Chapter Two Three Seconds in Hope

The owner lowered his voice. "Your mother once covered medicine for me when I couldn't pay. She said folks in Hope had to pull one another along." Jack accepted the parcel. "Name?" "Ben Carter." Jack nodded. "I'll remember it." He mounted and rode out of the street. Behind him, the name Ghost Rider had already grown from a whisper into a rumor too heavy to hold down. On the town office steps, Crowe watched him go, his face now completely cold. Sheriff Harlan asked quietly, "Want him followed?" Crowe touched his gold watch chain. "No," he said. "Let him ride north." "North?" "The waste kills many men who think they have a destiny." Crowe turned and walked into the office. "If the waste does not kill him, we will send someone who can."