Chapter Two Three Seconds in Hope

By then, Jack was already beyond town. He did not visit the bank. He did not go to court. He did not look for witnesses. He stopped only once outside Hope, opened his father's map, and confirmed the position of the red rocks to the north. Wind came from the open land. The map snapped in his hands. He knew Crowe would send men. He knew his food was short, his ammunition limited, and his old horse tired. But he knew something else too. From this day forward, Titan was no longer facing the ruined son of a farmer. They were facing a man who had survived war. A man who had learned to decide life and death in three seconds.