He could see her struggling with it, the need to race forward warring with the logic she knew was right. Her hands were shaking on the reins—whether from cold or emotion, he couldn’t tell.
“He knows everything about us,” Cole said as dread filled him like ice water in his veins, cold and certain and terrible. This wasn’t random. This wasn’t opportunistic. Riley had been in the area long enough to know where they lived—that they’d moved into Elizabeth’s family home since it had been bigger, with more rooms for the family they hoped to have. He obviously knew the workings of the ranch, the routines, the vulnerabilities. He’d studied them the way Cole had been taught to study prey, and now they were walking into a trap of Riley’s making on their own land.
“You and Lester hired that new hand about a month back.”
Her eyes widened as they locked with his. “Wyatt? You think he’s a member of the Silver Creek Bandits? He’s just a baby.”
“Old enough to feed him information,” Cole said.
“I can’t believe we had him living on our property all this time.”
“It makes sense. It’s why there were only five sets of tracks back at the bank instead of six, like all the witness reports had given. The sixth man was already here, making sure everything was ready for them to take over when the rest of the gang got here. You and I made plans to get away for a couple of days more than two weeks back. They knew this was the perfect time.”
They were still a good mile from the house, and though they couldn’t see where the smoke was coming from, the stench was heavily mixed with the snow. His blood chilled at the thought of more lives being lost.
“What’s on fire?” Calhoun said, coming up beside him and Elizabeth.
“At a guess, either the barracks the hands sleep in or the barn.”
“I take it you know where we are?” Calhoun asked.
Cole’s fingers tightened on the reins. “Yeah, welcome to the O’Hara Ranch. My wife and I would invite you to stay for the night, but it seems we have some uninvited guests.”
“Ahh,” Calhoun said. “He found you.”
“So it seems. Our foreman hired a man a few weeks back, and our best assumption is he’s one of the gang, and he was planted here to feed information to Riley.”
“It follows their pattern. They haven’t gone this long without being caught because they were stupid.”
“There’s always a first for everything,” Cole said. “Now we have to figure out how the heck to get them off our property and behind bars.”
“We can use the storm to our advantage. They’ve got shelter, but they won’t be able to see us approaching. We need to split up and surround the house. It’s twelve against six.”
“You think he’ll make it that easy?” Cole asked. “If that’s the case we can bar the doors and burn the house down.”
“Are you crazy?” Elizabeth interrupted. “That’s our house. Everything we own is inside.”
“That’s my point. They won’t trap themselves inside of a place they can’t get out. Not unless they really think we won’t find them until the storm passes. In that case, we might just get lucky.”
The men had circled around him to listen to what was being said. The tracks were no longer visible, and several inches of snow had fallen since they’d set out on their journey. There was a soft glow of light in the center of the circle.
“Pair up in twos,” Cole said. “But only use one lantern. Most of you know the layout of our ranch. If you don’t, get with someone who does. My guess is the barracks are on fire, so stay clear. You don’t want to be detected due to the light from the fire. These men are smart. They’ve evaded the law for more than three years. And don’t let your guard down because there’s only six of them. They’ll be waiting for you. We don’t need any more bloodshed unless it’s theirs.
“Chances are they’ll be split up, a couple in the house and some in the barn. There’s also an outbuilding that holds tools a hundred paces or so west of the barn, but it’s an unlikely hiding place. The storm is on our side. Use it to your advantage. It’ll be hard for them to see you until you’re almost on top of them, and there’s not a lot of places to hide for cover.
“The marshal will take a team to surround the house, and I’ll take another team to the barn. No gunfire unless absolutely necessary. We want to keep our cover as long as possible. Good luck and Godspeed.”
They lined up side by side and rode the remaining mile in silence. The wind was blowing directly at them, and they were all hunkered with their faces down. Cole didn’t see the rider coming toward them until they were almost on top of each other, and he had his gun out and cocked just as the man waved his arms.
Cole’s fingers were stiff and aching from the cold, but he didn’t lower his pistol.
“It’s me,” Lester McCoy yelled.
“Lester,” Elizabeth said, moving her horse forward to embrace him.
Lester had been foreman since before Elizabeth was born, and since her father’s death, he’d taken on a fatherly role. She would’ve been devastated if anything had happened to him.
“What happened?” Cole asked, coming up beside them. He noticed the soot and blood that covered Lester’s face.
