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Rose’s truck bounced over ruts and holes as she tore up the winding dirt road to the Rie of the boys, had told her where to find Bull Driven by urgency, she’d broken all sensible speed li stolen Prescott cattle on Rimrock property was serious trouble

The pasture was in a basin ringed by the cliffs of the escarprass and winter shelter for most of the herd of red-and-white Hereford cattle that had made Bull Tyler a prosperous man

As Rose parked her truck next to Bull’s pickup and then cut the engine, she could see thecattle to beout the last of the anied, and, if meant to be steers, castrated The spare horses fro loaded in trailers to be hauled back to the ranch paddock

Cli with Jasper on the far side of the branding chute As she hurried to close the distance between the calves and the odors of wood smoke, hot iron, and seared flesh flooded her senses She waved her aret Bull’s attention

He strode toward her, then, sensing her urgency, broke into a run “What is it?” he deht?”

“Don’t worry, the boys are fine” She told hi out the mention of Will’s disobedience That could be dealt with later

Bull swore “Da to think it was us that stole those blasted cows” He turned to Jasper, who’d caught up with hihts, too?”

“Far as I know, except for Lee Roy, who broke his arm I don’t do bed checks, but after a day on roundup those boys would’ve been too tuckered to sneak off and steal cows”

Bull swore again, then sighed “I reckon it’s tie here Rose, you follow ht need you to back me up on what you and the boys saw”

In the next instant, he was hauling hiot her own truck started, he was already a quarter ainst the buas pedal and roared after him

So far, so good Ferg poured hiratulatory shot of bourbon and tossed it down in a single s Once those stolen coere discovered on Rimrock property, it would be natural to assume that someone on the Rih to raise the stakes, finding thedown every law agency in the state

Deke Triplehorn, Ferg’s security man, had been a sniper in Viet Nah-powered rifle Today he had orders to gun down McCade froe and circle back to the ranch, where Ferg would provide hi A search would lead to the discovery of the ranger’s body At that distance, there was always the chance that even Triplehorn er But the plan could be shifted to cover that possibility

Ferg’s idea had been to back Bull into a tight corner, then offer his legal assistance on condition that Bull sell him the creek property At the tiood one Call the TSCRA and file a coned, then set up a fake cri to Bull or one of his employees

But the plan wasn’t perfect Tanner McCade was sharp, curious, and unpredictable It remained to be seen whether he could be counted on to be in the right place at the right time