Caleb's jaw tightened.
Sheriff Bell stepped closer.
"Caleb, I need you to come with me."
"Why?"
"We need to talk."
"About what?"
"About the woman."
Elena appeared behind Caleb.
She looked at the men outside.
Her hand moved toward the knife.
Caleb quietly shook his head.
She stopped.
Pike pointed at her.
"She needs to leave."
Caleb answered calmly.
"She's wounded."
"Then let her people take care of her."
"We don't know where they are."
Pike stared at him.
"You've always been a fool, Mercer."
Caleb looked directly at him.
"And you've always been a coward, Pike."
Silence.
Nobody in Red Hollow spoke to Gideon Pike like that.
Pike smiled.
But there was no humor in it.
"You'll regret this."
Caleb closed the door.
He locked it.
Then he turned around.
Elena was staring at him.
He shrugged.
"I've made worse decisions."
She touched her chest.
Then pointed toward the west.
Caleb understood.
Her people were there.
But she was too weak to travel.
"We'll find them."
She shook her head.
"No?"
She pointed toward the door.
Then made a shooting motion with her fingers.
"They'll kill you?"
She nodded.
Caleb looked at the window.
He knew the truth.
If he helped her, Red Hollow would turn against him.
If he abandoned her, she would probably die.
Caleb had spent most of his life being poor.
He had learned how to live without money.
He had learned how to sleep hungry.
He had learned how to lose.
But he had never learned how to ignore someone who needed him.
He picked up his rifle.
"Rest."
Elena stared at him.
"I'm going to town."
Her expression changed.
Caleb smiled faintly.
"I'm not going to abandon you."
He walked outside.
The moment he stepped into the street, every conversation stopped.
People watched him.
Some whispered.
Some turned away.
And from the porch of the Red Hollow Saloon, Gideon Pike watched with a cold smile.
Caleb had become an enemy.
He simply did not know how dangerous that enemy would become.
For three days, Elena remained in Caleb's cabin.
Her wound improved.
But her fever did not.
Caleb hunted during the day and returned before sunset.
He brought meat, water, and medicine.
He never asked questions she could not answer.
Instead, they learned each other's language through gestures.
She taught him the Apache word for water.
He taught her the word for horse.
She laughed when he mispronounced it.
It was the first time Caleb had heard her laugh.
It surprised him.
He realized then that beneath the fear and pain was a young woman who had once lived a normal life.
She had dreams.
She had a family.
She had people who loved her.
On the fourth morning, she finally told him the truth.
She pointed to the silver wolf pendant around her neck.
Then she drew a circle in the dirt.
She placed three stones inside it.
One represented her father.
One represented her mother.
One represented her younger brother.
Then she moved two stones away.
Her eyes filled with tears.
Caleb understood.
They were dead.
He looked at the remaining stone.
Her brother.
She pointed west.
"Alive?"
She nodded.
Caleb felt something tighten in his chest.
She was searching for him.
Then she drew another circle.
This time, she marked five figures.
Five men.
She pointed toward them.
Then toward herself.
Caleb understood.
The men who attacked her were not Apache.
They were white men.
She mimicked a rifle.
Then she pointed toward the direction of Red Hollow.
Caleb stared at her.
"You think they came from town?"
She nodded.
That evening, Caleb rode into Red Hollow.
He went straight to the sheriff.
Sheriff Bell was sitting behind his desk.
Caleb closed the door.
"Those men who shot her."
Bell looked up.
"What about them?"
"They weren't Apache."
Bell leaned back.
"How do you know?"
"She told me."
Bell laughed.
"She told you?"
"Yes."
"You speak Apache now?"
"No."
"Then how did she tell you?"
Caleb placed a small object on the desk.
A brass cartridge.
Bell's smile disappeared.
"Found it at the canyon."
He examined it.
"Where did you get this?"
"At the scene."
Caleb recognized the caliber.
"So do you."
Bell placed the cartridge down.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"You know who fired those shots."
"No."
"Then why are you afraid?"
Bell's face hardened.
"I'm not afraid."
Caleb leaned closer.
"You are."
The sheriff stood.
"You'd better leave."
Caleb did not move.
"Who is it?"
Bell looked toward the window.
Finally, he whispered two words.
"Gideon Pike."
Caleb's heart sank.
"Why?"
"Because he wants the Apache land."
Caleb stared.
Bell continued.
"There are copper deposits in the western mountains."
"How much?"
"Enough to make a man rich."
Caleb understood.
Pike wasn't protecting Red Hollow.
He was protecting his investment.
"Why attack her?"
"Her people refused to leave."
"And the government?"
Bell laughed bitterly.
"The government doesn't know what's happening here."
Caleb looked at him.
"Then why aren't you stopping Pike?"
Bell lowered his eyes.
"Because Pike owns half this town."
Caleb left without another word.
That night, he returned to the cabin.
Elena was sitting beside the fire.
She looked at him.
He said only one thing.
"Gideon Pike."
She immediately understood.
Her expression changed from fear to anger.
Caleb sat across from her.
"We're going to find your brother."
She looked at him.
Then slowly nodded.
Neither of them knew that someone was listening outside the cabin.
A shadow moved beneath the window.
Then disappeared into the darkness.
They left before sunrise.
Caleb packed water, blankets, ammunition, dried meat, and medicine.
Elena rode beside him.
Her strength had returned enough for travel.
Neither spoke much.
The desert stretched endlessly around them.
By noon, Red Hollow was nothing more than a faint line behind them.
They followed an old trail toward the western mountains.
Caleb knew the land.
He had hunted there since childhood.
But he did not know what waited ahead.
At sunset, they stopped beside a dry riverbed.
Caleb built a small fire.
Elena watched him.
"You know," he said, "I've never traveled with anyone before."