Cord McBride knows about survival. Five years after being knocked unconscious at the Battle of Little Bighorn-and living to face an inquiry that branded him a coward-he's carved out a quiet existence as a guide through Colorado's mining country. He doesn't look for trouble. But in the summer of 1881, trouble finds him anyway.
When Chicago businessman Samuel Morrison hires Cord to escort his party from Dodge City to the silver boomtown of Creede, it seems like easy money. The pay is good, the route is familiar, and Morrison's daughter Catherine is as intelligent as she is beautiful. But from the moment they leave Kansas, nothing about this journey feels right.
Morrison watches everyone like a man expecting betrayal. His associate Fielding is terrified of something-or someone. And when Elena Morales, a mysterious woman with fire in her eyes and secrets in her past, joins their party in Trinidad, Cord realizes he's being pulled into something far more dangerous than he bargained for.
As they climb into the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and cross Ute territory, the truth begins to emerge: a railroad conspiracy to steal Native land worth millions, orchestrated through manipulation, fraud, and murder. Elena's brother was one of the victims. And Morrison isn't just a businessman-he's the architect of the whole deadly scheme.
Now Cord faces an impossible choice. His contract binds him to protect Morrison and his daughter. His conscience demands he expose the conspiracy. And Elena's quest for justice might destroy them all.
With hired killers on their trail, Ute warriors dispensing their own brand of justice, and Catherine Morrison proving far more dangerous than anyone imagined, Cord must navigate a web of betrayal that stretches from Colorado's mining camps to the corridors of power in Washington.
In the high country, the only law is what a man can enforce with his gun. And sometimes, the deadliest enemies are the ones riding beside you.
