They never made it halfway.
Gunfire erupted from the ridge.
Will fell from his horse.
Tom shouted.
“Down!”
Ethan pulled Clara behind a rock.
Bullets struck the stone.
“Seven!” Tom yelled.
“Eight,” Ethan replied.
“How do you know?”
“There's another rifle behind us.”
Clara looked at him.
“How did you—”
“Because he's shooting at the horses.”
Ethan crawled along the rocks.
He fired once.
A rifle disappeared behind the ridge.
Another shot came from the left.
Clara ducked.
Then she saw something Ethan had missed.
A narrow ravine.
“Ethan!”
He looked.
“There.”
They moved through the ravine.
Clara crawled ahead.
At the end stood an old mine entrance.
They slipped inside.
The gunmen rode past.
Silence returned.
Tom checked Will.
Alive.
Wounded.
Ethan leaned against the wall.
Clara noticed blood on his sleeve.
“You're hit.”
“Scratch.”
She grabbed his arm.
“Sit.”
“I said scratch.”
“You're bleeding.”
She tore a strip from her underskirt.
Ethan watched her wrap his arm.
“You do that often?”
“Take care of stubborn men?”
“No.”
“Unfortunately.”
He smiled.
It was the first time she had seen him do it.
The expression changed his face.
Made him look younger.
For a moment neither spoke.
Then Clara said softly:
“My husband smiled like that.”
Ethan's expression faded.
“What was his name?”
“Daniel.”
“Was he a good man?”
“Yes.”
“Then I'm sorry.”
She looked down.
“I loved him.”
“I know.”
“You don't know anything about me.”
“I know.”
That answer surprised her.
Ethan stood.
“That's why I haven't asked you to trust me.”
Outside, horses moved again.
The gunmen were returning.
Ethan checked his revolver.
“Stay here.”
Clara caught his wrist.
“No.”
“You'll be safer inside.”
“I've spent six weeks running.”
She picked up a rifle.
“I'm finished running.”
The Fire
They escaped the mine after dark.
Will was too wounded to ride alone, so Tom carried him.
They returned to Cedar Ridge by a different trail.
Smoke appeared on the horizon.
Ethan stopped.
“My ranch.”
They rode harder.
The barn was burning.
Flames climbed the roof.
Cattle broke through the eastern fence.
Men on horseback were disappearing into the darkness.
Ethan jumped from his horse.
“Tom! Get the cattle clear!”
He ran toward the barn.
Clara followed.
Inside, flames had reached the hayloft.
Ethan released the horses.
One by one they ran out.
Then a beam collapsed.
Ethan fell.
“Ethan!”
Clara rushed forward.
He tried to stand.
The beam had trapped his leg.
“Get out!”
“No.”
“Clara!”
She grabbed a nearby iron bar.
“Help me!”
Together they lifted the beam.
Ethan pulled free.
They stumbled outside as the roof collapsed.
For several minutes, they watched the barn burn.
Ethan said nothing.
Clara stood beside him.
“I am sorry.”
He nodded.
“Me too.”
She reached for his hand.
He looked at their hands.
Neither moved away.
Later, they sat on the porch.
The ranch was damaged.
But the house still stood.
Tom approached.
“We found something.”
He handed Ethan a burned piece of paper.
Ethan opened it.
A brand drawing.
The symbol belonged to Vane.
Clara looked at it.
“He's not just trying to scare us.”
“No.”
Ethan folded the paper.
“He wants us dead.”
“Us?”
The word hung between them.
Clara looked at him.
Ethan did not correct it.
The Truth About Samuel Cole
The next morning, Ethan found Clara reading through his father's old papers.
“You're searching my house now?”
She looked guilty.
“I found something.”
She handed him a letter.
The handwriting was Samuel Cole's.
Ethan read it.
His father's final letter.
It mentioned Vane.
Ethan's face went pale.
“Your father knew him?”
Clara asked.
Ethan shook his head.
“Not knew.”
He read further.
Samuel had discovered cattle theft years earlier.
He had tried to expose the operation.
Then he died.
Officially, his death had been an accident.
A horse had thrown him.
But the letter said otherwise.
Samuel believed someone had sabotaged the saddle.
Ethan sat down.
“All these years…”
Clara sat beside him.
“Your father was investigating Vane.”
“And Vane killed him.”
“We don't know that.”
Ethan looked at her.
“No.”
He folded the letter.
“But I know where to find the proof.”
“Where?”
“Cold Creek.”
She frowned.
“Why?”
“My father kept a second cabin there.”
“This one?”
“No.”
Ethan looked north.
“There is another structure beyond the creek.”