Spur Award–winning author: The telegraph is about to change the American West—and one rancher must battle those who would sabotage his family’s future . . . The Byrnes family saga continues in this epic novel by Western Heritage and Spur Award-winning Dusty Richards, starting with a trailblazing moment in our nation’s history—and ending in bloodsoaked vengeance . . . In a landmark feat of innovation, with electric cables stretching from the Colorado River to Gallup, New Mexico, a new telegraph system will connect the settlers of the Arizona Territory to rest of the country—a dream come true for rancher Chet Byrnes and his family. But laying four hundred miles of steel wire can be a deadly task. Chet has to face off with hired henchmen who would kill to sabotage the project. Chet’s nephew JD has his hands full with cutthroat rustlers on the Mexican border. And a pair of outlaws from Chet’s past has come seeking revenge for the hangings of the Reynolds clan—revenge that can only be paid with Byrnes family blood . . . “Dusty Richards writes . . . with the flavor of the real West.” —Elmer Kelton