Chapter 10: Unmasking the Valley
The truck bounced violently as Miller navigated the rutted logging trail, the engine screaming in protest under the strain. I gripped the dashboard with one hand, checking the rearview mirror to make sure no one was tailing us. The road behind us remained empty, swallowed completely by the dense morning fog.
"You've got a lot of explaining to do, Tom," I said, turning to look at the older sheriff. His face was set in grim lines, his knuckles white against the steering wheel. "You were supposed to be clean. That's why I chose this valley."
"Nobody's clean anymore, Daniel," Miller sighed, keeping his eyes fixed on the muddy track ahead. "Not since Elena's people started buying up the county council six months ago. I found out about their operation last week when they started shaking off local property owners. I was waiting for the right moment to move on them, but you forced their hand."
"They have Leo," I said, my voice tight. "If they trace me back to the ranch, he's not safe there anymore."
"He's already safe," Miller said quietly, glancing at me sideways. "I had my deputy move him and Martha up to the old fire watchtower on Bald Mountain twenty minutes ago. Nobody knows about that place except me and the old rangers. They're locked in, and the road up there is washed out. Elena's SUVs can't make the climb."
I let out a long, slow breath I felt like I'd been holding since the moment I saw the horse on the dark western street. The immediate danger to my boy had passed, but the war was far from over. Elena had local badges in her pocket, a syndicate behind her, and nothing to lose.
"We need to end this, Tom," I said, staring out at the gray pines flashing past the window. "All of it. The ledger, the corruption, the ghosts."
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"Then we go to the state attorney general," Miller said, reaching down to tap a thick manila envelope sitting on the floor between his boots. "I've been copying their financial transfers for three months. With your inside knowledge and my badge, we can take down the whole network before the sun sets."
I looked at the envelope, then back out at the winding road leading deeper into the mountains. It was time to stop running.
