Then a sudden sound came from the station.
A sharp crack.
Wood striking wood.
One guard hurried toward the rear door.
Another followed.
The young tracker leaned forward.
"Something's happening."
Elias looked carefully.
A strip of cloth appeared briefly at the rear window.
Pale fabric.
Moving against the wind.
Then it disappeared.
Elias's heartbeat quickened.
He had seen Ren's wedding dress.
He knew its color.
He looked toward the tracker.
"That's her."
She nodded.
"She's trying to tell us something."
Inside the station, Ren had made her decision.
Crane was preparing to leave before dawn.
She overheard him ordering the guards to move the horses to a narrow pass where another group would meet them.
The men spoke about delivering her to a fortified storehouse near the road to the military post.
That meant more guards.
Fewer opportunities.
And greater distance from the trails she knew.
She had to act before nightfall.
The rear storage door remained damaged.
One guard stood beside it, irritated by the cold wind coming through the gap.
Ren approached carrying a cup.
He looked at her suspiciously.
"What?"
"May I have more water?"
He sighed.
"Again?"
She nodded.
He reached for the cup.
At that moment, a gust caught the door.
It slammed against the loose hinge.
The guard turned.
Ren moved.
She thrust the cup into his hands, stepped past him, and slipped through the narrow opening.
He shouted.
She ran.
Her long wedding dress caught against a splintered board.
She pulled hard.
The fabric tore.
Behind her, boots struck the floor.
Ren reached the mesquite bushes.
Then scrambled upward toward the rocky shelf.
A man shouted.
"Stop!"
She did not.
A shot cracked against the stone behind her.
Ren flinched.
Small fragments struck her shoulder.
She kept climbing.
Her feet slipped.
She caught a narrow ledge.
Pulled herself upward.
And disappeared behind the western rock wall.
Below, the guards shouted to one another.
Ren crouched behind a boulder, breathing hard.
Her hands trembled.
Her shoulder stung.
But she was outside.
And the path ahead led toward the upper canyon.
She looked down at the pale fabric torn from her dress.
Then tied it around a low branch beside the trail.
A marker.
For anyone following.
She began moving west.
Elias saw the guards running toward the rear of the station.
Then he heard the shot.
His entire body tightened.
"Ren."
The young tracker grabbed his arm.
"Wait."
He looked at her.
She pointed toward the western shelf.
Movement.
A pale shape scrambling between rocks.
Then disappearing behind a boulder.
Elias felt a surge of relief so powerful that it nearly made him dizzy.
"She's out."
The tracker nodded.
"She's taking the old path."
Elias stood.
"We meet her above the shelf."
Two Feathers pointed toward the station.
"The guards will follow."
"Then we move first."
The riders separated according to the route they had discussed.
Two remained near the horses.