Chapter 10 - Water Has No Master
“Poison?”
Ethan stared at Pike.
“With what?”
Pike shrugged.
“Mr. Vale didn’t explain.”
Ethan wanted to know whether it was a bluff.
The chief did not gamble with water.
Evacuation resumed immediately.
Every vessel was filled.
Children and older people moved toward a smaller southern seep known only to a few families.
Mara organized the movement.
The twenty-two women divided into groups again.
Ethan helped load water onto pack animals.
The irony cut deeply.
A day earlier he had imagined himself rescuing them.
Now he watched a community rescue itself with far greater discipline than he possessed.
Benton approached.
“I’m going.”
“No.”
“It’s me he wants.”
“And once he has the key?”
“He may leave.”
Caleb laughed bitterly.
“You spent fifteen years hiding from Gideon Vale and still believe that?”
Benton looked ashamed.
“No.”
Ethan opened Thomas’s notebook.
“We need the documents before Vale.”
“Tucson is two days away.”
“Not if someone left earlier.”
Isaac understood first.
“Mara?”
The chief nodded.
One of the twenty-two women was already riding south with two escorts.
She carried a written authorization from Benton and the bank key.
Benton touched his neck.
The key was gone.
“When?”
“While you slept,” Isaac said.
Benton stared.
Ethan almost laughed.
The chief had planned three moves ahead.
Pike waited outside the village.
Ethan returned.
“Tell Vale Benton accepts.”
Pike smiled.
“Smart.”
“At noon.”
Pike rode away.
Caleb stared at Ethan.
“What are you doing?”
“Buying Mara time.”
“With Benton’s life?”
“With Vale’s certainty.”
Benton nodded slowly.
“He expects the key.”
“He’ll search you.”
“And find nothing.”
“Exactly.”
Caleb shook his head.
“That makes him more dangerous.”
“Yes.”
The chief spoke.
Isaac translated.
“So we choose where danger happens.”
At noon Benton walked toward Vale’s camp.
Ethan, Caleb and six warriors moved through the rocks above him.
Isaac remained near the chief.
Benton entered alone.
Vale emerged.
Even from the ridge Ethan could hear him.
“Fifteen years.”
Benton said nothing.
Vale held out his hand.
“Key.”
Benton reached beneath his shirt.
Nothing.
Vale’s smile disappeared.
“You think this is clever?”
“No.”
Benton looked up toward the ridge.
“I think it’s late.”
Vale struck him.
Ethan nearly fired.
Then Caleb whispered, “Wait.”
Vale ordered two men to search Benton.
They found nothing.
Vale turned toward the second spring.
“Bring the barrel.”
Two men rolled a wooden barrel forward.
Ethan’s stomach tightened.
Caleb stared.
“That’s not poison.”
“How do you know?”
“Marking.”
On the barrel: blasting powder.
Vale had lied.
He never intended to poison the water.
He intended to destroy it.
Again.
Caleb raised his rifle.
“You take the man on the left.”
Ethan grabbed the barrel in his sights.
“If a bullet hits that—”
“Don’t shoot the barrel.”
Before either fired, a whistle sounded from the far rocks.
One of the village scouts.
Vale’s men turned.
That was enough.
Benton threw himself behind a boulder.
Ethan fired into the dirt near the powder wagon.
Caleb shot a rope holding the team.
The frightened horses bolted.
The wagon rolled sideways.
Vale shouted.
Warriors appeared on three ridges—not attacking, simply making Vale’s men realize they were surrounded.
Pike fired upward.
His shot struck rock.
The chief’s men returned controlled fire.
Vale’s crew scattered.
Ethan descended.
He reached Benton.
“Move!”
They ran toward cover.
Then Ethan saw Caleb.
His brother had not retreated.
He was walking toward Vale.
“Caleb!”
Vale raised his revolver.
Caleb stopped twenty feet away.
“You buried their spring.”
Vale smiled.
“You helped me get there.”
Caleb’s face twisted.
“I didn’t know.”
“Men always say that after they cash the money.”
Ethan reached them.
Vale looked at him.
“Two Cole boys. Thomas would be proud.”
“Don’t speak his name.”
Vale laughed.
“Why? He stole more silver than I ever did.”
Ethan froze.
Caleb turned.
“What?”
Vale smiled wider.
“Did Benton forget that part?”
Benton had reached the edge of the clearing.
His expression confirmed it.
Vale continued.
“Your father didn’t flood that mine only to protect these people.”
He pointed toward the mountain.
“He hid something inside.”
“What?”
Vale’s gaze settled on Ethan.
“Thirty crates of refined silver.”
Caleb went still.
Vale spoke softly.
“Your inheritance.”
Gunfire erupted from the ridge.
Dust exploded.
Vale escaped behind his men.
Ethan dragged Caleb into cover.
But the damage was done.
A mine worth a fortune was one thing.
Thirty hidden crates already refined and waiting beneath the mountain were another.
Caleb looked toward the sealed shaft.
All the hunger of seven lost years entered his face.
And Ethan knew Gideon Vale had just found the weapon he needed.
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Not dynamite.
His brother.
