She smiled.
He smiled back.
For a few moments, there was peace.
Then Elena suddenly stood.
She pointed toward the darkness.
Caleb reached for his rifle.
He heard it too.
Horses.
Four riders.
"Stay here."
Elena shook her head.
Caleb raised a hand.
"Please."
The riders appeared.
They stopped twenty yards away.
The first man called out.
"Mercer!"
Caleb recognized the voice.
Pike's ranch hand.
Caleb raised his rifle.
"What do you want?"
"Bring the girl back."
"No."
"You don't understand."
"I understand enough."
The man laughed.
"Pike says she'll be worth more alive."
Caleb froze.
"Why?"
The man did not answer.
Instead, he fired.
Caleb ducked.
The canyon exploded with gunfire.
Elena grabbed Caleb's arm.
They ran behind the rocks.
Caleb fired twice.
One rider fell.
The others retreated.
Silence returned.
Caleb looked at Elena.
"Are you hurt?"
She shook her head.
He examined her anyway.
She pushed his hand away.
"I'm fine."
It was the first English sentence she had spoken.
Caleb stared at her.
"You speak English?"
She smiled.
"A little."
He laughed.
"You could have told me."
"You talk too much."
Caleb laughed again.
"I don't talk at all."
She shook her head.
"You do."
That night, neither slept.
At dawn, they discovered something terrifying.
The dead rider had been carrying a map.
Caleb opened it.
A red circle marked the western mountains.
Another mark showed an old mine.
Elena pointed at it.
She knew the place.
Her brother was there.
Caleb looked at the map.
Then at her.
"We're close."
But they were not alone.
Far away, another group had begun following their tracks.
And this time, they were not Pike's ranch hands.
They were Apache warriors.
Three riders appeared on the ridge.
Elena stood.
She raised both hands.
The warriors approached slowly.
One of them stared at Caleb.
His hand rested on his rifle.
Elena spoke rapidly.
The warrior looked surprised.
Then he lowered his weapon.
He said something.
Elena answered.
Finally, she turned to Caleb.
"My brother."
"He's alive?"
She nodded.
"His name is Mateo."
Caleb smiled.
"Then let's go find Mateo."
But Elena's expression remained serious.
She pointed toward the mountains.
"There is a war coming."
Caleb looked at the distant peaks.
He believed her.
The abandoned mine was hidden behind a wall of red stone.
They reached it just before sunset.
Smoke rose from the entrance.
Someone was there.
Elena ran.
"Mateo!"
A young man emerged from the shadows.
He was perhaps eighteen.
He carried a rifle.
For several seconds, brother and sister simply stared at each other.
Then they embraced.
Caleb stepped away.
He gave them privacy.
After several minutes, Elena returned.
"This is Caleb."
Mateo looked at him.
"You saved her."
Caleb shrugged.
"She saved herself."
Mateo smiled.
Then his expression became serious.
He led them inside.
The mine contained supplies.
Weapons.
Maps.
Crates.
Caleb stared.
"Where did all this come from?"
Mateo explained.
Gideon Pike had been secretly buying weapons.
He planned to attack an Apache settlement and blame the violence on Apache warriors.
Then he would demand military protection.
The government would arrive.
The Apache families would be driven away.
Pike would claim the mineral-rich land.
Caleb understood the entire scheme.
"But why hasn't anyone stopped him?"
Mateo looked at him.
"Because nobody believes us."
Caleb looked down.
He thought of Sheriff Bell.
Then of the people in Red Hollow.
They had already chosen whom they believed.
Not the truth.
The powerful man.
Suddenly, a gunshot echoed outside.
Mateo grabbed his rifle.
"They found us."
Caleb extinguished the lantern.
Everyone became silent.
Footsteps approached.
One.
Two.
Five.
Maybe more.
A voice called from outside.
"Mercer!"
Caleb recognized Pike.
"You can't hide forever."
Caleb looked at Mateo.
Then Elena.
He whispered.
"There's another exit?"
Mateo nodded.
They crawled through a narrow passage.
Behind them, men entered the mine.
Pike shouted.
"Find them!"
The group emerged on the opposite side of the mountain.
They ran.
Bullets struck the rocks.
Caleb fired back.
Then something happened.
Mateo fell.
Elena screamed.
Caleb turned.
Blood covered Mateo's shoulder.
"He's hit!"
They dragged him behind a boulder.
Caleb tore open the wound.
The bullet had passed through.
"He's going to live."
Elena exhaled.
But Pike's men were getting closer.
Caleb looked toward the valley.
"We have to reach Red Hollow."
Mateo shook his head.
"Red Hollow will kill us."
Caleb looked at him.
"Maybe."
He checked his rifle.
"But there's one thing they don't know."
"What?"
Caleb looked toward the mountains.
"We have proof."
The map.
The weapons.
The mine.
And the truth.
If they could reach the town alive, Pike's entire plan could collapse.
But getting there would require crossing twenty miles of open desert.
And Pike was already waiting.
They reached Red Hollow three nights later.
But the town was burning.
Flames rose from the eastern buildings.
People ran through the streets.
Horses screamed.
Caleb stopped his horse.
"What happened?"
Mateo stared.
"Pike."
Caleb's blood ran cold.