The Gunslinger Who Came to Bury His Past — Then the Town Gave Him a Reason to Draw Again
CHAPTER 10
The plan was simple.
Board the train.
Take the ledger.
Return to town.
Simple plans rarely survived reality.
Halfway to the tracks, Gabriel noticed something.
There were too many horses.
Someone had told Vane.
They were surrounded.
Ada looked at him.
“You knew?”
Gabriel shook his head.
“No.”
Elias stepped forward.
“I did.”
Gabriel turned.
Elias’s face was pale.
“Don’t.”
Gabriel stared.
“What did you do?”
Elias lowered his gun.
“Vane has my daughter.”
Silence.
Ada looked at him.
“You betrayed us.”
“I tried to protect her.”
Gabriel remembered the words.
He had heard them before.
From Reed.
From himself.
He lowered his gun.
“Where is she?”
“On the train.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Then we get her back.”
They surrendered.
Vane’s men took Ada and Elias.
Gabriel was dragged into a separate carriage.
Silas Vane entered.
He looked almost disappointed.
“You could have left.”
Gabriel stared at him.
“You killed my father.”
“Your father chose his fate.”
“You killed Samuel Monroe.”
“Collateral damage.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
“And my father?”
Vane smiled.
“Your father begged.”
Gabriel’s eyes went cold.
“For what?”
“To keep you alive.”
The words struck harder than a bullet.
Vane leaned closer.
“Your father gave me the location of the documents.”
Gabriel froze.
“He betrayed everyone?”
“No.”
Vane smiled.
“He lied.”
Gabriel understood.
His father had given Vane a false location.
And died protecting the real evidence.
Vane’s expression hardened.
“Unfortunately, you inherited his stubbornness.”
Outside, the train whistle screamed.
Then Gabriel smiled.
Because he had just heard something else.
Three knocks.
From inside the wall.
Ada.
She was alive.
