Railroad company.
Ethan stared.
“The railroad isn’t supposed to come through here.”
“Perhaps plans changed.”
At the telegraph office, they confirmed it.
A proposed freight spur was being surveyed north of Tucson.
Water access would determine route.
Ethan’s ranch sat directly between two projected stations.
If someone controlled the reservoir, they controlled the only reliable water source for miles.
The land was worth more than Ethan’s cattle could earn in twenty lifetimes.
He felt sick.
Nahimana watched him.
“You wanted only water.”
“Yes.”
“Now men want what is under you.”
“Yes.”
“Will you sell?”
He looked at her.
“No.”
She nodded.
“Good.”
“Why?”
“Because if you sell afraid, you will regret it.”
He smiled faintly.
“You really do judge everything.”
“Yes.”
They returned to the ranch near midnight.
The house was dark.
Wrong.
Ethan had left one lantern burning.
Nahimana stopped.
“Someone is inside.”
“How?”
“The door.”
He looked.
Barely open.
Ethan drew his revolver.
Nahimana took her rifle.
They entered from opposite sides.
Kitchen empty.
Table overturned.
Bedroom ransacked.
Land papers scattered.
Then a voice behind them.
“Put the gun down.”
Ethan turned.
Harlan Briggs stood near the stove.
Gun aimed.
Two men behind him.
Nahimana’s rifle came up.
Briggs aimed at Ethan.
“Drop it.”
Nahimana did not.
Briggs smiled.
“I heard you were difficult.”
She said, “Many men say that.”
Ethan slowly lowered his revolver.
Nahimana did not.
Briggs looked at her.
“He dies first.”
She held his gaze.
Then set her rifle down.
Briggs relaxed.
Mistake.
Nahimana kicked the table hard.
It slammed into one gunman’s knees.
Ethan lunged.
Chaos.
Gunshot.
Lamp shattered.
Darkness.
Ethan hit Briggs.
Someone grabbed Nahimana.
She drove an elbow backward.
A man cursed.
Another shot struck the ceiling.
Ethan wrestled Briggs toward the wall.
Then a rifle fired from outside.
Everyone froze.
Chief Chaska’s voice came through the doorway.
“Enough.”
Ethan stared.
Apache warriors surrounded the house.
Chaska entered.
His eyes went first to Nahimana.
“You are unharmed?”
“Yes.”
Then to Ethan.
“You?”
“Mostly.”
The chief looked at Briggs.
“No.”
Briggs’s face went pale.
Ethan stared at Chaska.
“How did you know?”
Nahimana answered.
“I sent word.”
“When?”
“Tucson.”
Ethan looked at her.
“You didn’t tell me.”
“You would have argued.”
“That is not—”
She raised an eyebrow.
He stopped.