Chapter 5 - The Order From Helena
Clara stepped down from the bell tower and said, “Read it.”
Judge Cross held the sealed order in one hand.
The red wax carried the territorial court mark.
A handwritten date appeared beneath it.
Tomorrow.
Elias stood beside Clara.
“Is that her execution date?”
Cross looked at him.
“Yes.”
Clara did not move.
Creed smiled despite blood running down his coat.
“I told you.”
Cross turned to him.
“You should save your breath, Marshal Rusk.”
“My name is—”
“Silas Creed.”
The church went silent.
Cross removed another paper.
“You are under federal investigation for conspiracy, witness tampering, fraud, kidnapping, and murder.”
Creed’s smile vanished.
Pike attempted to run.
Two federal officers caught him.
Thomas lowered his weapon.
Ruth held Caleb tightly.
Clara stared at Cross.
“What about me?”
“The execution order remains valid until your conviction is formally overturned.”
Elias stepped forward.
“You know she was framed.”
“I know there is evidence suggesting that.”
“Suggesting?”
“Courts require more than my suspicion.”
Matthew held up the brass key.
“We know where the ledger is.”
Cross’s gaze sharpened.
“Where?”
“Helena Territorial Bank. Vault box 417-B.”
Creed lunged.
Not toward the door.
Toward Clara.
He seized a fallen pistol.
Elias fired first.
The bullet struck Creed’s hand.
The weapon dropped.
Federal officers tackled him.
Cross looked at Elias.
“Good shot.”
“I wasn’t aiming to kill him.”
“That may prove useful.”
Creed laughed from the floor.
“You think the ledger will save her?”
Clara stared down.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
“What did you do?”
His eyes gleamed.
“The bank burns tonight.”
Matthew ran for the door.
Cross shouted orders.
Within minutes horses were saddled.
Helena was too far to reach before midnight by ordinary travel.
They rode anyway.
Clara rode beside Elias.
“You don’t have to come.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Why?”
He didn’t answer.
“Elias.”
He looked at her.
“Because I don’t want you to die.”
She waited.
“That’s all?”
“No.”
“What else?”
“This is not a good time.”
“You’re right. I may hang tomorrow. We should postpone important conversations.”
He almost laughed.
Then he said, “Because when you stepped off that stagecoach, I thought my life had become a disaster.”
“That is romantic.”
“I’m not finished.”
“Go on.”
“And then I realized my life before you arrived was mostly work and silence.”
Her expression changed.
He continued.
“You brought gunmen, a murder charge, my dead brother, and a federal conspiracy.”
“I did.”
“And somehow the cabin felt emptier after you left it.”
Clara looked ahead.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything.”
“I want to.”
“Then survive tomorrow.”
She smiled.
“That sounded almost like a proposal.”
“It wasn’t.”
“Good.”
“Good?”
“I expect something better.”
He laughed then.
Really laughed.
They rode faster.
Near dusk they reached a relay station.
Cross had arranged fresh horses.
Matthew showed the key.
“If Creed has men in Helena, they’ll go to the bank.”
Cross nodded.
“I wired the city marshal.”
Creed, handcuffed in a guarded wagon behind them, called out, “And who do you think hired the city marshal?”
Cross’s face hardened.
They left the main road.
Cross chose a mountain cutoff.
It was dangerous at night.
It saved three hours.
Clara’s horse stumbled twice.
Elias steadied her.
They reached Helena after midnight.
Smoke rose over the city.
Clara saw it first.
“No.”
Fire.
Two blocks.
Then three.
The bank stood at the center.
Flames climbed its roof.
Matthew kicked his horse forward.
They arrived amid bucket lines and screaming crowds.
The front windows had blown out.
A banker stood outside.
Cross grabbed him.
“Vault?”
“Fireproof.”
“Box 417-B?”
The banker hesitated.
“Who are you?”
Cross shoved the key under his nose.
“Federal judge.”
That solved it.
They entered through smoke.
Elias wrapped a wet cloth over Clara’s mouth.
“You stay behind me.”
“I can see.”
“That wasn’t the instruction.”
They reached the vault.
The banker spun the combination.
Metal groaned.
Heat pressed against them.
Inside, smoke thinned.
Rows of locked boxes lined the walls.
417-B.
Matthew inserted the key.
Turned.
Nothing.
Again.
Nothing.
Clara tried.
The key would not move.
“Wrong box?” Elias asked.
“No.”
Matthew examined the lock.
“Someone changed it.”
The banker shook his head.
“Impossible.”
Clara touched the box.
Then stopped.
“There’s another keyhole.”
Beneath the number was a second tiny slot.
The banker frowned.
“That shouldn’t be there.”
Clara reached under her collar.
She removed a thin silver chain.
A tiny key hung from it.
Elias stared.
“You had that the whole time?”
“My mother gave it to me the night she died.”
She inserted it.
Both keys turned together.
The box opened.
Inside lay a black leather ledger.
Clara touched it.
Her father’s handwriting appeared on the first page.
She began to cry.
Matthew closed his eyes.
“We found it.”
Then Elias smelled something.
Not smoke.
Oil.
He turned.
The banker stood at the vault entrance.
Holding a pistol.
“I’m sorry,” the man said.
Cross reached for his gun.
The banker fired.
The bullet struck Cross in the side.
Clara screamed.
The banker grabbed the ledger.
Matthew attacked him.
They crashed against the boxes.
Elias pulled Cross away from the line of fire.
The banker struck Matthew with the pistol and ran.
“Ledger!” Clara shouted.
Elias chased him.
Through smoke.
Through the burning lobby.
Into the street.
The banker climbed onto a waiting horse.
A rider waited beside him.
Harland Pike.
His shoulder was bandaged.
He had escaped.
Pike took the ledger.
Then shot the banker.
The man fell.
Pike rode.
Elias mounted the nearest horse and followed.
Clara shouted behind him.
“Elias!”
He chased Pike through Helena.
Pike headed north.
Toward the rail yard.
A train waited with steam rising.
Elias realized the plan.
Creed had prepared an escape route before Stevensville.
Pike reached the train.
Jumped aboard.
Elias was fifty yards behind.
The locomotive began moving.
He kicked harder.
Reached the final freight car.
Grabbed the ladder.
Pulled himself aboard.
Pike stood on the roof.
The ledger in one hand.
A pistol in the other.
“You Boone men never learn,” he shouted.
Elias climbed.
Pike fired.
The bullet missed.
They fought on top of the moving train.
Wind tore at them.
Pike struck Elias.
Elias nearly fell.
He caught the edge.
Pike laughed.
Then Clara appeared behind him.
She had boarded the rear platform.
She held a rifle.
“Drop it.”
Pike turned.
His smile returned.
“You won’t shoot.”
Clara’s hands trembled.
“No.”
Pike aimed at Elias.
Clara fired.
The bullet struck Pike’s gun.
It flew from his hand.
Elias pulled himself up.
Pike grabbed Clara.
Dragged her toward the edge.
“Ledger or woman, Boone!”
The black book slipped across the roof.
Elias reached it.
Pike held Clara over the side.
“Choose!”
Elias looked at the ledger.
Then at Clara.
He kicked the book off the train.
Pike stared in disbelief.
Elias punched him.
Clara fell onto the roof.
Pike tumbled over the edge.
Gone.
Clara crawled toward Elias.
“The ledger!”
“I chose.”
She stared at him.
Then the train entered a tunnel.
Darkness.
When it emerged, Matthew was waiting on the rear platform.
He held something black against his chest.
The ledger.
“I knew you’d do something stupid,” he said.
Elias laughed.
Clara cried.
Then Matthew opened the ledger.
The first pages were intact.
The final pages had been cut out.
Clara stopped breathing.
“What was on them?”
Matthew looked at Creed’s payment index.
“The list of living witnesses.”
Elias asked, “Who has it?”
Matthew turned the ledger toward them.
Someone had written a fresh message across the cut edge.
ONE WITNESS REMAINS.
Below it was a name.
CLARA VALE.
May you like
And beneath her name:
EXECUTION — SUNRISE.
