With his new wife, Deputy Sheriff Sarah Cathcart, and their baby daughter, Tommy Smith is building a home and a new life, opening his own pack outfit in the high country of his youth. The former Army sniper from the Forever Wars is discovering the joys of a young family, while packing supplies for the Forest Service and gearing up for another season guiding groups on horseback into the Sierra wilderness at the head of a string of mules. When a young girl is reported lost in the canyon above their home, Tommy leads the search, but instead of the missing child, he discovers a corpse that may hold the key to a long-unsolved local bank theft and a fortune in stolen cash. The FBI is called in. Though Tommy tries not to get involved, the promise of easy money has lured unsavory characters from the hard streets of Reno, and speculation about the missing cash is undermining the social fabric of their little town. Facing threats to his family and the way of life he is fighting to preserve, Tommy must call on his investigative skills to uncover the connection between the missing girl and the long-dead body--a link that will inevitably lead to an explosive showdown deep in the Sierra wilderness. -- from book jacket.