Chapter 12 - The Choice
Cade climbed higher to see both paths.
East: a woman in Nalin’s torn buckskin dress was being dragged behind rocks, shouting his name.
North: two riders carried a bound figure whose dark hair and posture resembled Nalin.
One was real.
One staged.
Cade closed his eyes for half a second.
Details.
The woman east had blood on the wrong cheek.
Nalin’s fresh mark ran along her right cheekbone.
This woman’s left side was painted dark.
Decoy.
North.
Cade moved.
Elias followed.
They cut across a saddle between ridges.
Cade’s shoulder screamed with every step.
The riders below accelerated.
One turned.
Gabe.
Even at distance, Cade recognized the massive shape.
Bandaged hand.
Rifle awkward in the left.
The second rider wore Army uniform.
Voss and Creed working together openly now.
Nalin twisted in the saddle.
Alive.
Cade fired.
Not at the men.
At the trail ahead.
The bullet struck near Gabe’s horse.
The animal shied.
Gabe fought the reins one-handed.
Nalin used the motion.
She threw herself sideways.
The soldier grabbed her dress.
Fabric tore.
Nalin hit the ground hard and rolled.
Cade cursed.
She did not rise immediately.
Realistic impact.
Pain.
Gabe wheeled his horse.
Elias fired above him.
“Leave her!”
Gabe raised the rifle.
Cade fired first.
The bullet grazed Gabe’s upper shoulder.
He jerked backward but stayed mounted.
The soldier fired.
Elias cried out.
A bullet struck his upper thigh.
He fell.
Cade chose again.
Nalin or Elias.
Nalin moved.
Slowly.
Conscious.
Elias was bleeding fast.
Cade went to Elias.
That choice surprised even him.
He pressed cloth to the wound.
“Hold.”
Elias gritted his teeth.
“You’re going after her.”
“She’s moving.”
“You’re not.”
Cade tied pressure around the thigh.
Nalin crawled behind rocks.
Gabe and the soldier circled toward her.
Cade fired from distance.
Forced them back.
Elias said, “Go.”
“You’ll bleed.”
“Less if you tie it right.”
Cade tightened the cloth.
Elias nearly punched him.
Then Cade ran.
Nalin had recovered Vale’s revolver from inside her dress.
She fired at the soldier.
Missed.
Her hand shook from the fall.
Gabe dismounted.
He approached with a hunting knife in his left hand.
“Should’ve begged in the saloon.”
Nalin backed against stone.
“Still waiting?”
Gabe lunged.
Nalin shifted.
The knife cut her upper sleeve and scored skin beneath.
Minor.
She struck his wounded hand.
Gabe screamed.
Cade arrived and drove his shoulder into Gabe’s side.
Both men crashed into gravel.
Gabe was heavier.
He rolled on top.
Punched Cade once.
Twice.
Cade’s cut cheek opened again.
Third punch.
Cade blocked partly.
Gabe grabbed Cade’s wounded arm.
Pain exploded.
Cade’s strength disappeared.
Gabe smiled.
“Not so frightening now.”
Nalin hit Gabe across the back with a stone.
Not dramatic.
Enough.
Gabe turned.
Cade drove his knee into Gabe’s ribs.
Rolled him.
They grappled.
Dust.
Blood.
Breath.
No elegant gunfighter movements.
Cade’s age showed.
Gabe’s size mattered.
Then Nalin pressed Vale’s revolver against Gabe’s head.
“Stop.”
Gabe froze.
Cade rolled away gasping.
The Army rider had escaped.
Nalin stood unsteadily.
Her left knee was bleeding through torn buckskin.
“You chose the soldier.”
Cade looked toward Elias.
“Yes.”
Nalin nodded.
“Good.”
“Thought you’d be angry.”
“I had a gun.”
Gabe laughed from the ground.
“You two are touching.”
Nalin kicked his knife away.
“Quiet.”
Cade searched him.
Found a folded order.
Signed by Voss.
Mercer authorized temporary civilian detention under military emergency authority.
A retroactive legal shield.
Cade showed Nalin.
“They planned everything.”
Gabe smiled.
“General owns the territory.”
Nalin looked at him.
“No one owns territory.”
Gabe laughed.
“That’s what people say before someone fences it.”
Cade returned to Elias.
The young soldier remained conscious.
They moved him into shade.
Nalin kept Gabe at gunpoint.
Elias read Voss’s order.
His face hardened.
“He used Army authority to protect Creed.”
“Yes.”
“What now?”
Cade looked at Gabe.
“Now we need him talking.”
Gabe spit blood.
“Go to hell.”
Nalin crouched.
“You burned my uncle.”
Gabe’s smile faded.
“I didn’t mean to kill him.”
“You locked the door.”
Gabe looked away.
Nalin’s revolver remained steady.
Cade watched carefully.
She could kill him.
Part of him would not blame her.
That did not mean he would let it happen without words.
“Nalin.”
She did not look at him.
Gabe whispered:
“Creed said the old man kept papers.”
“What papers?”
“I don’t know.”
“You searched.”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
“He hit Pike with a shovel.”
Despite everything, Cade almost smiled.
Gabe continued.
“Harlan threw the lamp.”
Nalin’s breathing changed.
Not Gabe.
Harlan.
“Who locked the door?”
Gabe closed his eyes.
“I did.”
Nalin pressed the barrel closer.
Cade said quietly:
“If you kill him now, Harlan becomes the only man left to describe what happened.”
Nalin hated him for being right.
He could see it.
Slowly she lowered the revolver.
Gabe exhaled.
Then Nalin punched him directly in his broken nose.
Gabe screamed and rolled sideways.
“That,” she said, “was for me.”
She looked toward the north.
“Harlan is for my uncle.”
Cade did not correct her.
Because below the ridge, a column of soldiers was approaching.
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At its center rode General Nathaniel Voss.
And tied behind his saddle was Father Ruiz.
