Chapter 2 - The Men Who Came Back
Elias extinguished the lantern.
Darkness swallowed the cabin.
Naya immediately understood.
She moved away from the window and crouched beside the wall, knife in hand.
Elias peered through a narrow crack between the shutters.
Three riders.
Maybe four.
They remained beyond rifle range.
Watching.
“They found us,” he whispered.
Naya understood the tone if not every word.
Her expression hardened.
“Gray coat?”
“Probably.”
She touched the scar above her temple.
Elias noticed.
“You know him?”
Naya hesitated.
Then nodded.
“Calder.”
“That's his name?”
“Silas Calder.”
The fact that she knew it bothered Elias.
“You met him before today?”
Another pause.
“Yes.”
Elias looked at her.
There was more to this story.
Much more.
But this wasn't the time.
A gunshot cracked outside.
The bullet struck the cabin wall.
Naya flinched but didn't scream.
Elias crawled beneath the window.
A man's voice carried from the darkness.
“Mercer!”
Elias froze.
Naya looked at him.
The man outside knew his name.
“Should've kept riding!”
Silas Calder.
Elias recognized the voice now.
He hadn't recognized the face earlier.
But the name pulled something from memory.
A wanted poster in Tucson.
Robbery.
Murder.
Horse theft.
And something else.
Elias whispered, “Stay down.”
Naya shook her head.
“I fight.”
“No.”
Her expression became furious.
“I fight.”
Elias almost argued.
Then remembered the knife.
“Fine. But stay away from the windows.”
Another bullet hit the roof.
Silas laughed.
“You can't hide her forever!”
Elias shouted back.
“Wasn't planning to hide anybody.”
“Then send her out.”
“No.”
“She's worth money, Mercer.”
That sentence changed everything.
Elias looked toward Naya.
Her face went still.
Not frightened.
Still.
“What does he mean?”
She looked away.
“Naya.”
Nothing.
“Why are they after you?”
She finally whispered, “Paper.”
“What paper?”
She touched a small leather pouch tied beneath her belt.
Elias hadn't noticed it before.
Naya removed it.
Inside was a folded document.
The paper carried an official territorial seal.
Elias read enough to understand immediately.
Land.
Thousands of acres.
Water rights.
A valley east of the San Pedro River.
The document recorded testimony involving an illegal land transfer and listed several witnesses.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Silas Calder.
Elias looked up.
“This can put him in prison.”
Naya nodded.
“My father found truth.”
“Where's your father?”
Her expression answered before her mouth did.
“Dead.”
Elias slowly folded the document.
Now he understood.
The attack hadn't been random.
Calder wasn't merely hunting a woman.
He was hunting evidence.
Another gunshot shattered part of the window.
Elias pulled Naya down.
“Back door.”
They moved.
Elias saddled his horse behind the cabin while Naya gathered food and water.
“You ride?”
She gave him an offended look.
Apparently that question had been stupid.
“Right.”
He helped only with the stirrup, then climbed behind her because they had one horse.
Naya stiffened.
Elias kept his hands away from her waist.
“You steer.”
She looked back.
“You trust?”
“No.”
A faint smile.
“But you're better with horses.”
She kicked the horse forward.
They disappeared into the darkness moments before Calder's men reached the cabin.
For hours they traveled through washes and rocky ground where tracks were difficult to follow.
Near dawn, Naya finally stopped.
Elias climbed down.
“You know where you're going?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
She pointed northeast.
“People.”
“Your people?”
She hesitated.
“Maybe.”
That wasn't comforting.
They rested beneath a rock overhang.
Elias cleaned the wound near her temple.
Naya tolerated it reluctantly.
“You always this stubborn?”
She didn't understand.
“Never mind.”
When he finished, she touched the bandage.
“Elias.”
It was the first time she'd spoken his name.
“Yes?”
“You save again.”
“Don't start.”
She looked puzzled.
He pointed toward himself.
“Husband?”
Naya's expression became completely serious.
“Yes.”
Elias groaned.
She smiled.
Actually smiled.
It transformed her face.
For a moment he forgot about Calder.
Then Naya reached into her leather pouch.
There was something else inside.
A small photograph.
She handed it to him.
Elias stared.
Three white men stood beside Silas Calder.
He recognized one.
Sheriff Nathan Cole.
The sheriff of Red Creek.
The nearest town.
The same town Elias had planned to reach tomorrow.
Naya pointed at the photograph.
“Bad men.”
Elias looked again.
If the sheriff was working with Calder, they couldn't simply bring the evidence to the law.
“Who can we trust?”
Naya touched the territorial seal.
“Judge.”
“What judge?”
“Prescott.”
Elias calculated the distance.
Several days.
Maybe longer with Calder hunting them.
Then Naya pointed toward another man in the photograph.
“Brother.”
Elias frowned.
“Your brother?”
“No.”
She pointed toward Elias.
“Your brother.”
The blood drained from his face.
The man beside Calder was Thomas Mercer.
Elias's older brother.
A man Elias had believed dead for six years.
May you like
And suddenly the desert felt colder than winter.
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