He picked up their trail with ease, the weight of the two men causing the horse"s hooves to sink deep in the compacted ground. Leaning across his saddle, he walked slowly on, pausing every few moments to drink from his canteen. The sun beat down with a greater intensity than it had since he arrived in this blighted land, all those hundreds of years ago. He wondered if his office back in Chicago had the slightest notion what this assignment had cost and the more he dwelt on the idea, the more he considered changing his personal direction. He"d fought long and hard these past twenty or so years, and he doubted if a single year had gone by without him killing someone. It was not the life he wanted, nor wished to continue. One last effort, one last moment of killing. Then it must stop. All of
