For several seconds, nobody on Main Street moved.
Rebecca Reed remained behind the jail bars.
Lila struggled in Elias's arms, reaching toward her mother.
Nathan is alive.
The words echoed inside Elias's head.
He crossed the street.
Sheriff Pike blocked him.
"Stay back."
Elias kept walking.
Pike placed a hand on his revolver.
The entire street watched.
Elias stopped inches away.
"You arrested a woman whose child survived the fire, and now you're preventing them from seeing each other."
Pike swallowed.
"This woman is charged with arson."
"Evidence?"
"Investigation ongoing."
Abigail Shaw spoke loudly from behind Elias.
"That's newspaper language for 'none.'"
A few townspeople laughed nervously.
Pike glared at her.
Creed attempted to regain control.
"This spectacle proves nothing. Boone has brought stolen government property and runaway wards into town."
Rebecca shouted from the window.
"They aren't wards!"
Creed ignored her.
"Those children must be returned to lawful custody."
Elias turned toward the gathered crowd.
"Anybody here want to help him take them?"
Nobody moved.
Josiah Price, the blacksmith, folded enormous arms.
"Not me."
Dr. Warren stepped beside him.
"Nor me."
Others murmured.
Creed's expression hardened.
Elias realized something important.
Power like Creed's depended partly upon people believing resistance was impossible.
The moment somebody resisted publicly, others discovered they had voices.
Creed pointed at Sheriff Pike.
"Arrest him."
Pike hesitated.
That hesitation ended everything.
Abigail raised a packet of ledger copies.
"These pages will be printed tonight. Copies have also been placed with three separate citizens. Arresting Mr. Boone will not make them disappear."
Creed stared at her.
"You're making a serious mistake."
"So put that in writing."
Another ripple of laughter.
Elias approached Rebecca's window.
"Lila's safe."
Rebecca began crying.
"Thank God."
"Who else survived?"
Her expression changed.
"Several parents."
"Where?"
"Some scattered after Cedar Pass. We were trying to reach Boone Ranch."
"Who's with you?"
"Joseph Whitefeather. He's in the other cell."
Elias lowered his voice.
"Nathan."
Rebecca glanced toward Creed.
Then back.
"Three months ago Nathan discovered an old mining camp north of Black Pine."
"What was there?"
Rebecca whispered.
"Children."
Elias felt the cold return.
"How many?"
"At least twenty."
Behind him, Thomas inhaled sharply.
Rebecca continued.
"Children officially listed as placed with families or dead."
"Why keep them there?"
"Labor. Some worked sorting ore. Others waited until buyers or contractors arrived."
Elias's hands curled into fists.
"Why didn't Nathan go to authorities?"
"He tried."
"Sheriff Pike?"
"Not only Pike."
"Who?"
"Territorial agents. Contractors. Businessmen. Nathan said some were honest, but he didn't know whom to trust."
Rebecca's voice trembled.
"He began collecting evidence. Andrew helped."
"Lila's father?"
She nodded.
"Creed discovered them."
"Andrew disappeared."
Rebecca's eyes filled.
"Yes."
Elias knew from her expression that Rebecca believed her husband dead.
"And Nathan?"
"Captured."
"When did you learn he was alive?"
"One of Creed's drivers changed sides after the school burned. He told Joseph Nathan was still at Black Pine."
"Why keep him alive?"
"He knows where copies of the full records are hidden."
Elias looked toward Creed.
So that was it.
Creed needed Nathan.
Which meant Elias had time.
Maybe.
Abigail approached.
"We need federal authority."
"Fort Hayes."
"I can send a telegram from the depot."
Creed heard.
He immediately gestured toward one of his men.
The man hurried toward his horse.
Abigail smiled.
"I already sent it."
For once Creed looked genuinely afraid.
The crowd noticed.
So did Pike.
The sheriff stepped backward.
Creed saw him.
"Do your job."
Pike looked at the crowd, then at Rebecca, then toward twelve children standing beside Elias's wagon.
Something changed in him.
Perhaps courage.
Perhaps self-preservation.
Either was useful.
Pike removed his badge.
Creed stared.
"What are you doing?"
"Getting out before you bury me too."
He tossed the badge into the dirt.
Creed's face became purple with rage.
"You signed those records."
"I signed transport orders."
"You took money."
Pike closed his eyes.
"Yes."
Gasps followed.
Abigail immediately took out a pencil.
Creed cursed.
He walked toward his horse.
Elias stepped into his path.
"Black Pine."
Creed stared at him.
"Move."
"Where exactly?"
"I have no idea what she's talking about."
Rebecca shouted, "Liar!"
Elias took one step closer.
Creed was tall.
Elias made him look small.
"Black Pine."
Creed smiled suddenly.
"You think you'll ride there and save everyone?"
"Yes."
"Then go."
The answer was too easy.
Elias noticed.
"So you've moved them."
Creed's smile disappeared.
That was answer enough.
Elias turned.
"Thomas. Get everybody back in the wagons."
Thomas obeyed.
Rebecca called after him.
"What are you doing?"
"Finding Nathan."
"You can't take the children."
"I'm not."
He looked toward Martha.
She already understood.
"I'll stay."
Rebecca shook her head desperately.
"Creed has men everywhere."
Elias approached the window again.
"Then tell me everything Nathan told you."
For the next ten minutes, Rebecca described Black Pine.
An abandoned silver operation northwest of Willow Ridge.
Three cabins.
A collapsed processing building.
An old rail spur.
A deep ravine behind the site.
Elias knew the general region.
He had hunted elk there years earlier.
Abigail secured Rebecca and Joseph's release after Pike formally withdrew the charges, admitting they had been brought under pressure from Creed.
Creed disappeared during the confusion.
That worried Elias.
Very much.
By noon Elias assembled six riders: himself, Josiah Price, Reverend Cole, two neighboring ranchers, and former deputy Luke Garner, who had resigned after Pike began cooperating with Creed.
Thomas insisted on accompanying them.
"No."
"But I know some children."
"No."
"I know Black Pine."
"No."
Thomas clenched his fists.
"My brother might be there."
Elias stopped.
"Your brother?"
"Older brother. James."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because everyone I tell things to disappears."
The sentence hurt.
Elias knelt so they were nearly eye level.
"I'm coming back."
"You can't promise that."
"No."
Elias appreciated the boy's painful honesty.
"But I can promise I'll look for James like he was my own."
Thomas blinked rapidly.
"How will you know him?"
"He looks like me."
"That's unfortunate."
Thomas stared.
Then, despite himself, laughed.
Elias squeezed his shoulder.
"Stay with Lila."
They left Coldwater.
The ride to Black Pine took seven hours.
Near sunset they abandoned horses and continued on foot.
From a ridge Elias saw lanterns.
The supposedly abandoned mine was occupied.
Five guards.
Maybe more.
A wagon stood near the processing shed.
Creed had indeed begun moving people.
Through binoculars Josiah whispered, "Children."
Elias saw them.
Small figures loading sacks.
His anger sharpened.
Then another figure emerged.
A tall, thin man with gray at his temples.
He limped badly.
Even from two hundred yards away, Elias recognized him.
Nathan.
For thirteen years Elias had imagined how seeing his brother again might feel.
He had expected anger, confusion, perhaps joy.
He had not expected to find him chained.
Elias moved.
Josiah caught his sleeve.
"Wait."
"My brother."
"And five rifles."
Elias forced himself still.
They watched.
A guard struck Nathan with the butt of a rifle.
Elias nearly ignored all strategy.
Reverend Cole whispered, "Easy."
A carriage approached from the eastern trail.
Creed arrived.
He dismounted.
Elias could not hear everything, but the night carried voices surprisingly far.
"...federal troops..."
"...move before morning..."
"...Boone..."
Nathan laughed.
Creed struck him.
Elias saw red.
Then Nathan said loudly enough to reach the ridge.
"Elias will find you."
Creed grabbed his coat.
"Your brother is a grieving farmer pretending to be dangerous."
Nathan smiled through blood.
"You met him, then."
Josiah almost chuckled.
Elias whispered, "We move after dark."
They waited.
At midnight, Cole and one rancher circled east.
Luke Garner moved west toward the horse pen.
Elias and Josiah crawled toward the cabins.
A child coughed inside.
Elias reached the first guard.
One silent blow dropped him.
Josiah caught another.
Then everything went wrong.
A lantern shattered.
Flames leaped across spilled kerosene.
Someone shouted.
"Boone!"
Gunfire erupted.
Elias kicked open the nearest cabin.
Children screamed.
"I'm Elias Boone!"
One older boy stared.
"Thomas?"
"He's safe!"
The boy's eyes widened.
"James."
Elias almost laughed from relief.
"Get everybody out the back."
Creed appeared through smoke.
He fired.
The bullet struck the wall beside Elias.
Elias returned fire.
Creed vanished.
Flames climbed the roof.
Children poured from the cabin.
Nathan remained chained beside the processing shed.
Elias ran toward him.
Nathan looked up.
Thirteen years vanished.
"You got old," Nathan said.
Elias dropped to his knees at the chain.
"So did you."
"Key's on Creed."
"Of course it is."
Elias lifted an iron bar and smashed the lock.
Once.
Twice.
The chain broke.
Nathan nearly collapsed.
Elias caught him.
"Can you walk?"
"Poorly."
"Good enough."
Then Nathan grabbed his coat.
"Wait."
"What?"
"The records."
"Forget them."
"No."
"Nathan—"
"Full ledger. Names. Buyers. Officials. Everything."
"Where?"
Nathan pointed toward the burning processing building.
Elias cursed.
Nathan almost smiled.
"Still swear around preachers?"
"Only when justified."
He handed Nathan to Josiah.
Then he ran into the smoke.
Inside, flames spread along the rafters.
Elias found a metal lockbox beneath the office desk.
Too heavy.
He dragged it.
A beam crashed behind him.
Another fell ahead.
Heat burned his face.
He pulled harder.
The roof groaned.
Outside, Nathan shouted his name.
Elias gave one final wrench.
The box slid free.
He stumbled through the doorway seconds before the roof collapsed.
Josiah grabbed him.
"You insane giant."
"Been called worse."
They evacuated twenty-three children.
Creed escaped.
But they had the records.
By dawn everyone gathered beneath pine trees miles from the mine.
Nathan sat wrapped in a blanket.
James sat beside him.
Elias approached.
Nathan looked at the rescued children.
"You found the twelve?"
"All safe."
"Good."
"Why me?"
Nathan knew the question.
"Why send them to you?"
"Yes."
Nathan studied his brother.
"Because when we were boys, you found that wounded dog behind Father's barn."
Elias frowned.
"That was thirty years ago."
"Father told you to leave it. Said it would probably die."
"It lived."
"Because you stayed awake three nights feeding it water with a spoon."
Elias stared.
Nathan smiled faintly.
"You've always been incapable of walking away from anything helpless."
Elias sat beside him.
"You could've written."
"I tried."
"Not hard enough."
"I know."
The brothers sat quietly.
Finally Nathan whispered, "I'm sorry about Margaret and Annie."
Elias looked toward the rising sun.
"So am I."
Nathan placed a hand on his shoulder.
For years Elias had believed his family ended beneath two cottonwoods.
But around him were twenty-three rescued children.
At Boone Ranch waited twelve more.
And Nathan was alive.
The family he had lost could never be replaced.
He no longer wanted it replaced.
But perhaps grief had lied to him about something.
Perhaps losing one home did not mean a man was forbidden from building another.
Then Luke Garner opened the recovered lockbox.
His face went pale.
"Boone."
Elias looked.
Luke held up a map.
Red circles marked ranches, mines, freight stations, and towns.
Dozens of locations.
"This operation goes across the territory."
Nathan nodded grimly.
"And Creed knows we have it."
Elias looked east.
Somewhere beyond those mountains, Silas Creed was running.
But now the truth was running faster.
---