In California, the Southern Pacific Railway was prying the West wide open, and the land was worth its weight in gold. While some men got in on the action, and some got out of the way, one group of settlers was making a stand - and holding up the railway. Turning to Alan Pinkerton's Chicago detective agency, the railroad robber barons hired the perfect agent to penetrate the settler's organisation, a man who had learned a spy's trade in the Civil War. Tall and debonair, Ash Tallman can fight when he has to, lie when he needs to, and make love when he wants the right kind of woman on his side. But as Tallman enters the lush San Joaquin Valley, he finds a fight with no clear battle lines, no sure enemies, and only one way out - by hunting the killers who are hunting him...