Cole stared at him.

Wade continued calmly.

“Several prisoners die. Tragically, my long-lost brother is killed trying to protect the soldiers.”

“You think anyone will believe that?”

“They believed Apache warriors killed me.”

The words landed like stones.

Wade leaned closer.

“People believe the story that frightens them most.”

For a long moment, Cole looked at his brother.

Then he lowered his head.

“All right.”

Wade paused.

“What?”

“I’ll sign.”

Wade smiled.

Cole lifted his bound hands.

“Untie me.”

One soldier moved forward.

Wade raised a hand.

“First, I want your word.”

Cole almost laughed.

“My word?”

“You were always annoyingly honorable.”

Cole met his brother’s eyes.

“I give you my word.”

Wade nodded.

The ropes came off.

Cole rubbed his wrists.

Wade placed the pen in his hand.

Cole bent over the document.

Then stopped.

“What happens to the women?”

“They disappear.”

“And the girl?”

Wade’s expression did not change.

Cole looked at him.

Something inside him settled.

Not anger.

Something colder.

He put down the pen.

“I gave you my word that I would sign.”

Wade frowned.

Cole smiled faintly.

“I never said I’d sign your name.”

He snatched the whiskey lamp from the table and hurled it into the curtain.

Flames exploded upward.

Cole drove the desk into the nearest soldier.

A revolver discharged.

Glass shattered.

He punched the second man, grabbed his weapon, and rolled behind the desk.

Wade dove through the side door.

“ALARM!”

The fort erupted.

Cole fired once into the lock of the rear door and ran.

Smoke filled the courtyard.

Soldiers shouted.

Then from the storehouse came a sound Cole had not expected.

A war cry.

The door burst open.

The twenty-two women came pouring out.

One carried a soldier’s rifle.

Another swung a shovel.

Two had overpowered a guard.

The scarred woman Cole had spoken with led them.

Cole stared.

She ran past him.

“Did you think we waited for you?”

Despite everything, Cole nearly laughed.

Gunfire exploded from the northern wall.

Then a soldier shouted.

“RIDERS!”

Dozens of horsemen appeared on the ridge.

The Apache warriors who had followed the women were no longer hiding.

But they did not charge the fort.

They spread out.

Trapping anyone who tried to escape.

Captain Bell ran toward the telegraph office.

Cole intercepted him.

Bell fired.

The bullet grazed Cole’s arm.

Cole slammed into him.

They crashed through the door together.

The telegraph operator fled.

Bell clawed for his pistol.

Cole kicked it away.

“Who else is involved?”

Bell spat blood.

“You have no idea what you’re destroying.”

“Try me.”

“The governor’s office. Mining investors. Army suppliers. Men with more money than God.”

Cole grabbed him by the collar.

“Names.”

Bell smiled.

“You’ll never live long enough.”

Then the telegraph began clicking.

Both men froze.

The operator had apparently left the line open.