Chapter 16 - The Bridge Over Dry Creek
The locomotive stopped less than fifty yards from empty air.
Elias slammed against the wall.
Pain exploded through his broken leg.
Jonah hit the floor.
Crane ran toward the rear cars.
“After him!”
Elias tried to stand.
His leg refused.
Jonah chased Crane alone.
Passengers screamed.
Steam hissed.
The engineer shouted that someone had removed the warning flags from the track.
Elias pulled himself upright with the crutch.
Through the rear window he saw Crane jump from the moving train onto the embankment.
Jonah followed.
Elias swore.
He could do nothing.
Then a horse appeared beside the rail line.
Sani.
Elias stared.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
Sani looked pleased with himself.
“Tavan said you would need someone sensible.”
“You followed the train?”
“Horse is quieter.”
Elias pointed toward Crane.
“Get him.”
Sani rode down the embankment.
Crane reached a waiting horse hidden among cottonwoods.
He mounted.
Jonah fired into the air.
Crane escaped east.
Sani pursued for several minutes, then returned.
“Too far.”
Elias punched the railcar wall.
Crane had known their destination.
“How?”
Jonah climbed back up.
“Voss.”
Elias shook his head.
“Too easy.”
“Who else knew?”
“Silas. Tavan. Sani. You.”
Jonah stiffened.
Elias looked at him.
“You arranged the train.”
“Voss did.”
“You work in his office.”
“Yes.”
“You knew the schedule.”
“Yes.”
Jonah’s face hardened.
“If I wanted you dead, I would not have warned you about Kansas.”
“That doesn’t make you innocent.”
“No.”
Elias remembered Mara’s letter.
Choose people by what they do after they have the chance to betray you.
Jonah had betrayed him.
Then returned to help.
That did not erase the first act.
But it complicated the second.
The bridge would take days to repair.
Silver Junction was still sixty miles away.
Sani looked at Elias’s leg.
“No.”
Elias had not spoken.
“I know what you are thinking.”
“You’re becoming annoying.”
“You ride sixty miles, you lose the leg.”
Jonah said, “There’s a telegraph station fifteen miles north.”
Elias turned.
“Can we wire the commissioner?”
“Yes.”
“Can Crane cut the line?”
“Yes.”
“Then we move.”
They found a wagon.
The fifteen-mile journey took four hours.
At the telegraph station, the operator recognized Harlan Voss’s name and nearly refused service.
Elias put the original survey on the counter.
“Send this message.”
LAND TITLE FRAUD CEDAR BASIN. ORIGINAL TERRITORIAL SURVEY RECOVERED. ACTIVE RAIL CONSTRUCTION ON DISPUTED WATER ACCESS. REQUEST IMMEDIATE STAY AND HEARING.
The operator stared.
“That’s expensive.”
Elias dropped his last twenty dollars on the counter.
“Send every word.”
The reply came near midnight.
COMMISSIONER HALE WILL TRAVEL FORT GARRETT TOMORROW. PRESERVE ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS. NO FURTHER CONSTRUCTION AUTHORIZED PENDING REVIEW.
Elias exhaled.
For the first time, law was moving faster than a gun.
Then a second telegram arrived.
From Fort Garrett.
Jonah read it.
His face changed.
“What?”
He handed it to Elias.
RAIL CREW REFUSES STOP ORDER. CRANE CLAIMS SURVEY FORGED. SILAS BOONE ARRESTED FOR LAND FRAUD. VOSS MISSING.
Elias stared.
“Who arrested Silas?”
“County sheriff.”
“Crane’s man?”
Jonah nodded.
Sani asked, “Voss missing means?”
Elias looked toward the darkness.
“It means either he ran…”
He thought of Voss’s fear when Crane moved against him.
“…or Crane finally stopped sharing.”
The operator suddenly said, “Another message.”
Elias turned.
This one was unsigned.
BOONE—IF YOU WANT VOSS ALIVE, BRING THE ORIGINAL SURVEY TO CEDAR BASIN BEFORE COMMISSIONER ARRIVES.
NO CHIEF.
NO WARRIORS.
NO TRICKS.
Elias laughed bitterly.
Sani frowned.
“What is funny?”
“He keeps asking a man with a broken leg to travel impossible distances.”
Jonah read the note.
“You’re not going.”
“Yes.”
“You finally got legal authority.”
“And Crane has Voss.”
“Voss deserves prison.”
“Not execution.”
Sani looked at Elias carefully.
“You would risk the survey for Harlan Voss?”
Elias thought about it.
“No.”
He folded the telegram.
“I’m going to risk Harlan Voss for the survey.”
Jonah stared.
Elias smiled for the first time in days.
“Crane thinks I’m bringing the original.”
Sani understood.
“You bring a copy.”
“No.”
Elias tapped the metal cylinder.
“I bring exactly what he expects.”
Jonah looked horrified.
“Elias.”
Elias removed the survey.
He handed it to the telegraph operator.
“Do you have tracing paper?”
The operator blinked.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Elias looked at Jonah.
“Crane built his whole life by making false papers look real.”
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He smiled coldly.
“Let’s see how he likes receiving one.”
