They stopped to rest, power snack, and hydrate. With only an hour of daylight left, Mateo set off ahead to find a place to camp. After they’d left the death scene, they headed into more unfamiliar terrain, and Mateo had taken the lead.

“Keep your eyes open,” Gage warned him. “There’s no way to know if we’ve still got men dogging our trail.”

Mateo nodded and quietly disappeared around the first bend. They continued up the trail, so steep in places Gage wasn’t sure the mule could make it. But old Mort was as stubborn as Abby, and Kyle seemed to take the harsh conditions as a personal challenge.

The days had been steadily growing hotter, the afternoon sun throbbing down mercilessly. Gage figured Abby was exhausted, but she didn’t complain. She was in the hunt all the way, and he couldn’t help admiring her for it.

They kept pushing onward. By the time Mateo returned, everyone was more than ready to end the day.

“Good place to camp ahead,” Mateo said. “Not far. Trail gets better after that.”

“That’s good news,” Gage said.

With their upended schedule, they wouldn’t be spending the night at the GPS coordinates that indicated where King’s campsite had been. But tomorrow, unless something went wrong, they would reach the last X marked on King’s map.

Abby would either find her grandfather’s gold, or she wouldn’t. Gage tried to quell his mounting excitement, but he was a treasure hunter. Abby wanted to find the Devil’s Gold—and so did he.

It was dark, a campfire burning, their packaged dinners consumed. Gage still hadn’t talked to Abby. Needing some space to clear his head, he set off for a spot he’d noticed at the edge of the clearing. In the distance, moonlight outlined barren peaks.

His mind went to Abby and the fight they’d had. As if his thoughts had called her, light footfalls came up behind him, and small hands settled on his shoulders. Gage tensed.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I know you aren’t a quitter. I know you aren’t afraid of those men.”

Gage turned to face her.

“Please don’t be angry,” she said.

He studied her face in the silvery light, the smooth curve of her cheek, the full pinkness of her lips. “If I hadn’t agreed to continue, would you have left with Kyle?” The words came out of nowhere. He hadn’t realized that aside from his concern for Abby, he was jealous.

“Finding the treasure means everything to me—you’ve known that from the start. But I know going without you and Mateo would have been a stupid thing to do.”

“Knowing something is stupid and not doing it are two different things. Would you have gone without me?”