Dan Ricker didn't have a badge. He didn't ask to be a lawman. But he owed his life to Marshall Burke-and when Burke died while taking killer Jack Gorman to jail, Ricker knew he had to take over the job. The trail led through treacherous Comanche territory-where Ricker picked up the added burden of a girl whose father had been murdered by the Indians. Even worse, it had to pass close to the Gorman ranch, where Jack's vicious, vengeance-hungry kin waited in ambush. The Gormans had everything, including geography, in their favor-and it would take wits as well as raw courage to win through. And even when Ricker and his prisoner reached the apparent safety of town, jail, and civilized law, there was one final enemy to face ... and one final showdown.