Iron Rails & Ruin: CH 7 | The Syndicate Takes Gunnar's Contracts as Dutch Confesses | Wild West Adventure Podcast for Kids
Seventeen hours after the High Pass run, the Syndicate's revenge arrives by special courier: an official order revoking every one of Gunnar's freight contracts, dressed up as safety violations.
Gunnar does the math — without that income, the Widow-Maker is finished in 143 days. But the harder blow comes from his oldest friend: Dutch finally confesses that on the night Gunnar's father disappeared, someone paid him to be far away — and he's carried that guilt in silence for six months.
Iron Rails & Ruin is a Wild West adventure series for kids 8-14 — 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 8-14 who love trains, invention, and frontier adventure. For fans of Mortal Engines, adventures 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 — After High Pass: steady hands and an ordinary repair
00:01:45 — Marshal Morrow brings an order he's ashamed to deliver
00:05:00 — Every contract revoked — the math comes out to bankruptcy
00:09:30 — In the shed: Gunnar confronts Dutch
00:12:00 — The night his father vanished — Dutch confesses
00:15:15 — Paid to be gone — so no one would be there that night
00:17:15 — "I'm not there yet, Dutch — but I'm still here."
00:19:45 — CH 8 — What Comes Next
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.