It stood to be the biggest oil well in the territory ... provided wildcatter Bud Bishop could bring it in before his lease ran out. But the Irishman wanted to make sure he didn't. Then he figured to move in, take ownership and keep all the spoils of Bishop's hard labor for himself. So Bishop's backers hired freelance fighting man Carter O'Brien to keep Hugh Quillan's bullyboys off his back long enough to get the job done. But the closer it came to the deadline, the harder Quillan started to play. Finally, with the odds stacked against him and the threat of a full-scale war about to bust wide open, O'Brien-himself still healing from a previous assignment-did the only thing he could. He made sure his guns were loaded, and then set about fighting back.