On medical leave from the Army, Mercy heads home to her family ranch after the recent death of her father, having been away for 20 years. It's her responsibility to decide whether to sell the ranch or not, and she gets little help from her sister and nephew. After a dead body is discovered on her land, Mercy butts heads with the sheriff, Mason Dawson. When another body is discovered, Mercy starts her own investigation into the deaths. As she unearths buried secrets, her life—and the lives of family members—are put in jeopardy.

Former Black Ops army sniper Mercy Gunderson isn't adjusting well to the laid-back rhythm of civilian life on her family's ranch in South Dakota. To fill her time, Mercy accepts a temporary bartending gig at a local watering hole. Yet her attempts to settle in back home are tested when Titan Oil, a Canadian company proposing to run an underground pipeline through Eagle River County, sends Jason Hawley, Mercy's former army buddy, to the area to convince ranchers to get behind the project. While local business owners support the pipeline, Hawley's presence riles the landowners, and Mercy is torn. After ugly threats and multiple altercations escalate tensions in the county, Mercy discovers Hawley's brutally mutilated body in the bar parking lot. When it appears Sheriff Dawson cares more about campaigning for reelection than investigating the case, Mercy vows to find Jason Hawley's killer—even if she has to run against Dawson for sheriff to ensure justice is served. But Mercy soon learns her former military pal had plenty of secrets. Her search for the truth brings unwanted exposure to the county's dark side and risks deadly repercussions for the entire community.

Discover heart-racing intrigue in this Thriller Short of romantic suspense. Originally published in LOVE IS MURDER edited by #1 New York Times bestselling author Sandra Brown. In this Thriller Short, award-winning author Lori Armstrong’s protagonist, FBI special agent Mercy Gunderson, is hoping for a quiet date at the local casino. But getting a night off isn’t so easy when you’re trained to spot the unusual, like a thief prowling for wallets and purses. Unable to look away, Gunderson follows the thief outside for what she hopes will be a quick arrest, but it doesn’t turn out to be quite so simple…

Recently returned from training at Quantico, FBI agent Mercy Gunderson stirs up trouble and uses her rarely seen feminine side to seduce her unsuspecting boyfriend, sexy-as-sin Sheriff Mason Dawson. When she revs up her Viper to get his attention while he’s on patrol, tempers and sparks fly—but their rendezvous is interrupted by a disturbing cry for help. The pair rush to the scene, where Mercy discovers that even though she can’t always save the day, she doesn’t have to be silent about it…

Torn between her duties to the FBI and her need to keep her loved ones safe, former black-ops army sniper Mercy Gunderson must unleash the cold, dark, merciless killer inside her and become the predator...rather than the prey. Newly minted agent Mercy Gunderson is back and ready for action—unfortunately, she’s stuck doing paperwork in an overheated government office building. But she gets more than she bargained for when she’s thrown into her first FBI murder case, working with the tribal police on the Eagle River Reservation, where the victim is the teenage niece of the recently elected tribal president. When another gruesome killing occurs during the early stages of the investigation, Mercy and fellow FBI agent Shay Turnbull are at odds about whether the crimes are connected. Due to job confidentiality, Mercy can’t discuss her misgivings about the baffling cases with her boyfriend, Eagle River sheriff Mason Dawson, and the couple’s home on the ranch descends into chaos when Dawson’s eleven-year-old son Lex is sent to live with them. While Mercy struggles to find a balance, hidden political agendas and old family vendettas turn ugly, masking motives and causing a rift among the tribal police, the tribal council, and the FBI. Soon, however, Mercy realizes that the deranged killer is still at large—and is playing a dangerous game with his sights set on Mercy as his next victim.