Chapter 9 - The Reckoning at the Summit
Sayen rose from behind the granite slab, her carbine leveled with steady precision. "Drop it," she called out, her voice cutting through the wind.
The enforcer spun around, his eyes widening in shock as he recognized the woman from the wanted posters he had memorized in Bitter Creek. He instinctively reached for his holster, but before his hand could clear leather, Sayen fired—not to kill, but striking the rock directly beside his boot. The ricochet shrieked into the air.
"I said, drop it," she repeated, her voice unwavering.
The man froze, slowly raising his empty hands into the air as his horse sidestepped nervously. Up on the ridge, Silas had pinned the other two enforcers behind a massive pile of boulders, keeping them pinned down with well-placed suppressive fire that prevented them from assisting their companion.
Thomas Miller hurried up the trail from the rear, panting heavily, and stopped beside Sayen. He stared at the captured enforcer in disbelief, then looked at Sayen with absolute reverence.
"You got him," Thomas breathed.
"We got them," Sayen corrected, keeping her rifle trained on the man while motioning for him to dismount and step away from his weapons.
Silas descended rapidly from the ridge, his boots sliding through the loose shale until he reached the basin floor. He quickly secured the enforcer's sidearm and rifle, tying the man's hands securely with a length of hemp rope. The two men pinned behind the boulders on the ridge, seeing their companion captured and realizing they were outpositioned and outmatched, shouted a furious curse before mounting their horses and retreating back down the lower trail toward the valley, disappearing into the dust.
Silas walked over to Sayen, a deep, resonant warmth in his eyes that spoke volumes without a single word of excessive praise. He reached out and gently touched her shoulder. "You handled that like a veteran scout."
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Sayen let out a long breath, lowering the barrel of her carbine, though her posture remained alert. "I learned from the best teacher in the mountains," she replied with a faint, knowing smile.
They secured the captured enforcer to one of the spare horses and resumed their march through the pass, the afternoon sun finally breaking through the heavy clouds and bathing the mountain peaks in a brilliant, golden light. By nightfall, they crossed the summit ridge, leaving the county lines of Bitter Creek far behind them. Ahead, nestled in the vast northern valley, the lights of Helena twinkled in the distance—the final destination where justice, truth, and their future awaited.
