I ran after Kansas. I ran for 5 years. No, you survived. There is a difference. They sat in silence for a while watching the fire burn down to embers.
Around them, the camp was settling in for the night, voices fading, children being tucked into bedrolls, guards taking up positions on the high ground. Ayla, Ethan said quietly, about your original request, the 90 days, the child. She stiffened slightly. What about it? I just wanted to say I don't think that's why I'm here anymore or why you wanted me to stay.
No, she agreed, it is not. So, what is this? She looked at him, her eyes reflecting the firelight. I do not know, but I think we are building something and I think that is enough for now. Ethan nodded.
Yeah, I think so, too. 3 Weeks later, the scouts brought word of soldiers, a patrol, maybe 30 men, moving through the southern canyons, asking questions, looking for the missing militia unit. They were 2 days away, moving slow, being careful. The camp went quiet when Nashoba announced it. Not panicked, just quiet.
The kind of quiet that comes when bad news is expected but still unwelcome. That night, Nashoba called a council. The elders gathered along with Ethan, Ayla, and the senior warriors. They sat in a circle, a small fire burning in the center, and talked strategy. We cannot fight them, one of the elders said.
Not head-on. 30 Soldiers with repeating rifles and cannon? We would be slaughtered. So, we run, another said. Move deeper.
Let them search. They will find nothing and leave. And if they do not leave, Nashoba asked, if they decide to make camp, to wait us out? Silence. Ethan spoke up.
They're looking for Vance, for answers. If we give them answers, they'll leave. What answers? We make it look like Vance's unit was ambushed by a different Apache band, one that doesn't exist anymore. Plant evidence.
Bodies in militia uniforms, lead the patrol to a fake massacre site, let them draw their own conclusions. Nashoba considered it. That could work, if they believe it. They'll believe it because it's what they want to believe, that Vance died fighting savages, not that he was killed by his own incompetence. Ethan leaned forward.
We give them a story, a neat, simple story that lets them close the case and go home. And where do we find bodies in militia uniforms? We kept the uniforms from Vance's men. We dressed some of our own dead in them, staged the scene. The idea hung in the air, ugly and practical.