Lafe Gunnison had passed the word to the homesteaders – quit stealing cattle or take the consequences! Up in the Mesquites, the nesters reacted the only way they knew: they told Gunnison he was a liar and if he showed up in their neck of the woods he’d wind up with a tombstone over his head. It was trouble – big trouble – all it needed was one small spark to start a war to the death. Only one man could stop it. One man – backed by his courage and the guns he wore. A man with a past, scouring the West for two killers – a man called – Sudden.

The Cullanes owned San Jaime - body and soul. They always had. In San Jaime what the Cullanes said was law, and God help the man who crossed them. So when the capable-looking drifter rode into town and tossed the rulebook out of the window, most of the townspeople ran for cover. But this time Cullane men died and San Jaime was no longer in bondage. How long this freedom would last was another question - for up in the mountains Old Man Cullane bellowed his order at his cutthroat crew: "Bring him in ... Bring me Sudden - dead or alive!"

There was a reward of five thousand dollars for the man who could bring Barbara Davis out of Apacheria alive. Every outlaw, gunman, and scalphunter in the south-west had drifted in to Tucson, then out into Apache country, lured by the dream of easy gold. The Apaches killed some of them slowly and horribly; but still they came. Governor Bleke knew unless the girl was brought out soon, he would have a full-scale Indian war on his hands. He sent for the one man who might be able to do it. A tall, slow-drawling man who wore his six-guns tied low and looked as if he knew how to use them. A Texas outlaw on the run: SUDDEN!

The Cotton boys owned the town. Nothing moved in or out without their say-so. Drifters weren't encouraged. Move on, they were told. There's a lot of lead in the air. All except one moved on. He was a dark-haired stranger who gave the name Green, and asked about two men he was looking for. When the Cottons tried to gun down an unarmed kid, he took a hand. The Cotton boys decided to make an example of him to the rest of the town. They didn't know what they were taking on, but they found out - SUDDEN.

"Stay off the Slash 8 range - or stay on it - permanent!"
When Jim Green signed on as foreman of the Slash 8, the smell of range war was already in the air. Then the Slash 8's owner was bushwacked, and with its back to the wall, Green's fighting crew made its declaration; Stay off the Slash 8 range - or stay on it - permanent! Green knew that when a showdown came it would come with blazing guns. He was ready for that. What his embattled riders didn't know was that down in Texas he was known by another name - Sudden.