Chapter 16 - Fort Grant Again
Fort Grant smelled exactly as Cade remembered.
Horse sweat.
Canvas.
Dust.
Cook fires.
Gun oil.
Eleven years disappeared with one breath.
He hated that.
Nalin noticed his face.
“You are there again.”
“Yes.”
“Stay here.”
He looked at her.
“Good advice.”
“I know.”
Marshal Beck led them along the south freight road.
Gabe’s deception had worked.
Lanterns and patrols concentrated near the north wash.
The old storehouse on the southern edge stood lightly guarded.
According to Father Ruiz, Voss held Colter there.
Beck approached wearing his badge openly.
Two sentries stopped them.
“Territorial business.”
“General’s orders. No entry.”
Beck handed over a folded warrant for Gabe Mercer and related evidence.
Technically valid.
Strategically irrelevant.
While soldiers argued, Nalin slipped behind a wagon.
Cade followed.
Beck kept talking.
They reached the storehouse.
One guard.
Cade could have struck him.
Nalin instead tossed a pebble behind stacked crates.
The guard turned.
Cade entered through side door.
Predictable avoided.
Inside, Colter sat tied to a chair.
His face was bruised.
One eye swollen.
He looked at Cade.
“You remembered.”
“The barn.”
“About time.”
Nalin cut his ropes.
“What did you tell Voss?”
“That Cade had the ledger.”
“He doesn’t.”
Colter smiled faintly.
“I know.”
Nalin narrowed her eyes.
“How?”
“Because when Cade lies about carrying something, he touches the opposite side.”
Cade looked offended.
“You know that too?”
“You’re not mysterious.”
Bootsteps approached.
Colter stood with difficulty.
“They want the ledger before Harrow arrives.”
“You know about Harrow?”
“Voss intercepted the telegram.”
Cade’s stomach tightened.
“Then he knows Dry Creek talked.”
“Yes.”
“What’s his plan?”
“Burn records and blame Creed.”
Nalin said, “Creed?”
“They’re finished with each other.”
Good.
Dangerous.
Colter continued.
“Voss ordered Creed arrested tonight.”
Cade almost laughed.
“Creed won’t accept.”
“No.”
Gunfire erupted from the north side of the fort.
Gabe’s voice shouted somewhere.
Then multiple shots.
Colter smiled painfully.
“Apparently not.”
Chaos spread.
Soldiers ran.
Someone yelled that Creed’s riders were attacking.
Cade, Nalin, and Colter exited the storehouse.
Beck joined them.
“What happened?”
“Alliance ended.”
They moved toward the records office.
Nalin stopped.
“Why there?”
Cade said, “Voss will burn everything.”
“If the second ledger survives, why care?”
“Because evidence needs corroboration.”
She nodded.
They reached the office.
Smoke already seeped beneath the door.
Locked.
Cade kicked once.
Pain shot through his injured arm from the motion.
Door held.
Nalin found an axe.
Two blows.
Wood split.
They entered.
Fire crawled along one wall.
Files burned.
Colter rushed to a cabinet.
“This one!”
Locked.
Cade shot the latch.
They pulled drawers.
Freight manifests.
Payment vouchers.
Orders signed by Voss.
Nalin grabbed as many as possible.
Smoke thickened.
A beam cracked overhead.
“Out!” Beck shouted.
They carried files into the yard.
Then Voss appeared.
Revolver drawn.
Four soldiers behind him.
“Marshal Beck, stand down.”
Beck showed his badge.
“General Voss, I have reason to believe federal evidence is being destroyed.”
“This is military jurisdiction.”
“Then explain the fire to Colonel Harrow.”
Voss’s face changed.
“He’s not coming.”
Colter laughed.
“You wish.”
Voss raised his revolver toward Colter.
Cade drew.
Both stopped.
Standoff.
Nalin remained slightly behind Cade.
Again.
Mirror position.
Saloon geometry repeating.
She noticed.
Moved sideways.
Good.
Voss said, “Thorn, you know what happens if you kill a United States general.”
Cade’s Colt remained steady.
“Trying not to.”
“You killed Taza.”
“Yes.”
Nalin flinched despite knowing.
Voss smiled.
“His sister stands beside you?”
“She makes her own choices.”
Voss looked at her.
“Did he tell you Taza was alive after Cade shot him?”
Silence.
Cade stared.
“What?”
Voss smiled.
There.
New weapon.
“He told you it was mercy.”
Nalin looked at Cade.
“He was alive?”
Cade’s heart began pounding.
“I saw him fall.”
“You ran,” Voss said.
Cade knew that.
Voss continued.
“Taza lived almost an hour.”
Nalin’s face went pale.
“Who was with him?”
“I was.”
Cade’s revolver shifted toward Voss.
The general smiled.
“He told me where he hid nothing.”
Nalin took one step.
“What did you do?”
Voss’s expression hardened.
“He refused to cooperate.”
Cade understood.
“Tortured?”
Voss did not answer.
That was enough.
Nalin raised Vale’s revolver.
Cade said:
“Nalin.”
Her hand shook.
Voss saw opportunity.
“You blame me, but Cade put the bullet in him.”
Nalin’s eyes filled with tears.
“Yes.”
Cade did not defend himself.
Voss continued.
“He ran while your brother died alone.”
“No,” Nalin said.
The general smiled.
Then she clarified.
“He died with you.”
Voss’s smile faded.
Nalin’s revolver steadied.
“You are worse.”
Gunfire exploded near the main gate.
Creed’s men entered the fort.
Voss turned instinctively.
Cade did not shoot.
Instead Colter tackled the general.
Both fell.
Voss’s revolver fired into the dirt.
Soldiers shouted.
Beck raised his badge and voice.
“Hold fire!”
For one extraordinary second, everyone hesitated.
Then Silas Creed rode into the yard carrying Cade’s second Colt.
He pointed it directly at Cade.
“Found something that belongs to you.”
Cade looked at his own revolver in Creed’s hand.
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Creed smiled.
“And now it’s going to kill you.”
