February, 1861, violence increases on settlements along the Kansas-Missouri border when Kansas is admitted to the Union as a free state. Alexandra Stratford's family are the victims of one such raid. She knows that it isn't the work of Missouri bushwhackers but of that of a much more sinister source, and she searches for a mercenary to help her avenge her family. She is led to Logan Drake. He isn't interested in helping her until he hears who it is she is going after. Too late, she realizes that