Snow Sign at Split River

Winter buries secrets.

But not all of them stay buried.

When Zebedee Titus finds five government surveyors dead in the snow near Split River, the scene looks like tribal retaliation. Moccasin tracks circle the bodies. Stakes marking a future railroad line stand broken in the drift.

But Zeb reads sign the way other men read books — and the tracks tell a different story.

The killings were staged.

If word reaches Fort Bridger unchecked, soldiers will ride west, tribes will answer, and war will ignite across the range.

Zeb has no love for surveyors or railroads, but he knows manufactured bloodshed when he sees it. With Captain Halstead at his side, he tracks the riflemen responsible — freight brokers willing to spark violence in order to profit from the chaos that follows.

In a land where winter holds the line and survival depends on clear judgment, Zebedee Titus must stop a war before it begins.

Because once the first shot echoes through the mountains, there's no calling it back.