He left too from outside Malone's voice carrying. Controlled, "I've got five men and you've got a burning barn, Cross." Hadley was at the window Nayeli beside him Tsula at the east window watching the approach from that angle. How did he know my name? Some part of Hadley noted it distantly, then answered his own question.
The deed on this land was filed in Cheyenne public records. Any man with money and time could find out who owned what parcel out here. Malone had both of course he did. "The women come out," Malone said. "That's all I need."
"You go back to your life. Nobody needs to lose anything else tonight." Nobody needs to lose anything else. Like the barn wasn't already burning. Like three men then hadn't just come through his door.
Like need was something Malone had any understanding of. Hadley didn't answer. He watched the barn Rex. Clearly he could hear them. Not clearly through the noise.
The fire had its own sound that consuming rushing sound but he could hear them moving afraid. His hand tightened on the rifle stock. Nayeli beside him said quietly. "I'll go to the east side." "No, Hadley, no."
"You stay where I can see you." A pause. "The horses," she said. "I know you can't go out there." "I know that too."
He knew. He knew but the knowing didn't make it easier and he let himself feel the hard edge of it. Rex six years the horse that had walked into a blizzard for him standing in a burning barn and then he set it aside because the cabin needed his attention more than the grief did. "Tsula," he said. "Two on the east side," she said.
"Immediate. Not moving." "Watching. They're the backup," Nayeli said. "If you go out, those two close in.
That's what I'd do." Hadley agreed. He looked at Malone's silhouette through the window. The man was on horseback, positioned just far enough back to be in shadow. Organized.
"Patient. "I've got five men. Five." But how many had he expected to walk back out of the cabin? That changed his numbers, and his men knew it changed his numbers.
Hadley opened the window a careful inch. "You should go," he said. Level. The way he said everything. Silence.
"That barn's not the last thing that burns," Malone said. "Here's what I think," Hadley said. "I think three men you sent in came back out missing something they walked in with." "I think your remaining men are wondering if this cabin is worth it. I think you came out here expecting a widower alone in the dark."
A pause. Um Um silence. "I'll come back," Malone said. "I know," Hadley said. "I'll be here."