This is a problem as they near Pancho’s, a watering hole the team often frequents  Snoop has sniffed right to a truckbed’s cooler; before Sam can call him off, the truck’s owner comes out of Pancho’s with guns blazing. When the truck owner is shot, they learn the team has just confronted, and killed, the number two man on the FBI’s most wanted list. 

Sam realizes that the man was connected with a notorious Mexican drug lord who has been looking for a way to get to her Border Patrol lover Mitch.  Things get complicated when Mitch must go to help his ex-wife with their daughter and Sam’s ex-husband Charlie shows up, fifteen-thousand dollars in debt with loan sharks hot on his trail.  Sam assumes an attack on her and Charlie is related to his overdue loan until she is kidnapped and finds herself a guest of Mendoza in Mexico as he tries to flush out Mitch.   

Sam is smart and sassy and a bit of a contradiction as she is a self-proclaimed girlie-girl, yet roughs it in the desert with the rest of her team.  She still marvels at her current profession, and takes it seriously, to a point, taking responsibility for the team under her command.  Sam and Mitch have a very good relationship; neither is concerned that the other is spending time with their respective ex’s.  Sam’s team is a group of unique, quirky individuals that together make a cohesive team that works well together. 

Sam is learning to work within the rules and regulations of the Air Force, bringing her own special flair and style. The plot is well laid out and paced; while there is not much of a puzzle to figure out, readers will be pulling for Samantha waiting for her white knight to show up and rescue her, something the girlie-girl in her likes, though the USAF Lieutenant doesn’t necessarily need.

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry