When army scout Lane Devens breaks his commanding officer s

nose and dunks his head in a trough, he is unceremoniously

cashiered from service. But there s a new job awaiting him in

Pennington, Arizona Territory, and after a three-month stint in the

Fort Bowie guardhouse, he s on his way home to a fresh start. There

he meets with Mariano Diego, a leading denizen of the Mexican

community, and Robert Cates, a wealthy cattleman. They want

Lane to investigate the shady dealings of Pennington s most promi-

nent businessmen, George Nimitz and Estevan Carrillo.

Cares and Diego have discovered that the means by which Nimitz

and Carrillo acquire land range from questionable to outright ille-

gal, and the local sheriff is involved. Lane s job is to gather enough

solid evidence to bring in indictments against them, but before he

has even begun, Robert Cates is murdered. Lane s best friend is

accused of the crime and found dead in his jail cell, an alleged sui-

cide. More murder and mayhem ensue before Lane can stop the

ruthless powerbrokers.