“He thinks you got somethin’ that belongs to him,” Jake said. “At first, he just wanted you dead to get rid of you. Now...it’s different.”
Blaze narrowed his eyes as he watched the bandit.
“He’s half-mad now,” Jake continued. “Talks like he owns the whole damn desert. Says he’s got plans...big ones. Needs more gold to make ’em happen.”
“Plans don’t interest me,” Blaze said. “But names do. Who’s helping him?”
Jake hesitated, licking cracked lips. “There’s...there’s a man back in Red Rock Crossing. Calls himself Kane.”
Blaze froze. “Say that again.”
“Kane,” Jake said. “Met with some of us a few nights ago. Told ’em he could...deliver someone.”
“Who?” Marisol demanded.
Jake’s eyes flicked toward Blaze. “Your sister. The girl. Rachel.”
The world went quiet around them. Even the wind seemed to stop. Blaze stood slowly, the revolver still in his hand but hanging loosely at his side.
“What’d you just say?” he asked, his voice low.
“Kane said he knew her,” Jake stammered. “Said she’d been hidin’ somewhere in town. Told Wilder’s men he could bring her in...trade her for a share of the gold. He figured if he couldn’t find you, he’d take what’s close to you.”
Marisol’s breath hissed through her teeth. “That bastard.”
“He betrays his own people,” Graycloud said quietly.
Blaze didn’t move. He was staring at the dirt with his fists clenched and his shoulders tense.
“Rachel,” he said, as if testing the name in the air. “He’s going after my sister.”
“Could be a lie,” Marisol said. “These types will say anything to buy a few more breaths.”
Jake shook his head quickly. “I ain’t lyin’. I swear it. I heard it myself.”
Blaze crouched again, eyes burning into him. “Where’d you hear it?”
“In town...at the back of a saloon,” Jake said. “Couple of us were talkin’. Said Kane had been makin’ promises. Big talk about old debts and family names.”
“What debts?” Blaze asked.
“Something about your pa,” Jake said. “How he...how he took the gold that started all this.”
“My father?”
“That’s what they said.” Jake winced as blood seeped from his wound. “That he stole it from Wilder’s kin way back when. That’s why Wilder’s so hell-bent on findin’ the rest. But it’s just talk, far as I’m concerned.”
“You don’t believe it?” Marisol asked.
Jake let out a weak laugh. “Don’t believe much of anything men like that say. Your old man might’ve had a hand in it, sure...but he wasn’t the thief they make him out to be. He fought hard. Died harder.”
Blaze didn’t answer. His throat felt dry, his chest tight. He’d grown up hearing whispers about his father, but hearing it from a Rider made it feel different. Colder. Closer.
Graycloud glanced up at Blaze. “What now?”
Blaze looked at Jake again. “Who else knows about Kane?”
“Just a few of Wilder’s men,” he replied. “The rest don’t care. They just want their cut.”
