An unconventional enemy resorts to unconventional tactics. Determined to lure Lt. Col. Clint Donovan and his military intelligence team to their deaths, Number Seven's operatives make a deal with an Apache warrior whose cruelty is legendary even among his own people and whose involvement stirs up the torturous ghosts of Bella Donovan's past. A widowed horse rancher sends Clint timely warning, but even that can't prevent the Apaches from taking a neighbor's sons as bait for an ambush, and Clint's informant finds herself on the wrong end of Number Seven's wrath as a result of her actions. As Clint's choices set the stage for a cavalryman's finest hour and a town's hard lesson in courage, the same question arises time and again: "Is" there such a thing as an innocent bystander? "Book 2 in the Loyal Valley series"