Chapter 4 - The Mine That Was Supposed to Be DeadThey reached Black Hollow just before dawn.
The snow had stopped.
That made the silence worse.
No wind.
No birds.
No movement.
Only the distant creaking of old timbers.
Sadie had never been there before.
She understood immediately why people feared it.
The mine entrance sat beneath a cliff like a mouth cut into stone.
Rusting rails disappeared into darkness.
Broken machinery lay half buried in snow.
And hanging above the entrance was a wooden sign:
CLOSED BY ORDER OF THE COUNTY.
Gideon crouched beside the tracks.
Fresh boot prints.
“Three men,” he said.
Sadie whispered, “Judd?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Judd wears expensive boots.”
Despite everything, she almost smiled.
“You noticed that?”
“I notice everything.”
They entered.
The tunnel descended sharply.
Gideon moved silently.
Sadie followed with a lantern.
After several hundred feet, they reached a fork.
Gideon stopped.
“What?”
He pointed.
One tunnel had fresh tracks.
The other didn't.
They followed the tracks.
The passage opened into a huge underground chamber.
And Sadie stopped cold.
Crates covered the floor.
Gold bars.
Hundreds of them.
Stacked beneath tarps.
Her stomach turned.
Gideon stared.
“Judd wasn't stealing from Black Hollow.”
Sadie whispered.
“He was using it.”
“That's worse.”
She walked closer.
One crate stood open.
Inside were ledgers.
Gideon opened one.
Names.
Payments.
Dates.
County officials.
Sheriff's deputies.
Judges.
Railroad workers.
Even bank directors.
Everyone had a price.
Sadie saw a familiar name.
Mercer.
Her husband.
Then another.
Bennett.
Her father.
She grabbed the book.
“No.”
Gideon looked at her.
“What?”
“My father's name.”
He took the ledger.
The entry was dated nine years earlier.
ELIAS BENNETT. FIELD OPERATIONS. NORTH RIDGE.
Sadie stared.
“My father worked for them?”
Gideon shook his head.
“Maybe not willingly.”
“There’s another entry.”
She pointed.
A payment.
Large.
Then beside it:
DECEASED.
But the date came after her father's supposed death.
Sadie felt dizzy.
“That's impossible.”
Gideon looked around.
“No.”
“What?”
“This place is.”
He pointed toward the back wall.
A door.
New.
Not old wood.
Steel.
Someone had installed it recently.
Gideon approached.
There was a keypad.
Sadie stared.
“This mine hasn't operated in years.”
“Not officially.”
“How do we open it?”
Gideon studied it.
“Maybe we don't.”
The door clicked.
It opened by itself.
A man stepped out.
Older.
Thin.
Gray hair.
A scar across his cheek.
Sadie dropped the lantern.
The glass shattered.
The man looked at her.
And Sadie forgot how to breathe.
“Dad?”
The man stopped.
Gideon raised his rifle.
The stranger stared at Sadie for several seconds.
Then he whispered:
“You shouldn't have come here.”
Sadie's eyes filled with tears.
“You're alive.”
Her father looked away.
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I had to.”
“Why?”
His eyes moved toward Gideon.
Then back to her.
“Because Judd was watching you.”
Sadie shook her head.
“All these years?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you come for me?”
“I did.”
“When?”
Elias looked at Gideon.
“Eight years ago.”
Gideon stiffened.
“What does that mean?”
“Your brother.”
Gideon raised the rifle.
“What about Harlan?”
Elias took a breath.
“Harlan didn't die in the mine.”
Gideon stepped forward.
“Where is he?”
Elias looked at the floor.
“He escaped.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“I wish I were.”
Gideon gripped the rifle harder.
“My brother died.”
“Everyone was supposed to believe that.”
Sadie stared at her father.
“Why?”
“Because Harlan found out what Judd was doing.”
“What?”
“The gold isn't the real secret.”
Gideon went still.
Elias reached into his coat.
He pulled out a photograph.
Sadie looked at it.
It showed a group of men standing outside the mine.
Judd.
The sheriff.
Three businessmen.
Her father.
And Harlan.
All alive.
The photograph was dated eight years ago.
Sadie stared.
Then she noticed something.
A woman stood at the edge of the picture.
Her face was scratched out.
“Who is she?”
Elias looked at the photograph.
His expression changed.
“No.”
“What?”
He took it from her.
“Where did you get this?”
“It was here.”
“Who brought you?”
“Gideon.”
Elias looked at him.
Then whispered:
“He doesn't know.”
Sadie frowned.
“Know what?”
Elias stared directly at Gideon.
“Your brother isn't the one Judd is afraid of.”
Gideon's jaw tightened.
“Then who is?”
Elias looked at Sadie.
“You.”
A gunshot exploded.
Elias jerked backward.
Blood spread across his chest.
Sadie screamed.
Gideon fired toward the tunnel.
The lights went out.
May you like
Darkness swallowed them.
And somewhere beyond the steel door, someone began to laugh.
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