Saunders heard a distant reverberation, let his mouth curve into a grim smile and pushed the plunger.

The sound was deafening. The opening of the mine filled with a dense smoke and seemed to be supported by it. The first cloud emerged as a lethargic billow. Then came the roar of crashing timber and splitting rock as the original murky halo was propelled outward like a smoke ring from a medieval dragon. The entire face of the mountain seemed to hang in suspension and then slowly began to sag like a snow-covered telephone line strung between two rotting poles ...

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Something's happening! Cattle prices are rising. There's been a murder in Tortilla Flat, Arizona and one in Dallas, Texas that are somehow connected.

Kevin Stewart's quest to find out what happened to his uncle takes him deep into an abandoned gold mine in the rugged Superstition Mountains of Arizona and then to a remote area of Idaho.

Sure, as a member of the U. S. Special Forces, he's well trained. And his girl friend, Laurie Beth McCarthy, is more than a match for him. But what they face is overpowering. No mere mortal can withstand what's coming at them. As they come to see more clearly just what they're up against, they realize they are fighting for their very lives. Not long after, they begin wondering if they even have a chance.