“The sheriff works for our father.”
Cole looked at Anna.
“And you expect me to help you?”
“No.”
Anna stood.
“We expect you to let us leave.”
Cole looked toward the window.
Outside, six riders were approaching.
He counted them.
Then seven.
Then eight.
He looked back at Anna.
“You're not leaving.”
Her face went pale.
“They found us.”
Cole reached for his gun.
“No.”
He looked at the barn doors.
“They found me.”
The riders stopped outside the ranch.
A man dismounted.
He wore a long black coat and carried a rifle.
Cole knew him.
Mason Pike.
Augustus Whitmore's most trusted enforcer.
Pike had killed four men.
Three of them had been witnesses.
The fourth had been a sheriff.
Pike walked toward the house.
“Cole Tanner!”
Cole stepped onto the porch.
“Mason.”
“Mr. Whitmore wants his daughters returned.”
“They aren't here.”
Pike smiled.
“That's unfortunate.”
Cole leaned against the porch railing.
“You should go.”
Pike looked toward the barn.
“I'll search.”
“No.”
Pike laughed.
“You don't understand.”
“I understand perfectly.”
“This is Whitmore land.”
Cole looked around.
“This is my land.”
Pike's smile vanished.
“Not for long.”
Cole stared at him.
Then he heard the unmistakable sound of a rifle being cocked behind him.
Rose stood in the doorway.
She was holding an old Winchester.
Pike looked at her.
Then at Cole.
“You're making a mistake.”
Cole answered:
“Probably.”
Pike turned back toward his men.
“Burn the barn.”
Cole's expression hardened.
“Don't.”
Pike smiled.
“Now you understand.”
Cole raised his revolver.
“So do you.”
For a few seconds, nobody moved.
Then a shot exploded.
The fight began.
Cole had spent years learning how to survive.
He knew horses.
He knew guns.
He knew weather.
Most importantly, he knew his land.
The Whitmore men did not.
Cole moved first.
He fired at the lantern hanging beside the barn.
Glass shattered.
Darkness swallowed the yard.
Rose fired from the porch.
Anna pulled Lily through the back door.
Pike shouted orders.
Men scattered.
Cole ran toward the water trough and fired twice.
A rider fell from his horse.
Another fled behind the stable.
Rose reloaded.
“You always have this many enemies?”
Cole ducked behind a post.
“Not before today.”
She fired.
“Then we're improving your social life.”
Cole almost laughed.
Almost.
A bullet struck the porch.
Rose ducked.
“Still funny?”
“Not particularly.”
Anna appeared at the doorway.
“Lily's awake.”
Cole looked at her.
“Can she ride?”
Anna shook her head.
“We need another way out.”
Cole pointed toward the hills.
“There is an old cattle tunnel beneath the western ridge.”
Rose looked at him.
“A tunnel?”
“Built by miners.”
“Where does it lead?”
“Twenty miles from here.”
Anna stared.
“Can we get through?”
“If the entrance hasn't collapsed.”
“And if it has?”
Cole looked toward the gunfire.
“Then we're going to have a very bad morning.”
They ran.
The tunnel was hidden beneath a dry creek bed.
Cole moved a flat stone aside and revealed a narrow opening.
One by one, they entered.
The tunnel was cold.
Dark.
And barely wide enough for two people.
Lily stumbled.
Cole caught her.
“I'm fine.”
“You're not.”
She looked at him.
“You don't know me.”
“No.”
He helped her stand.