Chapter 31
Circles in the Dust
Morning bled into the cuts, slow and gray, the kind of light that didn’t warm anything.
Cold slid along the stone, and Eli shivered behind Tessa, his wrists tied with just enough slack to move, and no chance to run. Her own hands were still bound to the sorrel’s horn, shoulders aching from the angle.
“Mount up,” Boyd snapped.
Tessa didn’t move. “Eli needs water,” she said calmly. “I do too. You want us upright; we can’t go another day without it.”
Boyd spun on her, eyes raw-rimmed from a sleepless night. “We ain’t stoppin’ for breakfast.”
“Didn’t ask for breakfast,” she said. “Just water.”
Red snorted. “Got plenty of time for lyin’, but not for drinkin’, huh?”
Deke shot Red a warning look, then reached for a canteen. “They ain’t eaten or drank near enough. Boy’s gonna fall off if we don’t give him somethin’.”
Boyd’s lip curled, but he jerked his chin. “Fine. Quick.”
Deke walked the canteen over to Eli, ignoring Red’s smirk. “Here,” he said, uncorking it. “Sip it slow.”
Eli drank greedily at first, then slowed as Deke tipped the canteen with practiced care. Tessa breathed out in relief—she could feel how dry Eli’s breath was when he pressed against her.
Boyd tossed a strip of jerky at Tessa. It landed on her skirt.
“There. Eat.”
Her hands being tied, she had to lean down awkwardly, catching the jerky in her teeth. Red laughed under his breath and made a move like he might help her, but Deke stepped between them without a word.
“Knock it off,” Deke said quietly. “Ain’t nobody got time for your foolishness.”
Red scowled but backed off.
Tessa chewed the jerky quickly, swallowing the dry pieces as best she could.
Deke recorked the canteen, gave Eli one last glance, then nodded toward Tessa. “They’re good to ride.”
Boyd snapped the reins of his own horse. “Then let’s move. And if she lies about that damn stash again—”
Tessa lifted her chin. “I’ll take you to it. Need daylight to see the right draw, that’s all.”
Boyd didn’t answer. He just spurred ahead.
Only when he wasn’t looking did Tessa breathe out, steady and measured.
Bought a few minutes, she thought.
But we’re running out of them.
“You all right?” she whispered to Eli.
He nodded once.
They started moving at a hard trot, Boyd pushing them like he could physically outrun his own rage. The cuts twisted ahead, narrow as an alley, then opened into wide shelves of red earth flecked with scrub.
Tessa glanced at the shadows, the landforms, the angles of light along the cliff walls.
She knew this country far too well.
And she knew she was running out of time.
“Which way?” Boyd snapped.
Tessa pointed toward a split in the ridge. “That way.”
It wasn’t a lie exactly. Just… not the best way.
They wound through a shallow wash, then over a broken ledge where the stone crumbled under the horses’ hooves. Deke slowed behind her, eyes scanning the ground.
“You sure ‘bout this?” he asked.
“Cuts change when it rains,” Tessa said evenly.
“Mm-hm.” Deke looked at the ground again. “Funny thing, though. Feels like we passed that shoulder of rock back there once already.”
Tessa’s stomach tightened.
Eli gripped her shirt. She covered his hand as best she could.
“Land’s twisty here,” she said. “Hard to judge distance.”
Deke didn’t argue. That was what made it worse.
He just nodded once, a slow, thoughtful gesture.
Boyd didn’t notice. His nerves were frayed raw.
“Hurry it up,” he snapped. “I ain’t spendin’ another night in this cursed place.”
They moved on.
But Tessa felt Deke’s eyes on her now.
Watching.
Listening.
Counting the turns.
She kept leading them in wide, arcing paths, doubling back just enough to confuse Boyd but not enough for Deke to call her a liar out loud.
Another hour passed.
And another.
The sun climbed high enough to bleach the stone to white. The horses began to sweat under the heat. Red muttered curses under his breath.
Finally, Deke rode up beside her, leaning in close.
“Look,” he said quietly, almost politely. “I ain’t lookin’ to fight you. But Boyd’s on edge, and you keep turnin’ us every which way. You know somethin’ you ain’t tellin’ us?”
Tessa’s pulse hammered.
Eli whispered behind her, “Tess—”
She cut him off softly. “Quiet, honey.”
Boyd was watching them now.
Deke straightened. “Well? You gonna answer?”
Tessa lifted her chin. “I know the general area, not the exact spot. You want me to take you straight to the stash and miss it? I’m tryin’ to find the right draw.”
Boyd spat into the dust. “She’s lyin’.”
“Told you she was stallin’,” Red said.
Deke’s brow furrowed. “Or maybe she really can’t tell ‘til she sees the right landform.”
Tessa exhaled slowly. Deke wasn’t convinced—but he wasn’t calling her bluff yet either.
He would soon.
Too soon.
She had to change tactics.
“Fine,” she said, letting her voice drop into tired resignation. “You want direct? I’ll take you direct.”
Boyd jabbed a finger at her. “Then do it.”
Tessa nodded toward a notch in the ridge—the real direction this time.
“Through that cut. Then down into the basin. It’s not far.”
Deke watched her closely but said nothing.
Tessa swallowed.
This is it, she thought. No more buying time. No more circles. If the men don’t reach the hollow first… we won’t come out.
She nudged the sorrel toward the cut, praying Reed and Pike were reading the land right.
Praying Sam was still riding.
***
The shortcut spat the men out on a narrow rise just as the sun reached its highest point.
Below them stretched the familiar basin—silent, shadowed, ringed by jagged cliffs. The stone chimney rose crooked against the sky.
Rafe’s breath eased out. “We beat ‘em.”
“Barely,” Pike said, pointing to a trail of dust not far off. “They’re comin’.”
Sam leaned forward in the saddle, jaw set.
“Eli,” he whispered.
Reed touched his shoulder. “We’ll get ‘em both.”
Sam nodded once, the sharp, steady fire back in his eyes.
“Positions,” Rafe said. “We get one chance.”
They split—Reed to the chimney, Pike to the shadows near the narrow entry, Rafe covering the far ridge, Sam taking the center path so he could reach Tessa and Eli fastest.
The noose was tightening.
The land held its breath.
And far below, Tessa guided her sorrel toward the cut that opened into the hollow—knowing she had run out of places to hide, and praying rescue was waiting on the other side.