Conquistador

They threatened her family. She loaded her shotgun. It's barely 7:00 a.m., and Bayou Meutrier Fish & Game officer Sarah Ripley has already had a rough day. After a pre-dawn raid on a meth shack in the local game preserve, all she wants to do is to go home and flop into bed. But her university dean husband is running late, and their fifteen-year-old son needs a ride to the Lab School on campus. So Ripley takes off her gun belt and puts on her mom cape. Again. Naturally, today’s the day that Louisiana A&M's expensive new campus alert system goes haywire. Is there a gas leak? Toxic Spill? Active shooter? The authorities are stumped, and all Ripley knows is that she’s barely had breakfast, both her son and her husband are caught in a chaotic campus evacuation, and she has no way of contacting either one of them. Unfortunately for Ripley and her family, the chaos isn’t just chaos: it’s cover. A diversion for terrorists who turn out not to be terrorists at all but thieves targeting the priceless traveling art exhibition in the campus gallery. So while every other man, woman, and child is hustling to evacuate the university, Ripley is headed back in—again—with fresh shells in her twelve-gauge and determination on her face.