Book excerpt: Returning home from the Civil War, Ranger Nicolas Kilpatrick and some of the men he led, continue to serve, protecting settlers from Indian attacks and tracking down gangs of robbers and rustlers. While fulfilling the request of a dying bandit, at an outlaw stronghold, Nick stumbles across a woman hiding from the very gang for whom he is searching. To protect the lady and keep his promise means battling more than a dozen hardened killers: the odds are long, the stakes are high, and a deadly race to Dead Man's Canyon is Nick's only chance to avoid capture for the lady, and his own certain death.