Gunnar cross-references Vesper's telegraph routing files, Calloway's shift notes, and his father's logbook — and circles the same name five times: Miguel Reyes, night telegraph operator at the Copper City central office.

With Calloway's help, the three of them break into the hidden room above the telegraph office, crack the document case, and find six months of forged Syndicate manifests. Reyes appears in a second doorway no one had mapped — and instead of fighting, Gunnar sits down at the telegraph key and broadcasts the evidence to five stations and three newspapers before Reyes can stop him.

By morning, the story is everywhere. Then Vesper arrives with the truth Gunnar didn't have: Reyes wasn't the Syndicate's man. He was a Rail Marshal double agent, six months deep undercover, and the broadcast just blew his cover, destroyed the intelligence network he'd built, and put three other agents — and Reyes himself — directly in danger.

Gunnar was right about what Reyes was doing. He was wrong about what it meant.

Iron Rails & Ruin is a steampunk Wild West adventure for kids & teens — a fourteen-year-old engineer in 1882 Montana finds out his father is alive, and the Syndicate has fourteen days to seize every locomotive in the territory.

Perfect for kids and teens who love trains, invention, and frontier adventure. For fans of Mortal Engines, steampunk machines and mysteries, and Wild West stories with a clever hero at the controls.

📚 Grab your copy of Iron Rails & Ruin: Smoke & Suspicion (Book 1) — available now on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ

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00:00:00 — Three sources, one name circled five times: Reyes
00:05:30 — Calloway arrives — a way in that doesn't use the front door
00:06:15 — Building the plan: entry route, guard rotation, three roles
00:09:15 — Into the postmaster's storage room, up the hidden stair
00:11:45 — The document case — forty seconds, and it's open
00:13:00 — A second door no one mapped — Reyes is standing in it
00:13:45 — Reyes bolts — Gunnar transmits instead of chasing
00:15:30 — Five stations, sent — Reyes gets past Dutch and is gone
00:18:15 — By morning, the documents are in every paper in the territory
00:19:45 — Vesper arrives — something has gone badly wrong
00:21:00 — The truth: Reyes was a Rail Marshal double agent
00:22:30 — The damage: a six-month tracking operation, destroyed
00:24:45 — "I was right about what he was doing. I was wrong about what it meant."
00:26:15 — "What do we do now to limit the damage?"
00:28:15 — CH 10 — What Comes Next

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I am the author of serialized fiction books for kids, teens, tweens and young adults, including:

- Brickhaven: A Bricks Fan Fiction Adventure

- Colony In Danger: A Fire Ant Adventure

- Eagle's Edge: A Story of Rome, Gaul and the Making of a Soldier

- Treasure Island: A Classic Adaptation

- Iron Rails & Ruin: A Novel of Steam, Sorcery and the Lawless Montana Territory

📚 All five books -- are now available on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ

📖 Wanna check out all five series for yourself? Get all five Chapter 1s free: https://compass-codex.kit.com/middle-school-reader-group

Thank you for listening! This is Reed Sterling. Remember: Never stop exploring unknown worlds.