Desert Protocol

They call it "Antioquia"—the lost fortune of the Medellin Cartel, buried deep in the Texas dirt. A billion dollars in emeralds and cash that was supposed to stay lost forever.

Jonathan Hunt moved to the High Lonesome ranch of West Texas to let his ghosts rest. An ex-CIA operative, he spends his days dodging memories of the Sandbox and keeping a low profile. But when he intervenes to save a local kid named Silas Blackwater from a professional hit squad, Hunt stumbles onto a conspiracy that makes his old life look simple.

The killers aren't cartel thugs. They work for StrataTerra, a geological survey company run by Roman Vargo, a tech-mogul-turned-warlord with a god complex. On the surface, Vargo is drilling for oil. In reality, he’s using seismic data to hunt for the "Antioquia" stash.

Vargo has a private army, thermal drones, and a ruthless fixer known only as The Scarecrow. Hunt has a compound bow, a 1990s Ford Taurus, and a very short temper. Vargo thinks he’s digging for treasure. He’s about to find out that in Hunt’s desert, the only thing you dig is a grave.