by Dennis T. Payne (Author)
When head of security, Joe Tom Kilgore, finds his mentor and boss, the Texas attorney general, shot to death, his search for the elusive killer forces him to relive his own troubled and bloody past. Kilgore has struggled to leave his memories as a soldier in Viet Nam and as a sheriff in rural West Texas behind-along with his life as a stone cold killer. Within seven days of his boss's death, Kilgore and his buddy, a cop that doesn't always play by the rules, find that two other victims have been brutally murdered-an employee of the attorney general and a young prostitute. In a harrowing race against time-across the desolate plains of Texas to the perilous Mexican border-on the heels of a killer, Kilgore is up against forces more evil than any he has faced in the line of fire. Knowing he is walking into a madman's trap of almost certain death, Kilgore must call upon a few loyal-and often disreputable-friends, to help him find the killer and survive to see another Texas sunset.
Author Biography
Brief Autobiography of Dennis Tilden Payne Born: July 27, 1945 Dennis Payne earned a BA and am MA in Communication Studies in New Mexico but spent most of his career in Texas state government in Austin. Working first for Texas political legend, Bob Bullock, state Comptroller and later Lieutenant Governor. It was his larger than life persona that formed his vision of Robert Bailey, the murdered AG in his first novel. The rest of his time in Texas government was spent with the state's juvenile corrections agency. He retired in 2003 and returned teaching at Texas State University while continuing work on his second novel as well as a collection of short stories.