WL Cox's Books

On his way home, Charles brings Caleb through Denver for a medical check, purchases the late Norman Guffy's Nevada ranches, and prepares his Thoroughbreds for the Belmont Stakes, hoping Wind Fire can win the Triple Crown. He also uncovers a mobster stealing lumber from his new hotel, and learns the local Mayor, City Manager, Sheriff, and Judges are all on the gangster's payroll. A killer is hired to eliminate Charles. Realizing he's been neglecting his other businesses, Charles brings Russ Rivers along as he crisscrosses the country searching for a permanent career for his friend.

Charles is surprised by a visit from Joe Jennings, his ranch caretaker's son, bearing a message from President Grant to come to Washington, though Charles insists on first attending the Preakness, where his horse Wind Fire faces a heavy favorite. Afterward, he and Joe travel to Washington, reunite with old friend Russ Rivers, and are sent to the Dakota badlands to hunt down a murderer stoking war between whites and Indians. The mission turns dire when Charles's horse is shot out from under him, leaving him stranded in wilderness.

This edition is filled with action as Charles pressures Judith into selling the bank, only to find the Irish Mob strong-arming her son Matt to sell it for a fraction of its worth. After Charles throws them out, the mob sets its sights on eliminating his entire family. During preparations for the Kentucky Derby, Charles clashes with a man trying to steal his champion horse Blitz in Cincinnati, then is stunned when a hired assassin, someone he initially misjudges, ends up saving his and Judith's lives. Later, construction in New Orleans turns deadly when a mobster tied to the property attacks Charles, resulting in a shootout that leaves one of the city's top gangsters dead.

Charles's life quiets down over the next few months as he spends the Christmas holiday with family, while Judith heals from her gunshot wound and defies doctors' warnings by refusing to abort her pregnancy, risking her own life for the child. As his businesses mature and new projects begin, Charles turns his attention to his son Clarence, soon graduating Harvard Law School and weighing job offers. One is  from a firm with mob ties. Meanwhile, Charles' prized stallion Wind-Fire matures into a magnificent prospect he can't wait to race, and Charles steps in to help after learning Clarence secretly funded a struggling friend's tuition to save his family from financial ruin.

Determined to see Judge Joseph Gray disbarred, Charles learns from accountant Harrison Tuttleson that Gray was on crime boss Herman Unsler's payroll, leading to convictions and Alcatraz sentences for both Gray and former Attorney General Joe Monroe. But clever Gray escapes custody in a deadly breakout, triggering a nationwide manhunt that Charles joins after learning Gray is headed to Atlanta to kill him. While in Florida, Charles is extorted under threat of losing his workers and buildings, prompting him to call in the U.S. Marshals and Army - only to end up helping to save a platoon and capturing the notorious Carlos Brannigan.

This volume is packed with action as divine intervention warns Charles that a vengeful brother of one of the killed New York gangsters plans to wipe out his entire family, forcing Charles to act before an assassin can be hired. While Judith recovers from her bullet wound, Charles takes the children to England and France to source grapevines for Champagne production, where old friend Colonel Markland arrives to help protect him from two hired killers. Back in America, Charles fires a newly hired store manager in Sacramento, and the man later attacks Charles in Vallejo, only for Ghost to intervene and save him. But a judge frees the attacker and sentences Ghost to 30 days in jail instead, leaving Charles determined to uncover the truth behind the judge's motives.

Storm Warrior's life moves fast as Judith, now free of day-to-day bank duties after naming Matt the VP, joins Charles on a transatlantic trip with newlyweds Ben and Effie. After showing the couple America, tragedy strikes in Philadelphia when Charles discovers Judith has been shot, sending him on a vendetta to New York, where he traces the attack to Johnny McDonald, half-brother of the man Charles  killed for kidnapping his daughter Sun Bird. Now Johnny is out for revenge, determined to destroy Charles's family and seize his empire.

The Storm Warrior saga continues as Charles intervenes in a brutal beating, sparking a turf war with a powerful Philadelphia crime boss. When Judith's bank is attacked in retaliation and assassins target witnesses, Charles takes it upon himself to protect the one witness who could bring the crime boss down, all while racing his horses at Saratoga and worrying how to keep his witness safe once the trial ends. An assassin closes in, Charles’ Indian friends are encountered, and one is seriously wounded. As assassin threatens Charles's family in Atlanta, Charles is pulled in multiple directions: helping an injured Indian friend get medical care in Denver, then rushing to Atlanta to protect his daughter and son-in-law.

In Sacramento, Charles finds construction halted by an Attorney General's injunction, a problem he resolves by appealing directly to the Governor. The Attorney General is enraged enough to take drastic action against him, thwarted by a divine intervention. Charles then heads East for the Preakness Stakes race, where he meets the Prince of Saudi Arabia, eager to race his own champion horse against his, and uncovers a hidden plot to ruin Charles's racing reputation. Colonel Markland then enlists his help tracking down a man plotting a mass killing among Washington's elite. Finally, Charles travels to New Hampshire to avenge two murdered railroad workers, a chase that ends in a deadly confrontation.

Charles and Judith bring Brett and Sun Bird to the Louisville horse races, where Charles's filly Artemis impresses the crowd and angers would-be buyers when he refuses to sell. Minor trouble follows after an attempted robbery of his old friend Vance Clausen. Charles and  Brett hit some trouble on the road trip, but Brett comes away impressed by Charles's ranches and businesses, and proves himself by journey's end. Back at the Fort, Brett remains torn: resign his commission, or ride with Custer and the 7th Cavalry to force the Indians onto a reservation.

While introducing two brothers and their families to his farm, Charles is stunned to run into Colonel Markland in a San Francisco bar, who warns him that an assassin has been hired to kill him, one Grant has ordered Markland to hunt down. As Charles's employees start turning up murdered, he races to the farm and confronts the assassin there. Later, at Sun Bird's graduation, Charles invites her and her husband, Lt. Colonel Brett Haire, to Philadelphia during Brett's furlough, hoping to lure him away from the Army to manage Crawford Foods and Hotels on the East Coast. During the visit, Brett reveals to Charles the real reason he's thinking of leaving the military.

Charles learns from England that thousands of surplus plants and tree starts need a home, so he arranges to collect them for Atlanta while also setting up a brewery, distillery, and barrel factory overseas. Back in America, an alarming telegram sends him to resolve a deadly crisis threatening to derail construction. In Atlanta, frustrated by slow progress, Charles pushes the construction company to hire more workers - or risk him starting his own. He caps things off by racing his top horses against Ghost's at the New Orleans fairgrounds in a close contest that settles who truly has the best horse. His and Ghost's top horses face off at the New Orleans fairgrounds in a tight race that finally settles the question of whose horse is the best.