Part 1
The rope burns on their wrists told Jake Morrison everything he needed to know about how long the five Apache women had been hanging from that old cottonwood tree. Their feet barely touched the ground, and their voices had grown hoarse from calling for help that had not come—until now. What Jake did not yet understand was that saving them would cost him more than the bullets in his gun. It would cost him everything he thought he knew about justice, family, and the price of keeping promises in the unforgiving Arizona desert.
“Please,” the oldest whispered as Jake approached with his knife drawn. “Save us.”
As he cut the first rope, he had no idea those two words would change his life.
He had been tracking the Garrison gang for 3 weeks when he first heard the voices carried on the desert wind. At first he mistook them for the sound of rocks shifting as the temperature changed. But as he guided his horse toward a grove of cottonwoods near a dry creek bed, the cries became clear.
“Help us! Please, someone help us!”
What he found stopped him cold. Five Apache women, young and composed despite their condition, hung by their wrists from the largest tree in the grove. Their dresses were torn and caked with dust from struggling against their bonds. The oldest, no more than 25, met his gaze with dark eyes that held both desperation and unbroken strength.
“You came,” she said simply.
“Who did this to you?” Jake asked, moving quickly from one rope to the next.
“Bad men,” another replied. “They said we had something they wanted. When we refused to tell them where it was, they left us here to die.”
He cut down the youngest first, catching her as she collapsed. She was lighter than he expected, but her grip was steady.
“Water,” she whispered.
He led her to his horse, gave her his canteen, and worked quickly to free the others. Each thanked him first in Apache, then in English as circulation returned to their arms.
The eldest waited until all five stood free before speaking again.
“My name is Ayana,” she said, rubbing her wrists. “These are my sisters—Kacina, Itel, Naelli, and Sitli.”
“Jake Morrison,” he replied. “Deputy U.S. Marshal.”
Despite their ordeal, they stood composed.
“How long were you hanging there?”
“Since dawn,” Kacina answered. “They said they would return at sunset if we changed our minds.”
Jake glanced at the sinking sun. Less than 2 hours remained.
“I can get you to safety,” he said. “There’s a mission 10 miles south. The sisters there will take you in.”
Ayana shook her head. “We cannot go to safety while these men are still hunting us. They will never stop.”
“Then what do you want?”
She exchanged a look with her sisters. Something passed between them, silent and resolute.
“We want you to help us hunt them down.”
He stared at her. “You want to go after the men who did this?”
“They killed our family,” she said, steel in her voice. “They burned our village. They took everything from us except our lives.”
“And now,” Naelli added quietly, “they want to take those too.”
Jake had come to Arizona Territory to bring the Garrison gang to justice for robbery and murder. But standing before these five women, seeing the determination in their faces, he realized the situation had grown more complicated.
“I’m hunting dangerous men,” he warned. “Men who won’t hesitate to kill you.”
Ayana stepped closer. “Mr. Morrison, we are not helpless victims. We are Apache women. We know how to fight, how to track, how to survive. What we need is someone with authority to make their deaths legal.”
He understood. As a deputy U.S. marshal, he could make arrests and ensure that what happened carried federal weight.
“There’s something else,” Sitli said quietly. “Something you need to know about why they wanted us alive.”
“What?”
Ayana met his gaze. “We know where something is hidden. Something valuable enough that men will kill entire families to find it.”
The sun sank lower.
“All right,” Jake said finally. “But we do this my way. Legal. By the book.”
“Agreed,” Ayana said.
They mounted and rode hard toward the badlands, following the gang’s trail in the soft sand. The Garrison gang had made no effort to conceal their tracks.
“They’re heading for Devil’s Canyon,” Kacina observed.
“You know this country well,” Jake said.
“Our people have lived here for generations,” Ayana replied. “Every rock. Every hidden spring.”
As dusk fell, Sitli raised a hand.
“Listen.”
Voices drifted faintly through the canyon air.
“How many?” Jake asked.
“Six when they took us,” Naelli said. “But they sent riders in different directions.”
Sitli pressed her ear to the ground.
“Eight horses,” she said. “Maybe 2 miles ahead.”
Jake turned to Ayana. “Time to tell me what they’re after.”
“Our father was a chief,” she began. “But he was also something else.”
“What kind of something?”
“He knew the location of hidden places,” Kacina said. “Sacred places.”
Jake’s patience thinned. “What kind of places?”
“Gold,” Itel said bluntly. “More gold than you’ve ever seen.”
Gold made men reckless.
“Do you know where it is?” he asked.
“Yes,” Naelli said.
If they truly knew the location of a major gold strike, the Garrison gang was only the beginning.
“Who else knows?”
“We don’t know,” Ayana admitted. “Word travels fast.”
As if summoned by her words, the sound of riders approached from behind.
“Friends?” Jake asked.
Kacina checked the rifle she had taken from his saddle. “No.”
Dust clouds marked at least 4 riders.
“We’re caught between them,” Jake said.
“Welcome to our world, Marshal,” Ayana replied.
They chose to ride forward toward Devil’s Canyon rather than face unknown pursuers.
“There’s something else,” Ayana called over the wind.
“What now?”
“The gold is cursed. Every white man who tried to take it died violently.”
Jake did not answer.
Devil’s Canyon rose before them, its walls sheer and narrow. A trap if misjudged.
Smoke curled from within.
“Eight men,” Sitli whispered.
Jake checked his weapons. “You stay back. I’ll go in alone.”
“No,” the sisters answered in unison.
“This is not your fight alone,” Kacina said.
Before he could argue further, the sound of horses behind them echoed through the canyon.
“Change of plan,” Jake said. “We strike fast.”
They left the horses concealed and moved on foot.
The gang’s fire came into view. Eight men, drinking and careless. Weapons stacked nearby.
Then Jake heard one of them speak.
“Those Apache women will talk eventually. When they do, we’ll have enough gold to buy our own territory.”
“What if they don’t?”
“Then we start cutting off fingers.”
Beside him, Ayana went still.
“Marshal,” she whispered, “what you’re about to see is not justice. It is vengeance.”
Before he could respond, she signaled.
The sisters moved.
The first man fell without a sound, a knife in his back. Two more dropped almost simultaneously. The remaining men scrambled too late.
Jake stepped into the firelight.
“U.S. Marshal,” he announced. “You’re under arrest.”
Ayana’s blade silenced one man mid-sentence.
In less than 2 minutes, eight armed men were reduced to two survivors.
“We were following orders,” the gang leader pleaded. “Sheriff Patterson wanted the gold.”
Ayana’s knife ended him before he could say more.
“That was evidence,” Jake said.
“That was justice,” she replied.
Behind them, hooves thundered closer.
“There’s something else,” Ayana said.
“What?”
“Sheriff Patterson is our uncle.”
Part 2
The revelation struck Jake hard. Betrayal by blood cut deeper than greed.
“Our father’s brother,” Kacina said bitterly. “He was supposed to protect us.”
The riders entered the canyon mouth.
“Sheriff Patterson!” Jake called. “Deputy U.S. Marshal Morrison.”
Patterson’s voice echoed back. “Jake Morrison. Should’ve known.”
Patterson claimed the women were wanted for the massacre of a white family.
“He killed them to frame us,” Itel hissed.
The pieces fell into place. Patterson had murdered settlers to shift blame and gain leverage.
“What do you want?” Jake asked.
“Hand over the women,” Patterson said. “Or die with them.”
Ayana leaned close. “It’s not just gold.”
“What?”
“It’s the largest silver deposit in the territory. Whoever controls it controls Arizona.”
Jake understood. Silver meant railroads, towns, political influence.
He made his decision.
“These women are under federal protection.”
Gunfire erupted.
Ayana grabbed his arm. “Follow me.”
She led him through a narrow crack in the canyon wall into a hidden cave.
Torchlight revealed staggering wealth—gold, silver, precious stones—but not raw ore alone. Jewelry. Ceremonial objects. Decorative weapons crafted over generations.
“Not God,” Ayana said softly when he whispered in awe. “Ancestors.”
Naelli unwrapped a bundle of maps drawn on treated hide. They detailed mountain ranges, mineral deposits—and something more.
“Water,” Sitli said.
Underground rivers. Hidden springs.
Control of water meant control of land across hundreds of miles.
“That’s why he’s killing,” Jake said.
Outside, gunfire echoed.
“If we die,” Ayana said, “someone must protect this knowledge.”
Boots echoed in the cave behind them.
“There’s another way out,” Kacina said.
They fled through a burial passage lined with skeletal remains. The air was thick and close.
Patterson’s men shouted as they discovered the treasure.
“Find the maps!” Patterson barked.
They emerged 2 miles away at the ruins of an old Spanish mission.
“What will you do about Patterson?” Naelli asked.
“I’ll arrest him,” Jake said.
Ayana stopped walking. “Apache justice is different. He killed 37 of our people.”
“37?” Jake repeated.
“Men. Women. Children. Babies.”
The scale of it shifted his thinking. This was not isolated murder. It was annihilation.
“We’re asking you to choose,” Ayana said. “Between the law and justice.”
They reached the surface.
Horses approached.
“What happens if he dies?” Jake asked.
“The maps stay with us,” Ayana said.
“And if he lives?” he asked.
“He hunts us forever,” Kacina replied.
Ayana stepped close.
“I’m falling in love with you,” she said quietly. “I needed you to know.”
Jake felt the ground shift beneath him more than it had during gunfire.
The riders arrived.
“Sisters,” he said. “Apache justice it is.”
They positioned themselves through the mission ruins.
Patterson rode in confidently.
“Come out,” he called.
Jake stepped forward.
They exchanged accusations. Patterson threatened to burn every Apache village in the territory.
“You already did,” Naelli’s voice whispered from behind him.
The sisters moved unseen, disorienting the men.
Patterson fired wildly.
When the shooting stopped, five Apache women stood unharmed.
“Our turn,” Ayana said.
Five shots rang out. Patterson’s three men fell instantly.
Patterson remained mounted, gun empty.
“Marshal,” he pleaded. “I surrender.”
Jake holstered his weapon.
“Sheriff Patterson, you are under arrest for murder and conspiracy.”
Relief flooded Patterson’s face.
“Thank God.”
“But first,” Jake said, “you face Apache justice.”
Ayana raised her rifle.
“You took 37 lives,” she said. “Apache law demands balance.”
Patterson looked at Jake.
“You can’t let them torture me.”
“You’re right,” Jake said.
He turned to Ayana.
“Make it quick.”
The shot was clean. Patterson fell dead.
In the silence that followed, Jake felt certainty.
“It’s over,” he said.
Ayana looked at him.
“What now, Jake?”
He looked at the five women who had shown him the difference between law and justice.
“Now,” he said, “we build a life together.”
Ayana stepped close.
“Are you asking what I think you’re asking?”
“I’m asking,” he said, taking her hands, “if you’ll marry me—and if your sisters will accept me as family.”
She kissed him.
Kacina smiled. “One way to keep the maps in the family.”
They rode from the mission ruins toward a future none of them had imagined that morning.
Helping five Apache women escape from a tree had cost Jake everything he once thought he wanted—and given him everything he had never known he needed.
Part 3
The burial passage was everything Sitli had promised and worse. The walls were lined with skeletal remains wrapped in rotting cloth, and the air hung thick with decay and something older, something that made the hair rise along Jake’s arms. Whether it was spirits or simply the weight of history pressing in on him, he could not tell.
“Stay close,” Ayana whispered, holding the torch high. “The ancestors tolerate you because you are with us.”
Behind them, voices echoed faintly through the treasure cave as Patterson and his men discovered the wealth hidden there.
“There’s enough gold to buy half of Arizona,” one man breathed.
“Find the maps,” Patterson snapped. “The gold is worthless without them.”
The sisters guided Jake through twisting tunnels that branched without pattern. Without them, he would have been lost within minutes.
“How much farther?” he asked.
“Not far,” Kacina replied. “The passage opens near the old mission ruins, about 2 miles from here.”
“Marshall,” Naelli said quietly as they walked. “When we reach the surface, what will you do about Patterson?”
Jake had been turning the question over since they entered the mountain.
“I’ll arrest him,” he said finally. “Let a federal judge sort out the truth. If he resists arrest, I’ll do what needs to be done.”
Ayana stopped and faced him, the torchlight casting sharp shadows across her face.
“Jake,” she said, using his first name for the first time. “Apache justice is not like white justice. We do not have courts. We have balance. When someone takes a life, a life must be given.”
“I understand the concept,” he answered carefully.
“Do you?” Itel asked. “Patterson did not just kill our family. He destroyed our village. 37 people died because of him.”
“37?” Jake repeated.
“Men. Women. Children,” Sitli said quietly. “Including babies.”
The number settled heavily in his chest. He had been thinking in terms of crimes. They were speaking of annihilation.
“What are you asking me to do?” he asked.
“We are asking you to choose,” Ayana said softly. “Between the law you swore to uphold and the justice that must be done.”
They climbed upward through a narrow stone chimney and emerged into the ruins of an abandoned Spanish mission. The desert stretched silver beneath the starlight.
“So what’s it going to be, Marshal?” Naelli asked.
Before he could answer, the sound of horses carried across the night.
“They found the other entrance,” Sitli said.
“How long?” Jake asked.
“20 minutes,” Ayana estimated.
He looked at the five women who had entrusted him with their lives and their secrets.
“The maps,” he said. “What happens if Patterson dies?”
“They stay with us,” Ayana replied. “With our people.”
“And if he lives?”
“He steals them,” Kacina said bluntly. “Controls the water. Controls the future.”
The horses drew closer.
“Jake,” Ayana said quietly. “There is something I must tell you.”
“What?”
“I am falling in love with you. I know it is sudden. But I needed you to know.”
For a moment, the world narrowed to her face in the starlight.
“You don’t have to say anything,” she added. “Whatever choice you make will not change how I feel.”
The riders entered the ruins.
“Sisters,” Jake said. “Apache justice it is.”
They took positions throughout the mission. Ayana and Kacina climbed the broken bell tower. Itel and Naelli concealed themselves behind the altar. Sitli waited near the entrance. Jake stood in the shadows of what had once been the priest’s quarters.
Sheriff Patterson rode in with three men, confidence masking strain.
“I know you’re here,” he called. “Come out and I might make it quick.”
Jake stepped into view.
“Let’s talk, Sheriff.”
Patterson turned, revolver already drawn.
“Deputy Morrison,” he said. “I’m placing you under arrest for interfering with a lawful investigation.”
“What investigation is that?” Jake asked.
“The pursuit of Apache murderers,” Patterson replied. “Those women killed the Henderson family.”
“You paid witnesses,” Jake said calmly.
“Prove it.”
“I don’t have to,” Jake answered.
“Uncle,” Ayana’s voice rang from the bell tower.
Patterson spun toward the sound.
“You taught us to hunt,” she said. “Did you think we forgot?”
Her voice shifted position as she moved unseen.
“You have something that belongs to us,” Kacina called from another direction.
“The maps!” Patterson shouted. “Where are they?”
“Safe,” Itel answered.
Patterson’s men shifted uneasily, their horses nervous in the shadows.
“Last chance,” Patterson yelled. “Give me the maps or I’ll burn every Apache village in this territory.”
“You already did,” Naelli’s voice came from directly behind him.
He wheeled around, firing blindly into darkness. His men followed, muzzle flashes lighting the ruins.
When the gunfire stopped, five Apache women stepped into the open, unharmed.
“Our turn,” Ayana said.
Five shots cracked through the night. Patterson’s men fell from their saddles before they understood what had happened.
Patterson remained mounted, revolver empty, shock draining the color from his face.
“Impossible,” he whispered.
“No,” Jake said, walking toward him. “Just justice.”
Patterson looked at him desperately.
“Marshal, you’re federal law. You can’t let them murder me. I surrender.”
Jake holstered his weapon.
“Sheriff Patterson, you are under arrest for murder, conspiracy, theft, and violation of federal treaties.”
Relief flooded Patterson’s face.
“Thank God.”
“But first,” Jake continued, “you will face Apache justice.”
The relief vanished.
“What?”
Ayana stepped forward, rifle steady.
“You took 37 lives,” she said. “Apache law demands balance.”
“I only have one life,” Patterson stammered.
“Then you will answer for all 37 within it,” Kacina replied.
“Marshal,” Patterson pleaded. “You can’t let them torture me. That’s revenge.”
Jake studied the man who had betrayed his own blood for power.
“You’re right,” he said finally. “That would be revenge.”
Hope flickered in Patterson’s eyes.
“Ayana,” Jake said quietly, “make it quick.”
The shot was clean. Patterson fell backward from the saddle, dead before he struck the ground.
Silence settled over the ruins.
“It’s over,” Jake said.
Ayana lowered her rifle.
“What now?” she asked.
Jake looked at the five women who had shown him treasures beyond gold and justice beyond statutes.
“Now,” he said, “we build a life together.”
Naelli smiled faintly. “Even knowing what we are? What we’ve done?”
“Especially knowing,” he replied.
Ayana stepped close.
“Are you asking what I think you’re asking?”
“I’m asking,” Jake said, taking her hands, “if you will marry me—and if your sisters will accept me as family.”
She kissed him, the desert wind cool around them.
Kacina laughed softly. “One way to keep the maps in the family.”
As they rode away from the mission ruins toward an uncertain but shared future, Jake understood the full cost of cutting five women down from a tree.
It had cost him the life he thought he wanted.
And given him one he had never known to ask for.
