Chapter 8 - The Price of the ClaimSadie ran blindly toward the sound.
She found Gideon on his knees.
Judd stood behind him with a gun pressed against his head.
Blood covered Gideon's face.
Sadie stopped.
Judd smiled.
“Finally.”
“You said you came for me.”
“I did.”
“Let him go.”
“Sign the papers.”
He held a folded document.
Sadie stared.
“What is that?”
“Transfer of the Black Hollow claim.”
She laughed.
“You think I’ll sign?”
“I don't think.”
Judd raised the gun.
“I know.”
Gideon looked at Sadie.
“Don't.”
Judd hit him.
Sadie flinched.
“Sign.”
“What happens if I do?”
“You walk away.”
“And Gideon?”
“He lives.”
“You're lying.”
“Probably.”
Sadie stared at him.
For the first time, she wasn't afraid.
She was furious.
“You spent years pretending to love me.”
“I never pretended.”
“You chained me in a barn.”
“You betrayed me.”
“I discovered what you were doing.”
“You discovered what you weren't supposed to see.”
“People died.”
Judd shrugged.
“People always die.”
Gideon lifted his head.
“Your father tried to stop you.”
Judd smiled.
“Elias was weak.”
Sadie felt something break inside her.
“My mother?”
Judd's face changed.
“Who told you?”
“Was she killed?”
Judd said nothing.
Sadie raised her voice.
“Did you kill her?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Judd's eyes flicked toward the tunnel.
“Ask your father's old friend.”
“Who?”
“Clara Voss.”
Sadie's blood chilled.
Before she could react, a gunshot came from behind.
Judd stumbled.
Clara stepped into the chamber.
Smoke curled from her pistol.
Judd touched his side.
“You.”
Clara raised the gun.
“You killed my sister.”
Judd laughed weakly.
“No.”
“You ordered it.”
“No.”
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
“You used her.”
“Yes.”
“You destroyed her.”
Judd smiled.
“Yes.”
Clara fired again.
Gideon ducked.
Judd collapsed behind a crate.
“Stay down!” Gideon shouted.
Sadie dropped to the floor.
More gunshots erupted.
Harlan appeared from the tunnel.
He fired toward Judd's men.
Then the chamber went silent.
Clara walked forward.
Judd was gone.
She looked at the blood trail.
“He ran.”
Gideon stood.
“Did you hit him?”
“Twice.”
“Not enough.”
Harlan appeared beside them.
“We need to leave.”
Sadie looked at the papers.
The transfer contract was still on the floor.
She picked it up.
Then froze.
There was something written on the back.
A second signature.
Elias Bennett.
And below it:
CLAIM TRANSFER EFFECTIVE ONLY UPON DAUGHTER'S CONSENT.
Sadie stared.
“My father expected this.”
Harlan nodded.
“He knew Judd would come.”
“But why?”
Harlan looked at her wrist.
“Because your father wasn't protecting the claim.”
Sadie frowned.
“He was protecting the evidence.”
“What evidence?”
Harlan pointed toward a crack in the stone wall.
“Behind there.”
They opened it.
Inside was a metal box.
Sadie opened the lid.
Documents.
Photographs.
Military records.
Bank transfers.
And one letter addressed to her.
Her hands shook.
She unfolded it.
Sadie,
If you are reading this, then Judd has finally come for the claim.
Do not sign anything.
The gold was never the real crime.
Her breath caught.
She continued.
The real crime is the land.
Black Hollow sits above a deposit the government has spent twenty years trying to hide.
Not silver.
Not gold.
Oil.
Sadie stared.
Oil.
Beneath the mountains.
A fortune.
Her father continued.
If the government learns what lies beneath Black Hollow, they will seize the land. Judd knows this. That is why he wants the claim transferred privately before anyone discovers the truth.
Sadie looked up.
Judd wasn't stealing gold for money.
He was trying to control land worth far more.
Gideon read over her shoulder.
“How much?”
Harlan answered.
“Billions.”
Sadie almost dropped the letter.
A sound came from the tunnel.
Clara raised her pistol.
Footsteps.
Many.
Then a voice.
“Lower your weapons.”
Sadie looked toward the entrance.
A group of armed men appeared.
At the front stood a man in a military coat.
Silver hair.
Cold eyes.
Colonel Nathaniel Mercer's face.
Sadie's heart stopped.
Clara whispered:
“My brother.”
The colonel smiled.
“Good.”
He looked at Sadie.
“You finally found the truth.”
Gideon raised his rifle.
The colonel laughed.
“Shoot me.”
He opened his coat.
Six rifles appeared behind him.
“Then everyone here dies.”
Sadie stepped forward.
“What do you want?”
The colonel smiled.
“The same thing Judd wanted.”
May you like
He pointed at her.
“The claim.”
