Chapter 5 - The Valley That Swallowed MenBeneath Gerard's cabin was a secret passage leading to the real treasure of Black Ridge.
Ariel fell.
She struck something hard.
Dust filled her lungs.
Someone landed beside her.
Gerard.
He grabbed her before she slid farther into darkness.
Above them, Briggs shouted.
"Find them!"
A rifle fired.
The wooden floor splintered.
Gerard dragged Ariel deeper into the passage.
"Run."
"I can't see!"
"Follow my voice."
They stumbled through darkness.
Ariel heard men behind them.
Carson shouted.
"There's another entrance ahead!"
Gerard stopped.
Ariel nearly collided with him.
"What?"
He touched the wall.
"They found the eastern tunnel."
"Then where do we go?"
Gerard smiled grimly.
"We go down."
He pulled a rope.
The ground opened.
Ariel screamed as they dropped into an underground chamber.
They landed in shallow water.
A lantern flickered nearby.
Gerard struck a match.
The chamber came alive.
Ariel stared.
Stacks of old wooden crates lined the walls.
Inside were rifles.
Dynamite.
Maps.
Telegraph equipment.
And dozens of sealed documents.
"Why does a mountain cabin have a telegraph station underground?"
Gerard crouched near a crate.
"Because Briggs didn't control all the telegraph lines."
He opened a box.
Inside were government seals.
Bank notes.
Mining contracts.
A ledger.
Ariel picked it up.
The first pages listed payments.
The second listed names.
The third contained something worse.
Death records.
Men who had supposedly died in accidents.
Dates.
Locations.
Names of witnesses.
Ariel's fingers went cold.
"These men didn't die."
"No."
"They were murdered."
"Yes."
"By Briggs?"
"Mostly."
She looked at him.
"How many?"
Gerard didn't answer.
She flipped pages.
Twenty.
Forty.
Sixty.
Her stomach turned.
"This is an execution list."
"No."
Gerard pointed to a column.
"Those are landowners."
Ariel looked closer.
Every name was followed by the same note.
Claim transferred to county.
She understood.
Briggs wasn't simply stealing Gerard's mine.
He had been building a private empire.
Ariel whispered:
"Arthur discovered this."
"Yes."
"And he tried to expose him."
"Yes."
"That's why he died."
Gerard nodded.
Then Ariel noticed something.
A handwritten note at the bottom.
Next: Jimenez.
Underneath it was another name.
Baker, Ariel Ruth.
She nearly dropped the ledger.
"He planned to kill me."
Gerard's jaw tightened.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because you're the legal heir."
"To what?"
Gerard looked at her.
"Arthur's estate."
She laughed bitterly.
"Arthur had nothing."
"Not officially."
Gerard opened another document.
Ariel saw the signature.
Arthur Pendleton.
Below it was a list of property holdings.
Land.
Investments.
Mining shares.
A fortune.
"Arthur wasn't poor."
"No."
"He lied."
"To everyone."
Ariel stared at the documents.
"Why would a wealthy man pretend to be a poor drifter?"
Gerard answered quietly.
"Because he was undercover."
"For whom?"
Before he could answer, footsteps echoed.
Carson had found the chamber.
"Gerard!"
Gerard grabbed the ledger.
"Back."
They moved toward a narrow exit.
Then Carson's voice came again.
"We have your wife!"
Ariel froze.
Briggs shouted from somewhere beyond the tunnel.
"Come out, Mountain Devil, or your wife dies!"
Gerard looked at Ariel.
She saw something in his expression she had not seen before.
Fear.
Not for himself.
For her.
Then he reached for her hand.
"Whatever happens, stay behind me."
Ariel squeezed his fingers.
"No."
He looked at her.
"I'm your wife."
"You don't have to prove anything."
"I'm not proving anything."
She picked up a rifle.
"I'm choosing."
Gerard stared.
Then, despite everything, he smiled.
"Mrs. Jimenez."
"What?"
"Welcome to Black Ridge."
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The tunnel erupted with gunfire.
And somewhere behind the walls, a massive explosion shook the mountain.
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