Seeker's Revenge

An area of the west was known as The Bend of the Rimrock. The battles had already been fought that created one of the most prosperous areas in all of the Territory of Colorado. This area was nestled in the Wandering River Valley. It was bounded on the west by the desert, on the north by the rimrock that divided the highlands of the mountains and surrounding high lands from the fertile plains that stretched away toward the south and east. The driving force behind the progressive nature of the Bend of the Rimrock country was the vision of Easy Seeker. When he had come to this land a couple of years earlier, he had saved a young Englishman from death at the hands of a rough crew of gun slicks who worked for a land-grabbing tyrant who recognized no law but the law of force. Since he was the force in the area, he was also the law. Rodney Hampton, the young Englishman, had been looking for a place for his father to invest in a large ranch. The land hog would tolerate no others in the thousands of square miles of the Bend of the Rimrock. Easy Seeker happened into the saloon as the gun-hawks of the tyrant, Burly Dobbins, were slapping the English kid around, toying with him preparatory to killing him. When Easy first killed the leader of the group, and a few minutes later backed Burly Dobbins down, he won the everlasting friendship and respect of Rodney's father, Lord Hampton. In gratitude, Lord Hampton offered to bankroll the establishment of a huge ranching empire, with the control resting with a board of directors consisting of himself; his son, Rodney; Easy Seeker and his wife, Earlene; and his father in law, Brad Rogers, Earlene's father. Those five people each had a vote of equal strength in the operations of the ranch, which was set up as the Rimrock Land and Cattle Company with the five board members its only owners. Before beginning this operation, Easy drew up a plan which included setting aside a vast stretch of the land to be divided into equal plats, all of a size to be successful economic units. He also had plans for a bank to finance the small ranchers who drew lots for the ranches thus created. The bank, the Rimrock Bank and Trust, had a built in clientele in the form of the small ranchers. The small ranchers were able to prosper because of the ability to properly stock their ranches. It was in the contracts that each of the ranches would be fenced, with roads between each row of ranches. Each was to have good water wells. The work provided by cutting posts for fences, digging wells, building houses, barns and corrals, along with clearing the roads provided cash money for the small ranchers while their herds grew and the merchants prospered. This prosperous region and time is where this story begins. The prosperity of the region did not go unnoticed. Forces were set into motion to wrest this entire region from the hands of the people who had created it. Intrigue and cunning, combined with avarice, greed and the mind-set to take bold and ruthless actions while operating from the shadows of the night, set the scene where every citizen of the Bend of the Rimrock was fair game for some unknown killer, thief and raider who was as skilled as a general in fighting with every weapon at hand, including bribery. The primary target of the unknown forces arrayed against the area was Easy Seeker and his Seeker's Valley ranch. Easy was the primary force in the building of the region, and he has to become the primary force in defending it. Despite the apparent hopelessness of the situation, romance blooms and circumstances give rise to erotic situations. In a series of move and counter move that would do credit to a game of chess between masters, this story moves through its plausible plot to a thrilling end.