T
HE TRADING POST WAS at a wide spot on the wagon road winding down the west side of the mountains separating the Pecos River from the Rio Grande. Surrounded by trees, it was frequented by ranchers, Indians, miners, and travelers passing along that route through southern New Mexico. The owners, a middle-aged couple, had a reputation for being honest, charging fair prices for merchandise, and most importantly treating everyone the same. That reputation made the gruesome sight that greeted Deputy United States Marshal Ben Carter all the worse. The bodies of a man, woman and two children were grouped about the entrance to the trading post. By dress and appearance, Carter figured they were local, from the Mescalero Apache reservation, and it seemed as though the man had died trying to shield his family. They had all been shot several times. Inside, if possible, it was worse. He encountered a cloud of black flies as he entered. The husband was tied to a post supporting the roof. Undoubtedly, he had been made to watch his wife be repeatedly raped and then murdered. Her naked body was spread over a counter.
She had been stabbed multiple times and her throat was slashed. There was blood everywhere. The man had been shot at close range, the black residue of gunpowder evident on his clothing. His throat had also been slashed. Ben Carter had seen war and a multitude of murders, but nothing like this. He cut the man loose and laid him out on the floor. Grabbing blankets from a shelf, he covered the woman then the man. He felt sick as he made his way out of the trading post and covered the family outside. There was nothing more he could do but pursue the monsters who had done this. They had to pay. — THERE WERE FOUR OF them and they rode as men without a care. He caught up to them late in the afternoon the next day. An unusually cool wind was blowing when he spotted their camp at the entrance to a rocky canyon where the desert met the mountains. Glad to have a heavy leather jacket, he ground tied his bay gelding upwind and made his way
