Wilder’s silhouette loomed through the smoke, his revolver raised. “Then I’ll do it myself!”
He fired. Blaze dove behind the fallen cart again, splinters flying.
“Come on out!” Wilder taunted. “Face me proper.”
“You want proper?” Blaze called back. “Step into the light!”
Wilder laughed, rough and humorless. “You think I’m fool enough to walk into your sights?”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Blaze said. “You’re too smart for that. Too careful. Too scared.”
“Scared?” Wilder hissed. “You think I’m scared of you?”
“I think you’re scared of losin’ what’s left,” Blaze replied.
Wilder’s voice dropped lower. “You don’t understand, Buckeye. This gold ain’t just metal. It’s mine. It’s owed.”
“Owed to who?” Blaze asked. “To your greed? To the dead men you sent for it?”
“To me,” Wilder spat. “To every man who took nothin’ and made himself something! The world don’t give...it takes. I just took first.”
Blaze rose slowly, gun leveled. “Then this is where taking ends.”
They locked eyes across the smoke. Wilder’s hand twitched.
“Boss!” someone yelled from the back tunnel. “The sacks are too heavy...we can’t get them through!”
“Then dump half!” Wilder snapped, never looking away from Blaze. “Just move it!”
Blaze edged sideways, trying to angle closer to the tunnel. His boot nudged a loose shell casing. The soft clink echoed too loudly.
“There!” a Rider shouted. “He’s by the wall!”
The cavern exploded again.
Bullets tore into the stone, one grazing Blaze’s sleeve, another slamming into the beam beside his head. He dropped, rolled, and fired blindly.
Wilder ducked behind the crates, laughing between shots.
“You think you can stop me? You think one man can hold back a storm?” he asked.
“I ain’t holding it back,” Blaze said, breath ragged. “I’m ending it.”
A fresh voice shouted from deeper inside. “Boss, we’re losin’ men!”
“Then die faster!” Wilder screamed.
That was the moment Blaze saw it. The unraveling. The men were no longer fighting for gold or loyalty. They were just fighting to survive.
He fired again, each shot measured and methodical. The echoes came back like thunder rolling down the tunnels.
One Rider rushed him. Blaze swung the butt of his revolver, cracked it across the man’s jaw, and shoved him aside.
“Boss!” another called. “We can’t hold him!”
“You’ll hold or you’ll burn!” Wilder shouted.
Blaze reloaded quickly, leaning against a beam. Sweat streaked down through the dust on his face.
