Jud’s voice came quietly.
“Take your hands off her.”
The hunter froze.
Slowly, he released Catherine.
Jud’s face was terrifying.
“Turn around.”
The man obeyed.
Jud’s shoulder was bleeding.
Catherine saw it instantly.
“Jud!”
“I’m fine.”
The hunter laughed nervously.
“You don’t know who you’re interfering with.”
Jud’s expression became almost curious.
“Actually, I think I do.”
“Breen will pay—”
Jud slammed the rifle stock into the man’s jaw.
He collapsed.
Catherine stared.
“You could have warned me.”
“Didn’t want him to tense up.”
They tied the hunter to a pine with enough blankets to survive.
Jud refused Catherine’s questions until they were moving again.
Finally she pointed at his bleeding shoulder.
“Stop.”
“Scratch.”
“You’ve soaked through your coat.”
“Fashion choice.”
“Jud.”
He stopped.
Catherine cleaned the wound while he sat on a fallen tree.
The bullet had passed through the upper shoulder.
Lucky.
Still dangerous.
As she wrapped the bandage, Catherine noticed a leather cord around his neck.
Something metallic hung beneath his shirt.
“What is that?”
Jud covered it instantly.
“Nothing.”
“That is becoming your favorite lie.”
His eyes met hers.
For one second Catherine thought he might show her.
Instead, he tucked it away.
“Keep moving.”
They reached the abandoned Silver Queen mine at sunset on the third day.
South Pass City lay nine miles beyond it.
Thomas had less than fifteen hours.
Jud could barely lift his injured arm.
Catherine’s feet were bleeding again.
But the mountains had finally opened.
Far below, tiny lights glittered.
Civilization.
Catherine began laughing.
“We made it.”
Jud did not smile.
“What?”
“Smoke.”
She followed his gaze.
Three columns rose from the valley.
Not chimneys.
Signal fires.
“What does that mean?”
“They know we’re coming.”
Catherine’s joy vanished.
Jud looked at Solomon.
“We leave the mule.”
“Why?”
“Too loud.”
They descended on foot.
At midnight they reached the outskirts.
South Pass City slept beneath snow.
The gallows stood in the central square.
Catherine saw it immediately.
Black timber against moonlight.
A rope already hung from the crossbeam.
Her knees nearly failed.
Jud caught her hand.
“Don’t look at it.”
“My brother—”
“Look at me.”
She did.
“We’re not too late.”
Catherine nodded.
They slipped toward the territorial jail.
Halfway there, twelve armed deputies stepped from the buildings.
Lanterns ignited.
Sheriff Caleb Pike stood in the center.
He had aged since Catherine last saw him.
But she remembered the eyes.
Small.
Cold.
Satisfied.
“Well,” Pike said.
“Miss Prescott came home.”
Jud’s hand moved toward his rifle.
Pike smiled.
“Wouldn’t.”
Rifles appeared on rooftops.
Catherine’s blood froze.
Pike approached.
“Hand me the satchel.”
“No.”
“Then I’ll take it off your corpse.”
Jud stepped between them.
Pike’s eyes moved to him.
For the first time, the sheriff’s expression changed.
He stared.
Jud stared back.
Pike went white.
His lips parted.
“No.”
Catherine looked between them.
Pike whispered, “You’re dead.”
Jud said nothing.
Pike stumbled backward.
“I saw your body.”
Jud’s eyes became colder than the mountains.
“Did you?”
Catherine’s heart stopped.
The sheriff recovered almost instantly.
“Kill him.”
Jud pushed Catherine down.
Gunfire shattered the street.
Windows exploded.
Catherine crawled behind a water trough.
Jud fired twice.
A deputy fell.
Pike ran toward the jail.
Catherine saw him reach for the satchel she had dropped.
“No!”
She lunged.
Pike grabbed her hair and dragged her backward.
His revolver pressed beneath her chin.
