Chapter 6 - The Empty BedroomThe front door was open.
Luke was standing in the hallway.
His face was white.
“Where's your brother?”
“I don't know.”
“Did you see anyone?”
“No.”
I rushed upstairs.
Ben's room was empty.
His bed was untouched.
His window was open.
There was dirt on the floor.
I looked outside.
The ground below the window was soft.
Fresh footprints.
Small ones.
Then another set.
Adult.
Hayes entered behind me.
He saw them.
“Don't touch anything.”
I ignored him.
I ran outside.
The tracks went toward the old trail behind the barn.
We followed them.
They ended near the creek.
Ben's red baseball cap was lying in the grass.
I picked it up.
My hands shook.
“Ben!”
Nothing.
Then a voice came from behind us.
“Frank.”
I turned.
Karen stood near the fence.
She was holding a piece of paper.
“They left this.”
I took it.
Five words.
Bring the deed. Come alone.
Hayes reached for his radio.
“No.”
I grabbed his arm.
“They have my son.”
“We don't know that.”
“They left his cap.”
“We still don't know.”
I stared at the trail.
“I'm going.”
“No.”
“You're not stopping me.”
“We do this smart.”
I wanted to hit him.
Instead I forced myself to breathe.
“What do they want?”
Karen answered.
“The deed isn't enough.”
“What?”
“They want the original water-rights documents.”
I looked at her.
“How do you know?”
“Because I've seen what they were looking for.”
She pulled out another photograph.
A storage room.
Shelves of documents.
One empty space.
The label said:
Miller Ranch Original Rights.
I suddenly understood.
My grandfather's papers.
The steel box.
The hidden basement.
Someone knew it existed.
Someone knew I had it.
And someone had been searching for years.
Hayes studied the note.
“There's a location.”
A tiny coordinate had been written in pencil.
We plotted it.
Old abandoned sheep station.
Four miles east.
I took my truck.
Hayes followed.
Karen insisted on coming.
We found the station at sunset.
The building was empty.
The door hung open.
Inside were old tools, broken crates and dust.
Then we heard a sound.
A child's voice.
“Dad?”
I ran.
Ben was tied to a chair in the back room.
Alive.
Terrified.
I cut the ropes.
“Are you hurt?”
He shook his head.
“Who did this?”
“I don't know.”
“Did you see them?”
“One man.”
“What did he look like?”
Ben swallowed.
“He had a scar.”
“Where?”
“Across his cheek.”
I looked at Hayes.
He immediately knew.
“Kessler's security chief.”
We moved toward the front door.
A truck engine roared outside.
Hayes pushed Ben behind a wall.
The truck drove through the side fence.
Three men jumped out.
Gunfire erupted.
We ducked.
Karen grabbed Ben.
I pulled them toward the rear exit.
We escaped through the woods.
When we reached the road, Hayes checked Ben.
Then he looked at me.
“They wanted the documents.”
“They'll come back.”
“Yes.”
“For the ranch?”
“No.”
He looked toward the abandoned station.
“For whatever is buried beneath it.”
I opened my jacket.
The original map was still there.
I had taken it with me.
Karen looked at me.
“Frank…”
“What?”
She pointed at the lower corner.
There was a mark I hadn't noticed.
Three letters.
B.R.W.
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Hayes went pale.
“Blue River Water.”
I looked at the dark horizon.
“How much water are we talking about?”
May you like
He answered quietly.
“Enough to build a city.”
