"You nearly did."
Aayoka came closer.
"Both of you inside."
The children groaned.
Elias smiled.
"That is your mother."
They followed her.
Elias remained outside for a moment.
The ranch stretched before him.
Fields.
Barns.
Fences.
The creek.
The cottonwood.
Their home.
His home.
Their home.
Sometimes he still had to remind himself of that.
He had once believed a house was simply a place where a man kept his belongings.
Now he understood.
A home was where people waited for you.
Where someone noticed when you were tired.
Where someone remembered how you took your coffee.
Where a child's laughter could interrupt a man's darkest thoughts and make him grateful for the interruption.
Elias looked toward the eastern ridge.
The land was peaceful.
But something about the morning bothered him.
He could not explain why.
Perhaps it was instinct.
Perhaps it was simply the habit of a man who had spent too many years watching the horizon for danger.
He turned toward the road.
There were tracks in the mud.
Horse tracks.
Several riders.
Fresh.
Elias walked closer.
He crouched.
Four horses.
Maybe five.
They had come from the east.
The same direction where Caleb Rourke had disappeared three years earlier.
His expression hardened.
He stood.
"Aayoka."
She came out onto the porch.
"What?"
"Come here."
She approached.
He showed her the tracks.
Her face changed.
"How recent?"
"Today."
She looked toward the ridge.
"Do you think it's him?"
"I don't know."
"But you think it could be."
"Yes."
She was silent.
Then she took his hand.
"We have faced him before."
"This is different."
"Why?"
"Because we have children now."
Aayoka looked at him.
Then toward the house.
"Exactly."
She squeezed his fingers.
"Then we protect them."
Elias nodded.
That afternoon, he rode into town.
The sheriff was different now.
The old sheriff had gone to prison after the corruption investigation.
The new sheriff, Daniel Mercer, was younger and less interested in powerful friends.
Elias told him about the tracks.
Mercer listened.
"Any sign of Rourke?"
"No."
"Anyone see him?"
"Not yet."
Mercer leaned back.
"Rourke vanished three years ago."
"I know."
"Some say he went south."
"Some?"
"Others say Mexico."
"And you?"
"I think men like Rourke don't disappear."
Elias looked at him.
"They wait."
"Exactly."
Mercer stood.
"I'll send someone east."
"Don't."
"Why?"
"If someone is watching the ranch, sending men there tells them we've noticed."
Mercer considered it.
"What do you suggest?"
"I want to know who is asking about me."
Mercer nodded.
"I'll make a few inquiries."
Elias left.
On the way home, he stopped at the general store.
An unfamiliar man stood near the counter.
Tall.
Gray coat.
Dark hat.
Elias glanced at him.
The man looked back.
Neither spoke.
Then the stranger left.
Elias watched him walk away.
Something about the man's posture felt familiar.
Not Rourke.
Someone else.
Someone Elias could not place.
He returned home before sunset.
Aayoka was waiting.
"You found something?"
"Maybe."
"What?"
"A stranger in town."
"Did he speak to you?"
"No."
"Then why are you worried?"
"I don't know."
She looked at him.
"You are doing it again."
"What?"
"Trying to carry the fear by yourself."
He smiled faintly.
"You remember that?"
"I remember everything."
He sat beside her.
"I don't know what's coming."
"Neither do I."
"That bothers me."
"It should."
He laughed.
She touched his shoulder.
"But you are not alone."
He looked at her.
"I know."
That night, Elias locked the doors.
Not because he believed danger was certain.
Because he had learned that preparation was not fear.
It was responsibility.
At midnight, the horses began to make noise.
Elias woke immediately.
He reached for his revolver.
Aayoka sat up.
"What is it?"
"Horses."
He dressed quietly.
Aayoka followed.
"No."
"I am coming."
"Aayoka."
"Do not tell me to stay behind."
He looked at her.
She had a rifle.
He sighed.
"Fine."
They moved outside.
The horses were restless.
One of the gates was open.
Elias approached slowly.
Aayoka covered him from the porch.
Then he saw it.
A piece of cloth tied to the gate.
Black.
With a red symbol stitched into it.
Aayoka came closer.
"What is that?"
"I don't know."
She touched it.
Then pulled her hand back.
Her expression had changed.
"What?"
"I have seen that symbol."
"Where?"
"In one of Tomas's papers."
Elias looked at her.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
They took the cloth inside.
Aayoka opened the old wooden box.
She searched through the documents.
Finally she found a small sketch.
The same symbol.
Beneath it was a name.
The Black Mesa Circle.
Elias frowned.
"What is that?"
"I don't know."
"Did Tomas know them?"
"Apparently."
She looked at the paper.
"Maybe this is what he was investigating."
The next morning, they rode to the old trading post.
The place had become overgrown.
But Aayoka remembered where Tomas had hidden his documents.
They found another box.
Inside was a list of names.
Some were crossed out.
Some had dates.
Some were marked with the same symbol.
At the bottom was a name neither expected.
Sheriff Daniel Mercer.
Elias stared.
"This could be old."
Aayoka nodded.
"Maybe."
They returned to town.
Mercer was in his office.
Elias placed the paper on his desk.
Mercer looked at it.
His face went pale.