Chapter 14 - Gold Beneath Dead Man’s Peak
The journey back took nearly two days.
Hattie and Gideon barely spoke.
Not because they were angry.
Because both understood time mattered.
Red knew enough landmarks from years of searching to get close to the seam.
If he found it, he could disappear with samples and return with investors.
Or explosives.
Or armed men.
Neither wanted that.
On the second afternoon, Gideon stopped suddenly.
“Tracks.”
Hattie dismounted.
Several sets.
Not one horse.
Three.
“Red’s not alone.”
“No.”
They followed.
Near dusk they reached a narrow canyon Hattie had never seen.
Gideon looked grim.
“This is it?”
“Close.”
They left the horses sheltered among trees.
The trail became too narrow.
Hattie followed Gideon uphill.
Snow reached her knees.
Finally they reached a stone outcropping.
Someone had cleared rocks from an opening.
Inside was darkness.
Gideon lit a lantern.
“Stay close.”
Hattie raised an eyebrow.
“I know.”
The tunnel was natural at first.
Then showed tool marks.
Old.
Gideon had worked here before Mary died.
They descended.
Hattie saw faint glitter in the stone.
Gold.
Real gold.
Not enough to scoop by hand.
But visible.
She understood instantly why men lost themselves to it.
The idea of wealth buried inside rock seemed magical.
Dangerous.
Voices came from ahead.
Gideon extinguished the lantern.
They moved quietly.
A larger chamber opened.
Red stood there with two men.
And Mercer.
Hattie’s heart dropped.
Mercer had betrayed them?
Then she noticed his hands were tied.
A gun pressed against his back.
Red smiled when Gideon entered.
“I knew you’d come.”
Gideon positioned himself slightly ahead of Hattie.
Red sighed.
“Still doing that?”
Hattie stepped beside him.
Red laughed.
“Of course.”
One of the men held dynamite.
Gideon’s face changed.
“You’re going to bring half the mountain down.”
“Maybe.”
“You don’t know the rock.”
“I know money.”
“That won’t help when you’re buried.”
Red gestured toward the wall.
“There it is.”
The seam.
Hattie saw it.
A narrow band of gold-bearing quartz.
Beautiful.
Ordinary.
Terrifying.
“So much trouble for that,” she whispered.
Red heard.
“That could make us rich.”
“Could it bring Mary back?”
His expression hardened.
“She’s dead.”
“Exactly.”
Hattie looked at Mercer.
“What happened?”
“He grabbed me outside town.”
Mercer’s lip was bruised.
“Apparently Lawson dislikes witnesses.”
Red rolled his eyes.
“Hattie, I’m going to offer you something.”
She laughed.
“You do love bargains.”
“Half.”
“Half of what?”
“The mine.”
“I don’t want it.”
“Everyone wants money.”
“No.”
Red studied her.
“You came west because you were broke.”
Hattie went still.
He knew.
“My uncle told you?”
“Years ago he talked about his brother’s daughter. Strong girl. Worked in the shop.”
Red smiled.
“Funny how things happen.”
“You destroyed my father.”
“He made his own choices.”
That hurt because it contained truth.
Hattie did not deny it.
Red continued.
“Take the money. Go East. Buy ten butcher shops.”
Hattie looked at Gideon.
Then at the gold.
Months ago she might have dreamed of exactly that.
Returning triumphant.
Showing everyone.
Proving worth through wealth.
Now?
She wanted her cabin.
Bread cooling near the window.
Gideon tracking snow across her clean floor.
A life no one else had chosen for her.
“No.”
Red stared.
Hattie smiled.
“I already have enough.”
Gideon’s eyes met hers.
Red’s patience snapped.
“You’re both fools.”
He grabbed the dynamite from his companion.
Gideon moved.
A gun fired.
The shot struck stone.
Everyone ducked.
Mercer lunged into one attacker.
Hattie threw herself toward the other.
Her shoulder screamed.
She ignored it.
The lantern fell.
Darkness swallowed the chamber.
Men shouted.
Stone scraped.
Then a spark.
Hattie saw Red near the wall.
Lighting a fuse.
“Gideon!”
Gideon turned.
The fuse burned.
Red threw the dynamite toward the deeper tunnel.
“Run!”
Everyone did.
The explosion struck behind them.
The mountain roared.
Hattie was thrown forward.
Dust filled the tunnel.
She heard Gideon shouting her name.
“Hattie!”
“I’m here!”
Rock crashed behind them.
Mercer stumbled.
One of Red’s men screamed.
Gideon grabbed Hattie’s hand.
“Move!”
They ran.
The tunnel shook.
Then a massive section collapsed.
Daylight disappeared.
Silence followed.
Hattie coughed.
Dust coated her mouth.
Gideon found the lantern.
Relit it.
They were trapped.
Hattie.
Gideon.
Mercer.
One of Red’s men.
And Red Lawson.
The other man was separated behind the collapse.
Red stared at the blocked tunnel.
“No.”
Gideon looked toward the ceiling.
“You cracked the support.”
Red began digging.
“Help!”
“It’s tons of stone.”
“There’s another exit.”
Gideon turned.
“What?”
Red’s panic shifted.
“I found airflow yesterday.”
“Where?”
“Deeper.”
Gideon lifted the lantern.
They had no choice.
They moved into the mountain.
The tunnel narrowed.
Hours seemed to pass.
Then they entered another chamber.
Inside stood old timber supports.
And something else.
A wooden crate.
Gideon stared.
“I never put that here.”
Red smiled.
“Mary did.”
Hattie felt cold.
They opened it.
Inside were mining tools.
Food tins long rusted.
A blanket.
And another envelope.
Gideon’s name was written on it.
Red reached.
Hattie took it first.
“Enough.”
She handed it to Gideon.
His fingers trembled.
The letter had never been in the cabin.
Mary had hidden it inside the mine.
Gideon opened it.
His face changed as he read.
Hattie touched his arm.
“What?”
He handed her the page.
Mary’s final secret was not about Red.
Not about gold.
It was about Gideon.
May you like
And it explained why he had refused to take Mary down the mountain the night she begged him to go.
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