Another carried a rifle.
And at their head rode Elias Rusk himself.
Matthew went pale.
“He found me.”
Gideon's expression hardened.
Elena looked from one brother to the other.
Then reached for the flour sack containing their copied records.
“No.”
She spoke firmly.
“He found where you were hiding.”
She looked toward the loading doors.
“But he doesn't know what we've already sent to the attorney.”
Gideon turned.
Their eyes met.
Elena continued.
“And he doesn't know what we're about to do.”
Elena had spent her life being underestimated.
She had been underestimated by dressmakers, employers, customers, and strangers who looked at her enormous figure and assumed she couldn't manage anything beyond the next difficult step.
But she had learned something while running the bakery.
People who believed they already understood you rarely paid attention to what you were actually doing.
Elias Rusk was about to make that mistake.
She looked toward Gideon.
“Where does the rear loading passage lead?”
He pointed toward a narrow side road behind the warehouse.
“To the creek.”
“Can Matthew manage it?”
The younger man nodded.
“If we go slowly.”
Elena looked toward the brothers.
“Then you take him out that way.”
Gideon stared.
“And leave you here?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
Her expression hardened.
“We all leave. But not necessarily through the same door.”
She explained her plan.
Gideon would help Matthew reach the lower exit.
Elena would remain near the broad loading entrance with the wagon.
She could speak to Rusk from a place where she had a clear path to retreat.
If the men attempted to threaten her, she would use the horn.
The brothers would then move toward the secondary road rather than becoming trapped inside the building.
Gideon listened.
Then shook his head.
“Too dangerous.”
Elena took a slow breath.
“Then suggest something better.”
For several seconds, he remained silent.
She continued.
“Rusk has three men. We have documents, a wagon, two horses, and an injured man who can't outrun anyone.”
Matthew nodded grimly.
“Elena's right.”
Gideon looked toward him.
The younger brother continued.
“If we all walk out together, they'll try to take the papers.”
Elena raised the flour sack.
“Then we don't let them know where the important copies are.”
Gideon considered the plan.
He didn't like it.
He didn't like any arrangement that placed Elena in danger.
But he knew she'd thought carefully.