Jim and Linda Spaulding disappeared more than three years ago. The Spaulding ranch is vacant after their sudden departure and no one sees or hears of them until Lanie Spaulding, their young daughter, crosses paths with Joe Dokes. It is shortly before sunrise when Joe rides along the base of Zuni Ridge, and Lanie, now nine years old, stands in the trail in front of him. She tells Joe a story of how she lived with the old people in the hills for the last three years, learning how to read and write, and discovering some of their secrets. Joe rides Lanie into town on his horse and discovers her life is in danger from the same people responsible for her parents’ disappearance, and Joe’s life turns upside down as he enlists a few friends to help protect her from unknown enemies. Paul Duey grew up in South Florida where he was born. Part of his childhood was spent in the piney woods of Dade County, surrounded by truck farms and citrus groves, where he explored the woods and took long bicycle rides on country lanes. Although he lived with his family in a number of different homes in the Miami area, one of his most memorable years was when the family lived in a WWII barracks tent in the Redlands, near Homestead. He saw life change from the days of ice men making home deliveries, no electricity, and no running water, into modern automation. Paul listened to family stories of his great-grandmother, who came from the Oklahoma-Texas panhandle area to St. Augustine, Florida, in a horse-drawn wagon in the 1870s. In Paul's broad range of experience he has been a preacher, a carpenter, an airplane pilot, an air traffic control specialist, and an artist. Disclaimer: Joe Dokes is an historically generic name similar to John Doe. As such, Joe Dokes has been used for countless years in many other places; stories, movies, TV shows, etc. The character Joe Dokes in this novel is not associated with works of others who may have used the same name. Joe Dokes used by any other author is a different character. The appeal of the name is that it is generic.