Outside, someone shouted. Last chance. Ethan checked the rifle chamber. Clara raised the revolver. For 17 years, they had lost each other because other men controlled the truth.
Tonight, neither intended to let that happen again. Then the first flaming bottle sailed through the broken window. The flaming bottle struck the floor and burst. Fire raced across the wooden boards. Ethan grabbed a blanket from the chair and slammed it down over the flames.
Water! He shouted. Clara was already moving. She seized a bucket beside the stove and threw it across the burning floor. Steam filled the room.
Another shot cracked through the window. Daniel ducked lower. They're coming around the back. Ethan moved toward the rear door. Clara caught his sleeve.
Don't go outside. They'll burn the barn. They want you angry. He looked at her. Even now, with smoke drifting through the house and armed men surrounding them, she was thinking clearly.
Ethan forced himself to stop. Then what do we do? Clara lifted the railroad wire. We survive long enough to get this into the right hands. Daniel stared at her.
The telegraph office. You can reach it? Not through the main road. Clara moved toward the kitchen window. There's an old creek trail behind the north pasture.
Ethan looked at her. How do you know that? I used to walk it when I was young. He knew exactly why. That trail passed the cottonwoods.
The place where she had waited for him 17 years ago. Another bottle struck the porch. Flames climbed the railing. Ethan made his decision. Daniel, take the wire.
The young man's face tightened. They'll see me. Not if they're watching the house. Clara understood immediately. We draw their attention south.
Ethan nodded. You ride north. Daniel took the paper. If I reach town, who do I wire? The railroad office in Cheyenne, Clara said, and the territorial marshal.
Daniel swallowed. And Sheriff Nolan? Ethan shook his head. No. Outside, a man shouted, "You've got 30 seconds." Ethan loaded another round.
Clara moved beside him. You ready? He looked at her. No. She almost smiled.
Good. Neither am I. Ethan fired through the southern window, deliberately high. Clara fired through another opening. The riders answered immediately.
Gunfire exploded across the yard. While every eye turned toward the south side of the house, Daniel slipped through the pantry door and disappeared into the darkness. Ethan kept firing. Clara moved with him from window to window. They did not try to hit the men.
They only needed noise, movement, confusion. Then Ethan heard hooves pounding north. One of the attackers heard them, too. "Someone's running!" A rider broke away. Ethan saw him through the window.
He aimed carefully. The shot struck the dirt directly in front of the rider's horse. The animal reared. The man fell backward. Daniel vanished into the darkness.