Samuel stared at her.
“You'd better be certain.”
“I am.”
“Where?”
Anna pointed toward the mountains.
“Cold Creek Mine.”
Samuel looked at the dark horizon.
The mine had been abandoned for twenty years.
People said the tunnels collapsed.
Nobody went there.
Anna said quietly:
“That's where the Iron Circle keeps its secrets.”
A gunshot shattered the church window.
Samuel pulled Anna to the floor.
Another shot.
Then another.
Bullets struck the altar.
Samuel crawled toward the window.
Three riders stood across the street.
“Can you shoot?”
Anna asked.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
She pulled a pistol from beneath her coat.
Samuel looked at her.
“You said you didn't know how to fight.”
“I lied.”
The church doors burst open.
Two men entered.
Samuel fired once.
The first man dropped.
Anna fired twice.
The second fell.
The riders outside fled.
Samuel stood.
Anna looked at him.
“Still want to leave?”
Samuel shook his head.
“No.”
“Why?”
He reloaded.
“Because someone just shot at me.”
“And?”
“I've never liked unanswered questions.”
The Mine
They reached Cold Creek Mine the next morning.
The entrance was hidden beneath a cliff.
Samuel examined the snow.
“Someone's been here.”
Anna nodded.
“Recently?”
“Yesterday.”
They entered.
The tunnel smelled of wet stone and gunpowder.
After fifty yards, they found lanterns.
Someone had been there.
Samuel continued deeper.
They discovered a wooden door.
Behind it was a room.
A table.
Three chairs.
Stacks of documents.
And blood.
Anna picked up one paper.
Her hands trembled.
“What?”
She showed it to Samuel.
It was a list of names.
Twenty-seven people.
Beside each name was a date.
And beside each date was the word:
REMOVED.
Samuel recognized several.
A judge.
A newspaper editor.
A rancher.
A schoolteacher.
People who had opposed the Iron Circle.
Then Samuel saw a familiar name.
Daniel Reed.
Beside it:
REMOVED — FAILED.
Samuel's eyes hardened.
“Failed?”
Anna pointed toward another page.
There were notes.
Samuel Reed remains a threat.
Last known location unknown.
Do not engage without authorization.
Samuel stared.
“They've been looking for me.”
Anna nodded.
“For six years.”
“Why didn't they find me?”
“Because Daniel made sure they didn't.”
Samuel looked at her.
“What?”
Anna swallowed.
“Your brother knew they would come for you.”
“He knew I was alive?”
“Yes.”
Samuel sat down.
For years he had believed Daniel had betrayed him.
The last words between them had been spoken in anger.
I don't need you protecting me.
Daniel had answered:
One day you'll wish I had.
Samuel had never seen him again.
Now he understood.
His brother had spent six years protecting him from a distance.
A noise came from the tunnel.
Footsteps.
Many.
Anna whispered.
“We're trapped.”
Samuel looked around.
“There must be another exit.”
“There isn't.”
“Every mine has one.”
“Not this one.”
The footsteps grew louder.
Samuel found an old ventilation shaft.
He looked up.
Too narrow for him.
Then at Anna.
She smiled.
“You first.”
“You're smaller.”
“Exactly.”
She climbed.
Samuel followed.
Below them, men entered the room.
A voice echoed.
“Find them!”
Samuel reached the surface just as bullets struck the rock below.