Reeling from the death of her fiance in Minneapolis, rising executive CASSIE MARSON heads back to her childhood home in the Colorado mountains to take stock of her life. But soon she's entangled in a series of mysterious events and involves rancher JOHN BRIDGES to help fight back...when both must deal with the notorious FRANK BALLINGER, whose explosive plans for progress across northwestern Colorado -- become MORE DEADLY THAN THEY KNOW!

[See Executive Summary below]

SYNOPSIS:

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY- ( TREATMENT by ACTS )

MORE DEADLY THAN THEY KNOW

ACT 1

FADE N: (Present Day) -- A cowboy in an F-150 is cutting across his ranch and meeting his corral boss, TOREZ. They are getting the new stock horses penned just minutes before a thunder storm hits their mountain spread... Inside the truck, a huge German shepherd - almost a wolf - pants, looking out the window, nose on the glass, waiting for its turn... The truck cowboy, who we have only partially seen reflected in the rear view mirror, skids to a stop, jumps out and lets his dog race after a foal lost in the far corner of the meadow... Then he and Torez change rides, and the truck cowboy gallops off into the approaching storm to save the foal...

ON A BLACKTOP HIGHWAY IN THE DAKOTAS... CASSIE MARSON is leaning into a curve, pushing her Mustang near 100 m.p.h., as wind and debris fly past her, the tornado warning on the radio looking more real by the second...

Lost in her own sorrowful storm, Cassie is escaping from the unbearable realities of Minneapolis just days ago, as a random act of violence took her husband-to-be, as he stood in line at a gas station window, waiting to pay... unable to see the man with the ski mask exiting the building, gun in hand...

Nothing made any sense now...not her corporate job...not her corporate friends...not that snow falling onto Matt's face as he lay dying in a parking lot, patches of red soaking his shirt, while puff-ball snowflakes landed gently on the life streaming from his body...

The only thing Cassie could think of was "drive away as fast as you can..."

On the road...the rest of night like pieces of a dream, swirling by her windshield....finding shelter at the DIAMOND BACK DINER...flashbacks to the evening her fiancé is gunned down... Finding a strange Bed and Breakfast in the middle of the Dakota badlands... too much Irish coffee and single malt.. until the storm passes and brings the morning.

Next installment soon...

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at Bshawwriter@gmail.com