Chapter 8 - The Senator’s Ambush
Creed stopped laughing.
For perhaps the first time in his life, Silas Creed understood what it felt like to be disposable.
Harcourt's riflemen fired from both ridges.
Major Mercer shouted orders.
Soldiers dragged Creed behind rocks.
Elias pulled Aayoka down.
“You hurt?”
“No.”
A bullet struck stone beside them.
“Stay here.”
“You know by now that I won't.”
“Worth trying.”
Aayoka picked up a fallen rifle.
Elias looked toward Harcourt.
The senator remained safely above.
He had perhaps twenty men.
Mercer had twelve soldiers.
Bad odds.
Worse position.
Creed crawled toward Elias.
“Untie me.”
Elias laughed.
“No.”
“You want out of here?”
“Yes.”
“Then untie me.”
“Still no.”
Creed leaned closer.
“Harcourt has men behind us too.”
Elias looked.
Creed was right.
Dust rose from the southern trail.
They were trapped.
Aayoka crouched beside them.
“Another way?”
Creed smiled.
“I know one.”
Elias hated that smile.
“Where?”
“Untie me.”
Aayoka placed her knife against Creed's ropes.
Elias stopped her.
“He'll run.”
Aayoka looked at Creed.
“Then I shoot him.”
Creed's smile faded.
She cut the ropes.
Creed rubbed his wrists.
“Follow me.”
He led them toward a crack in the canyon wall.
Mercer ordered four soldiers to follow while the others covered the retreat.
The passage climbed sharply.
Gunfire followed.
They emerged on a shelf overlooking the canyon.
Harcourt saw them.
His face changed.
“Creed!”
Creed turned.
For years he had murdered at Harcourt's command.
Now Harcourt had tried to erase him.
“Senator!” Creed shouted.
Harcourt raised a rifle.
Creed ducked.
The bullet struck stone.
Creed laughed.
“You always were a coward!”
Harcourt shouted to his men.
“Five thousand dollars for Creed!”
Creed looked at Elias.
“You hear that?”
“I'm considering collecting.”
“Not funny.”
“A little.”
They climbed.
At the summit, Creed stopped.
“There's horses two miles east.”
“How do you know?” Mercer asked.
“Because Harcourt always keeps an escape route.”
Mercer stared.
“You worked together a long time.”
“Long enough.”
They reached the horses.
Creed suddenly grabbed one.
Elias raised his revolver.
“Don't.”
Creed froze.
For several seconds they stared at one another.
Then Creed slowly released the reins.
“You really have changed.”
“So have you.”
“How?”
“You used to think Harcourt would protect you.”
That struck.
Creed looked toward the distant canyon.
“He promised land.”
Aayoka's expression turned cold.
“My land.”
Creed did not meet her eyes.
“Yes.”
“You killed children for it.”
Creed swallowed.
For the first time, he had no clever answer.
Mercer shackled him again.
They rode through the night.
Harcourt did not follow.
That worried Elias more.
Men like Harcourt rarely abandoned a plan.
They changed it.
Two days later they reached Tucson.
News had arrived before them.
Newspaper headlines called Elias a murderer who had kidnapped a federal judge.
Another claimed Apache insurgents had attacked San Rosario.
Harcourt controlled the story.
Webb stared at the paper.
“He's preparing public opinion.”
Elias laughed bitterly.
“Welcome to my life.”
Aayoka read the headline slowly.
“They call me a savage.”
Elias took the paper and folded it.
“They don't know you.”
“They do not need to. They only need people to believe them.”
That night, someone tried to burn the courthouse records room.
The guard caught the arsonist.
He carried fifty dollars and a note.
Harcourt's reach extended everywhere.
Webb called them together.
“Trial begins in three days.”
Elias frowned.
“That fast?”
“Before Harcourt can move jurisdiction.”
Creed sat behind bars.
He suddenly spoke.
“I'll testify.”
Everyone turned.
Webb approached.
“Why?”
Creed looked at Elias.
“Because Harcourt tried to kill me.”
Aayoka's voice was cold.
“So revenge.”
Creed smiled faintly.
“Call it motivation.”
Webb considered.
“You confess to everything?”
Creed's smile vanished.
“Everything.”
“Village?”
“Yes.”
“Freight robbery?”
“Yes.”
“Framing Boon?”
“Yes.”
Elias felt his chest tighten.
Three years.
One word could begin undoing three years.
Webb continued.
“And Harcourt ordered it?”
Creed nodded.
“Yes.”
The judge looked at Elias.
“We have him.”
But Elias had learned something about hope.
Never trust it too early.
That night he awakened to shouting.
He ran toward the jail.
Smoke poured from a window.
The cell door stood open.
A guard lay unconscious.
Creed was gone.
On the wall, written in charcoal, were five words.
BOON, SHE IS NEXT. — H
Elias stared.
Aayoka.
He ran toward her room.
The door was open.
Empty.
A turquoise bracelet lay on the floor.
May you like
And beside it was a trail of blood.
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