She looked into his eyes.
“Promise?”
Caleb thought of Eliza.
He thought of every promise he'd broken because life had made them impossible.
“I promise I'll come.”
It wasn't certainty.
It was courage.
Lily understood.
She took June's hand.
They disappeared into the tunnel.
Caleb waited.
Then he attacked.
Lily and June crawled through darkness.
The tunnel was cold.
Dirt filled their hair.
June cried quietly.
Lily kept moving.
Behind them, they heard gunshots.
Then silence.
They reached the opening.
Sunlight blinded them.
They crawled outside.
Below them was the valley.
And there were horses.
One belonged to Sheriff Holt.
Lily looked at June.
June understood.
“We need help.”
They climbed onto the horse.
Neither girl knew how to ride.
But Lily remembered something her father had once taught her.
“Pull the reins to turn.”
“Which way?”
“I don't know.”
The horse moved.
They screamed.
Then it ran.
By noon, the two girls entered Mercy Creek.
Everyone stopped.