Look over there. Our remaining horses and cattle are moving toward that large plain. Time is short. We must take action now.
He thought someone had stolen his cattle. But when he followed the tracks into the darkness, he found something far more terrifying than a thief. An Apache woman was waiting for him beside the dead herd, and she knew exactly who had taken them. Then she whispered six words that made his blood run cold.
Your cattle were never the real target. What she revealed next exposed a secret someone had buried for years. And now they both were in danger. Cole Mercer returns to his ranch at sunrise and immediately realizes something is wrong.
The main gate stands wide open. Several fence posts have been broken and his best cattle have disappeared. For a moment, Cole simply stares at the empty pasture, struggling to understand how someone could have taken so many animals without waking him. He quickly checks the ground and finds fresh hoofprints leading away from the ranch.
The thieves clearly knew what they were doing. They had driven the herd during the night and chosen a route that would make their tracks difficult to follow. Cole has already lost nearly everything he owns. His cattle are the only thing keeping him from losing the ranch itself, so he refuses to sit around waiting for the local sheriff.
The sheriff has never trusted him and would probably treat the theft as another problem caused by Cole's bad luck. Instead, Cole saddles his horse, loads his rifle, and follows the trail alone. The tracks lead away from the ranch toward a narrow canyon that Cole rarely visits. As he studies the trail, he notices several details that make the theft seem carefully planned.
The riders avoided the main road and crossed a shallow creek to confuse anyone following them. A torn piece of dark cloth hangs from a thorn bush beside the trail. Cole pulls it free and studies it. It appears to have come from a rider's coat, but he does not recognize the material or the person who wore it.
Near the canyon entrance, Cole discovers one of his cattle standing alone. The animal is exhausted, frightened, and covered with dust. When Cole examines its brand, he notices someone has partly scratched it away. That detail bothers him more than the theft itself.
Whoever took his cattle may have intended to change their identity and sell them later. Cole continues deeper into the canyon. The silence is broken when he hears a horse moving beyond a rocky ridge. He draws his rifle and approaches carefully, expecting to find the thieves.
Instead, he sees an Apache woman standing beside a large rock outcrop. Her name is Mara. She does not raise a weapon, but her serious expression tells Cole she has been expecting someone. She says she watched several riders drive his cattle through the canyon.