Chapter 15 - The Railroad Comes Early
The railroad crew arrived under armed guard.
Forty laborers.
Twelve hired gunmen.
Two wagons of blasting powder.
Everett Crane stood beside the survey stakes as though Cedar Basin already belonged to him.
By the time Elias and the others returned, one hillside had been cut open.
Tavan’s people watched from the opposite ridge.
No one had fired.
Yet.
Elias understood how quickly that could change.
Crane wanted violence.
If Tavan’s warriors attacked a railroad crew, territorial troops would likely arrive.
The land dispute would become an “uprising.”
Crane would win without proving a single deed.
“He’s baiting us,” Elias said.
Tavan nodded.
Sani looked angry.
“They are digging beside the spring.”
“Exactly.”
Elias turned toward Voss.
“Can you stop the crew?”
“They aren’t mine.”
“Whose?”
“Eastern Continental Rail.”
“Do they know the title is disputed?”
“They know Crane told them it was resolved.”
Elias held up the original survey.
“Then we show them.”
Voss shook his head.
“To the foreman? Maybe he stops one day. Then Crane produces the recorded deed with your signature.”
“The forged deed.”
“The foreman isn’t a judge.”
Elias looked toward the blasting crew.
“How long until they reach the spring?”
“Two days.”
They needed legal authority.
Fast.
Jonah said, “Territorial land commissioner is in Silver Junction.”
“How far?”
“By rail? Half a day from Fort Garrett.”
Elias laughed bitterly.
“We need a railroad to stop a railroad.”
Voss looked at him.
“I can get you a train.”
“Why help?”
“Crane cut me out.”
“That’s not noble.”
“I never claimed nobility.”
Elias appreciated that more than he wanted to.
Tavan stepped closer.
“I go with Elias.”
Voss shook his head.
“That creates problems.”
Tavan’s eyes hardened.
“For whom?”
“The commissioner may refuse the meeting if he thinks armed tribal representatives are pressuring him.”
Elias hated that Voss was probably right.
Tavan knew it too.
His jaw tightened.
“Then Elias carries the survey.”
Elias looked at him.
“You trust me?”
“No.”
The answer almost made Elias smile.
Tavan continued.
“I trust the paper more in your hands than Voss’s.”
Fair.
Silas volunteered to go.
Elias refused.
“You stay here.”
“Why?”
“Because if Crane comes for the survey, he’ll expect you near it.”
Silas understood.
“You’re using me as bait.”
“Runs in the family.”
Silas accepted that.
Before Elias left, Tavan approached.
“I need to tell you something.”
“If this is another secret—”
“It is.”
Elias groaned.
Tavan almost smiled.
“When Mara gave you to Silas, she also gave me something.”
“What?”
“Your father’s pocket watch.”
“Why keep it?”
“She said if you ever returned by choice, I should give it to you.”
“And if I didn’t?”
“Then it was mine to remember him.”
Tavan placed the watch in Elias’s hand.
Simple silver.
Scratched.
Inside the lid were three initials.
C.B.
And beneath them:
LAND IS NOT THE SAME AS HOME.
Elias stared.
“Caleb wrote that?”
“Yes.”
“Odd thing for a surveyor.”
“He learned.”
Elias closed the watch.
“You could’ve given me this when I was in the pit.”
“You would have thought it another trick.”
“I thought everything was a trick.”
“Some of it was.”
Elias met his eyes.
“Tavan, did you know your men were driving me toward that pit?”
“No.”
“Did you know I could have been killed?”
“Yes.”
The honesty hurt.
“Then why do it?”
Tavan looked toward the railroad crews.
“Because I believed if you reached Voss first, we would lose the basin.”
“So the land mattered more than me.”
Tavan took a long time to answer.
“In that moment, yes.”
Elias respected the truth even as it wounded him.
“My sister would hate me for saying it.”
“She wrote that I owed you nothing.”
“I know.”
“Then understand something.”
Tavan waited.
“If we save Cedar Basin, that does not make us family.”
“I know.”
“Family comes later.”
“If it comes.”
Elias nodded.
“If.”
They separated.
At Fort Garrett, Voss had arranged a private railcar.
Jonah climbed aboard with Elias.
The train pulled east.
Two hours later, Elias noticed a man moving between cars.
Gray coat.
Silver whiskers.
Everett Crane.
Elias drew his revolver.
Crane smiled through the glass door.
Then he pulled the brake lever.
The train screamed.
Passengers crashed forward.
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And through the window Elias saw why.
Ahead of them, the bridge had been blown apart.
