Inside was a leather-bound ledger.
He smiled.
"This is it."
Caleb stared at the book.
Pike opened the first page.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
Military orders.
Land transfers.
Caleb stepped closer.
Then he saw it.
Isaac Blackthorn.
Not as a paid scout.
Not as a traitor.
As a witness.
Beside his name was a handwritten note.
Blackthorn refused final payment. Threatened to expose the operation.
Caleb's heart stopped.
Pike quickly closed the ledger.
"You weren't supposed to see that."
Caleb looked at him.
"You lied."
Pike drew a pistol.
Taya raised her bow.
Pike grabbed Caleb by the collar and pulled him backward.
"Lower the bow."
Taya did not move.
Pike pressed the pistol against Caleb's ribs.
"Now."
Taya's jaw tightened.
Caleb whispered.
"Don't."
Her eyes met his.
He shook his head.
Pike smiled.
"Smart boy."
But Caleb had noticed something.
The cave ceiling above Pike was unstable.
He had seen loose stone falling when the men entered.
He glanced at Taya.
Then at the ceiling.
Then back at her.
She understood.
Pike did not.
Caleb drove his elbow backward.
The pistol fired.
The shot struck stone.
Taya released her arrow.
It struck Pike's shoulder.
He staggered.
Caleb slammed him into the wall.
The ceiling cracked.
A shower of dust fell.
"Run!" Caleb shouted.
They raced out.
Behind them, the chamber collapsed.
Pike crawled from the rubble, bleeding.
The ledger remained in his hand.
He looked at Caleb with hatred.
"This isn't over."
Caleb stopped.
"It is for you."
Pike smiled.
"No."
He held up the ledger.
"Because now I know what your father was trying to protect."
Caleb stared.
Pike pointed toward Nahkai.
"Not these people."
Then he pointed toward Caleb.
"You."
Caleb froze.
Pike laughed.
"Read the last page."
Then he disappeared into the darkness with his remaining men.
Caleb turned to Nahkai.
"What does he mean?"
Nahkai's face had gone pale.
Taya looked at her father.
"Tell him."
Nahkai finally spoke.
"Your father did not come here to hide the ledger."
Caleb's stomach tightened.
"Then why?"
"To find you."
Caleb stared.
"What?"
Nahkai looked toward the ruined cave.
"Isaac believed the men who paid him would eventually come after his family."
Caleb's breath caught.
"He thought they would kill me?"
"Yes."
"Then why didn't he tell us?"
"Because he knew they were watching."
Caleb closed his eyes.
Suddenly he remembered something from childhood.
His father kneeling beside his bed.
A hand on his hair.
A whisper.
If I ever tell you to run, don't ask why.
Caleb had forgotten those words.
Until now.
The Man Who Lied About Death
They spent the night inside the settlement.
Nobody slept much.
Caleb sat near the fire while Taya sharpened an arrowhead.
"You should rest," she said.
"I can't."
"You are not the only man who has discovered his father was not who he thought."
Caleb looked at her.
"Did your father know mine?"
Taya nodded.
"They met once."
"When?"
"After the soldiers left."
"What happened?"
"My father wanted to kill him."
Caleb looked into the fire.
"Why didn't he?"
Taya's hands slowed.
"Because Isaac saved my younger brother."
Caleb looked up.
"He was only six."
"What happened?"
"Soldiers found him hiding beneath a wagon."
Taya swallowed.
"Isaac took him and carried him through the fire."
Caleb felt his throat tighten.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"You never asked."
There was no accusation in her voice.
Only truth.
Caleb stared at the fire.
"I don't know whether to hate him or forgive him."
Taya looked at him.
"You don't have to do either."
"What?"
"You can remember him honestly."
Caleb looked at her.
"He did terrible things."
"Yes."
"He saved people."
"Yes."
"Both are true."
Taya nodded.
"That is what makes people difficult."
Caleb almost smiled.
Almost.
Then a horn sounded from the western ridge.
Everyone stood.
A warrior came running.
"Pike is returning."
Nahkai grabbed his rifle.
"How many?"
"More than before."
Caleb stood.
"How many?"
"Twenty."
Taya looked at him.
"You have no weapon."
Caleb looked around.
One of Nahkai's warriors handed him a rifle.
"Now I do."
Nahkai approached.
"We cannot defeat them in an open fight."
Caleb studied the canyon.
"No."
He remembered the maps his father had kept.
The old trails.
The narrow passes.
The dry creek bed.
A plan formed.
"We don't fight them here."
Nahkai frowned.
"We lead them somewhere else."
"Where?"
Caleb pointed toward the northern cliffs.