Texas Rangers Andy Pickard and Farley Brackett are assigned to an understaffed Ranger company along the Nueces Strip, a bit of desert fought over by Mexican rancher Guadalupe Chavez and Texas land baron Jericho Jackson, and they quickly realize that keeping these enemies apart will be a deadly job. Andy and Farley try desperately to stop the killings but are hampered by a commander who'd rather just let both sides kill each other off. As ambushes and gun battles leave lead-perforated vacqueros and cowboys all over the desert, the Rangers determine that there's more to the feud than family loyalty, racism, and old insults. Some descriptions of violence. 2004. (Texas Ranger series ; 6)