From the bestselling masters of the Old West comes the first in a blazing new series about a young deputy sheriff's coming of age—and trial by gunfire—in a small Texas town. This is the blistering saga of a hero in training, from first blood to final showdown . . .

Flint Moran was fourteen years old when the Civil War ended. He was fifteen when his family bought a plot of land near Tinhorn, Texas. He was barely nineteen when he caught a pair of rustlers stealing cattle—and singlehandedly brought them to justice. How did a teenaged boy track down and capture two hardcase thieves without any help? That's what Tinhorn sheriff Buck Jackson wants to know. He can't help but be impressed by Flint's sharp eye and natural talent with a Henry rifle. So he offers to deputize the boy—tin badge, Colt Frontier Six-Shooter, and all—and Flint happily accepts. But there are things the young deputy doesn't know. And what he doesn't know could kill him . . .

There's a gunman coming to town. A showdown is brewing that could prove to be Flint's first—and possibly last—test. But either way, there will be blood . . .