"On all your backs. Hollis knows you've been helping the Apache. He knows Miss Takala is here."
"He's going to use that. Already heard talk in town about how you've gone native, how you're probably feeding information to the raiders. Won't be long before someone decides to do something about it."
I looked at Takala. Her face was composed, but I could see the tension in the set of her shoulders. "What do you think we should do?" I asked Quinn. He was quiet for a long moment.
When he spoke, his voice was careful. "Officially, I can't tell you anything. I'm not a marshal anymore. Unofficially, as a friend, get her out of here."
"Take her to Mexico. It's only 50 miles south. Cross the border, and Hollis can't touch you."
"Start over somewhere they don't care about Indian wars and white man's guilt."
"Run," Takala said flatly.
"Survive," Quinn corrected. "There's a difference."
"Is there? If we run, Hollis wins. He gets his war."
"My people die, and the lie stands forever."
Quinn spread his hands helplessly. "What's the alternative? You can't fight the whole army."
"Even if you prove Hollis set the fire, you think anyone will care? You think they'll hold a white officer accountable for lying about Indians?"
He was right. We all knew it. Justice was a luxury, and we knew it. But something in me rebelled against the idea of running.
I'd spent my whole life running from consequences. From hard choices. From the weight of my own actions. I'd run from the stockade by taking a discharge instead of fighting the charges.
I'd run from my guilt about Matto by burying myself in isolation. I'd even run from Emily's grave, unable to face the enormity of my failure to protect them. I was tired of running. "There might be another way," I said slowly.
They both looked at me.
"Hollis needs this war to be righteous. He needs people to believe the Apache are monsters. But what if we show them something different?"
"What if we bring the truth to them so publicly, so undeniably, that even Hollis can't spin it?"
"How?" Takala asked.
I thought about it, turning the pieces over in my mind. "Kuruk. If he comes to town under a flag of truce, if he speaks to the people directly, tells them his people didn't burn the Morrison ranch, offers to help investigate, shows them he wants peace, not war, it might give folks pause."
"It might make them question Hollis's story."