Chapter 1
Rhys Davis reined in the stocky bay gelding at the crest of the ridge. To his watchful gaze, the valley below yawned black and threatening. He heard the muffled sounds as Liam Malone checked his horse just to Rhys’ left. After that, he couldn’t hear a thing—silence, a profound and unusual silence. Not quite total, though, for, after a moment, he could hear the horses breathing and a whispery sigh of the fitful breeze, but not the usual small noises of the night, no coyotes or night birds. Too quiet, unnaturally quiet.
He tugged the night vision goggles free of his jacket and settled them over his eyes. As the wind slipped in through the opening he made at his neck, he shivered. The late-November night’s stillness seemed to add to the chill. They might be far south, but they wer
