Chapter 6 - When the Canyon Closed
The approaching riders halted fifty yards away.
Nobody moved.
Boone's men emerged from the tunnel behind Clara.
Larkin's men blocked the front.
The new riders held the open ground.
Three forces.
One trapped group in the middle.
Clara looked at Tahen.
"Enemy?"
"Old feud."
"Now?"
Tahen almost smiled grimly.
"Bad time."
The leader of the newcomers rode forward.
He was older than Tahen, perhaps fifty, with a scar along one cheek.
He spoke.
Tahen answered.
Clara understood nothing.
The exchange grew sharper.
Larkin lost patience.
"Enough!"
Every head turned.
He raised his revolver.
"Federal authority. All of you disarm."
The scarred leader looked at him as if he were ridiculous.
Clara almost admired that.
Boone appeared behind them, shoulder bandaged.
"Hale pay you extra for this, Larkin?"
The deputy's jaw tightened.
"Shut up."
Boone laughed.
Clara realized something.
Their alliance was breaking.
Pressure did that.
Criminal partnerships worked beautifully until survival mattered more than money.
She stepped forward.
"Deputy Larkin."
Tahen caught her sleeve.
Clara shook him off.
Larkin aimed at her.
"What?"
"You know Hale plans to blame you."
Silence.
Boone's laughter stopped.
Clara continued.
"He has records."
"You're lying."
"Thomas wrote names. Keta stole payments. Hale can't destroy every copy if he doesn't know where they are."
Larkin's eyes shifted.
Tiny movement.
Enough.
Clara pressed.
"When Ross starts asking questions, who do you think Hale sacrifices first? A respected doctor? Boone? Or a deputy everyone already knows gambles more money than he earns?"
Larkin's face changed.
Boone said, "Don't listen."
Clara looked at Boone.
"Why not?"
Then back to Larkin.
"Ask him."
Larkin did.
"Is she telling the truth?"
Boone swore.
That was answer enough.
The scarred leader watched with growing interest.
Tahen murmured, "Keep talking."
Clara intended to.
Then a shot cracked.
Nobody knew who fired first.
Larkin's horse reared.
Boone dropped behind a rock.
Tahen pulled Clara down.
Chaos exploded.
The new riders scattered.
Gunfire echoed between canyon walls.
Clara crawled behind a boulder.
Mercer followed.
"Who fired?"
"No idea!"
Tahen shouted instructions.
His two riders moved toward higher ground.
Larkin's men split.
Boone's men returned through the tunnel.
Clara saw the scarred leader dismount and move toward Tahen.
Instead of attacking, he grabbed Tahen's arm and pulled him behind cover.
Enemy?
Apparently not today.
The scarred man shouted.
Tahen answered.
Then both pointed toward Boone.
Clara understood.
Whatever feud existed could wait.
Boone was everyone's problem.
The shooting slowed.
A voice thundered from the canyon entrance.
"UNITED STATES MARSHAL! HOLD YOUR FIRE!"
Clara nearly collapsed with relief.
Caleb Ross rode in with six men.
Beside him was Keta.
Alive.
Clara laughed.
Actually laughed.
Keta saw her.
His face transformed with relief.
Then he saw Boone.
He drew his rifle.
Ross dismounted.
"Boone!"
Silence gradually returned.
"Larkin!"
The deputy looked trapped.
Ross's gaze hardened.
"Drop your weapon."
Larkin hesitated.
Clara stood.
"Larkin."
He looked at her.
She said, "Hale already betrayed you."
The deputy's shoulders sagged.
He dropped the revolver.
One by one his men did the same.
Boone did not.
He ran.
Of course he did.
He mounted a horse near the canyon wall and charged north.
Keta started after him.
Clara grabbed another horse.
Tahen blocked her.
"No."
"Move."
"Clara."
"He killed Thomas."
"And Boone wants you angry."
"I am angry."
"That is why you stay."
Clara stared at him.
Then Ross mounted.
"I'll get him."
Clara looked toward the canyon path.
Boone vanished around a bend.
Ross and two deputies followed.
Keta remained.
Not willingly.
Tahen had caught his reins.
The brothers argued.
Clara almost laughed again.
Some things crossed cultures easily.
Stubborn younger brothers were apparently universal.
Ross returned forty minutes later.
Without Boone.
"He got away."
Clara's disappointment burned.
"But," Ross said, "we know where he's going."
"Hale," Clara said.
Ross nodded.
Dr. Hale had fled Carrion Canyon during the gunfire.
He would likely head to the rail settlement of San Marcos.
From there, he could disappear east.
They had less than one day.
Ross took custody of Larkin and Boone's captured men.
The scarred leader spoke with Tahen.
Clara finally asked, "Who is he?"
Tahen's expression became complicated.
"My wife's brother."
Clara blinked.
"Your enemy is your brother-in-law?"
Keta smiled.
Tahen glared at him.
Clara couldn't help it.
She laughed.
Tahen sighed.
"Long story."
For the first time in days, Clara felt the world contain something besides death.
They rode toward San Marcos before dawn.
Ross read Thomas's papers along the way.
At one point he removed his hat.
"Thomas tried to bring this to me."
"I know."
"I should've protected him."
"You didn't know."
"I should have."
Clara looked ahead.
She knew that kind of guilt.
"If you spend three years punishing yourself, Marshal, you'll discover it doesn't raise the dead."
Ross looked at her.
"Experience?"
"Unfortunately."
By noon, they reached the settlement.
Hale's carriage stood outside the rail station.
Too late?
Clara dismounted before anyone could stop her.
The stationmaster pointed toward the platform.
"Train's due in ten minutes!"
Ross spread his men.
Tahen and Keta waited near the street because bringing a large armed group into the station would only create panic.
Clara entered with Ross.
Hale stood alone near a bench.
Gray coat.
Leather case.
Calm face.
When he saw Clara, he smiled sadly.
"Mrs. McKe."
Clara's stomach turned.
"Doctor."
"I suppose explanations are useless."
"Try."
Hale sighed.
"Thomas complicated things."
"You murdered him."
"I never touched him."
"You paid Boone."
"Allegedly."
Ross stepped forward.
"We have records."
Hale's eyes moved to him.
"Records written by criminals."
"And Thomas."
For the first time, Hale's calm cracked.
Clara saw it.
"You signed his death certificate," she said.
Hale looked back at her.
"He was already dead."
"Because Boone killed him."
Hale's jaw tightened.
The train whistle sounded in the distance.
Hale glanced toward the tracks.
Ross noticed.
"You're not boarding."
Hale reached slowly toward his leather case.
Ross's hand moved to his gun.
"Don't."
Hale froze.
Clara looked at the case.
"What is in there?"
No answer.
Ross opened it.
Money.
Documents.
Passports.
Then photographs.
Clara picked one up.
Several missing people stood in front of a mining camp.
Alive.
Proof.
Hale's face went gray.
Ross smiled without humor.
"That'll do."
The train approached.
For one second Clara thought it was over.
Then someone shouted outside.
Gunfire.
Ross turned.
A station window shattered.
Clara dropped.
Boone stormed through the rear entrance.
Blood dried across his shoulder.
His gun pointed directly at Hale.
"You."
Hale backed away.
"Silas—"
"You left me."
Ross aimed.
"Drop it!"
Boone grabbed Clara instead.
His arm locked around her neck.
The barrel pressed against her side.
Everything stopped.
"Back up," Boone said.
Ross did not.
"Back up!"
Clara could feel Boone trembling.
Not fear.
Blood loss.
Exhaustion.
Rage.
He dragged her toward the platform.
The train screamed closer.
Keta appeared outside.
Tahen beside him.
Both stopped when they saw Clara.
Boone laughed.
"Look at this."
Clara stayed still.
"All because you couldn't walk away from a stranger in the dirt."
Clara whispered, "I'd do it again."
Boone's grip tightened.
"That's your problem."
"No."
She slowly reached toward her belt.
Keta's knife.
Boone didn't notice.
"My problem was believing men like you were stronger than everyone you frightened."
His body tensed.
Clara drove the knife backward into his thigh.
Boone shouted.
His grip loosened.
Clara dropped.
Keta tackled Boone.
The gun discharged into the roof.
Tahen pulled Clara away.
Ross seized Boone's weapon.
Within seconds Boone was on the floor.
Handcuffed.
Bleeding.
Alive.
Clara stared down at him.
Three years of nightmares had a face.
And now that face looked small.
Hale was also arrested.
The train came and went without them.
By evening, Ross had enough testimony and documents to begin unraveling the network.
Clara should have felt finished.
She didn't.
One question remained.
Thomas's letter.
The unfinished sentence.
The man funding Boone is not Boone. His name is—
Hale had been involved.
But had Thomas meant Hale?
Clara showed the line to Ross.
He frowned.
"No."
"Why?"
"Thomas knew Hale's name."
Clara felt cold.
"Then who was he writing about?"
Ross stared at the page.
Before he could answer, Keta entered carrying something recovered from Hale's case.
A sealed envelope.
On the front were two words.
CLARA McKE.
The handwriting belonged to Thomas.
Clara broke the seal.
Inside was a final page.
She unfolded it.
Read the first sentence.
And immediately sat down.
May you like
Because the name Thomas had written was not Hale.
It belonged to someone Clara had trusted since childhood.
