Chapter 7 - The Traitor on the Mountain
They carried Marshal Cole to an abandoned line cabin.
Silas removed the bullet.
Cole survived.
When he woke, his warning became clearer.
Vale had known their route before they reached the road.
Only a handful of people could have known.
Suspicion fell on Eli.
Thomas confronted him.
“You worked for Vale.”
“So did you.”
“You knew about the cabin.”
“I helped build it!”
Silas stepped between them.
“Fighting saves Vale ammunition.”
Cora watched quietly.
Something bothered her.
The silver coin.
She remembered the message.
Don't trust anyone carrying Vale's silver coin.
She searched their supplies.
Nothing.
Then she examined the coat Thomas had worn when he returned.
A silver coin fell from the pocket.
Everyone froze.
Thomas stared at it.
“I've never seen that.”
Eli laughed bitterly.
“Convenient.”
Cora picked it up.
“Someone planted it.”
“How do you know?” Thomas asked.
“Because if you worked for Vale, you wouldn't have shot his men.”
Silas nodded.
“She's right.”
Then Hope began crying.
Cora lifted her.
As she did, she noticed something sewn into the edge of the blanket taken from the hidden cabin.
Metal.
She cut the seam.
Another silver coin.
Then another.
Three.
Silas understood.
“The coins aren't identification.”
“What are they?” Cora asked.
“Markers.”
Someone had been planting them in places Vale's men were meant to search.
Thomas remembered a stable boy at the hidden ranch.
“Caleb.”
Eli nodded.
“He came twice a month.”
The boy had been Vale's spy.
The betrayal wasn't inside their group.
It had been waiting for them before they arrived.
Marshal Cole confirmed it.
“Vale's been paying boys along the freight routes. They mark wagons, saddles, clothing.”
Cora burned the blanket.
For the first time, they had an advantage.
Vale believed they were still marked.
Silas devised a plan.
They attached one silver coin to an empty packhorse and sent it south.
Then they traveled north.
By sunset, riders appeared far behind the loose horse.
The trick worked.
For two days, the group moved safely.
Helena finally appeared beyond the hills.
Cora nearly cried.
Civilization.
Warm buildings.
Doctors.
Law.
But Marshal Cole stopped them.
“Vale owns men in Helena.”
“Then where do we go?” Thomas asked.
“Fort Ellis.”
Federal troops.
The ledger would be safe there.
It meant another hundred miles.
Cora closed her eyes.
Silas saw her exhaustion.
“We'll make it.”
She looked at him.
“You always say that like you can order the world around.”
“No. Just you.”
She smiled.
Thomas saw the exchange.
Later, he approached Silas privately.
“You care about her.”
Silas stiffened.
“She saved herself.”
“That wasn't what I said.”
Silas looked at Thomas.
“You're her husband.”
“I know.”
“Then act like it.”
Thomas nodded slowly.
“You think I deserve her?”
Silas's expression hardened.
“Doesn't matter what I think.”
“It matters to me.”
“Then here's what I think. Stop asking whether you deserve her and become the kind of man who does.”
Thomas absorbed the words.
That night, while everyone slept, Thomas wrote something.
At dawn, he handed Cora a folded paper.
“What is this?”
“The deed to the hidden property.”
“It already belongs to us.”
“No.”
Thomas shook his head.
“It belongs to you.”
Cora looked at him.
“If I die,” he said, “nobody can take your home again.”
“Don't talk like that.”
“I need to.”
Thomas kissed Hope's forehead.
Then he looked toward the mountains.
“Because Vale isn't going to let us reach Fort Ellis.”
A rifle shot answered him from the trees.
Thomas jerked backward.
Cora screamed.
May you like
And Silas knew Gideon Vale had finally caught them.
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