Author Description

Jed Coal and John Noland were deserters from Quantrill’s Raiders before the end of the Civil War. As they flee south from Bloody Kansas, everybody — from Confederate supporters to the Union Army and the United States Marshal’s Office — gave chase. Jesse and Frank James are among their compatriots, as were the Younger brothers. Jodi Goodnight, the niece of a famous Texas rancher, finds herself on the wrong side of the law almost by accident. Had the man she pistol-whipped not been a sheriff; she would still be back in Waco, Texas. Fireworks ignite when she and Jed meet, and she is drawn to the quiet and tormented man, but he hardly gives her the time of day.Jed Coal was a sniper for Capt. William Quantrill. His rifle skills drew the captain’s attention and he immediately enlisted him into the Black Flag regiment, along with Frank James and the Younger brothers. No one asked him if he wanted to join. As a Confederate soldier, he went where ordered.John Noland — Coal’s spotter — was an enslaved person loaned to Capt. Quantrill by his owner, Mr. Francis Asbury Noland because of his unmatched scouting and hunting skills. The feared and murderous Quantrill considers him irreplaceable and never to travels without him. The captain matches him with Cpl. Coal as a sniper team for the duration of the war on the Kansas and Missouri border.Sparks fly, calling demons from the depths of hell as the ugliness of the Civil War draws to a close. Worlds collide and the heavens align as the two men flee in search of freedom. They turn to crime with little choice of their own — perhaps just because they can. They know they have no future, so they live every minute of every day. A chance meeting with Goodnight adds a new dimension to the partnership. With each passing hour, three outcasts — one white, one black and one female — step from one hell into another. They realize the path they choose may lead to their own demise, but they want to die with their boots on and guns blazing.