The Protector is a deceptively simple tale of JD Williams and the summer he turns fourteen. It is a roller-coaster ride of action, suspense, emotion, love, and family values that will make you cheer, cry, hold your breath, and feel the chill of death's icy fingers. Each page will pull you in. You will feel as if you are right there in the middle of every heart-stopping turn. JD's story will come to life right before your very eyes. You won't be able to put it down. It is set in present-day rural Colorado on a ten-thousand-acre cattle ranch that has been in the family for four generations. Filled with history, change, beauty, and love of family along with the love of the land, it could not be more perfect for the summer at hand. *** It is a summer of firsts for JD. His first kiss. His first time as a real ranch hand. His first time competing against his own father in a rodeo, and it will be the first time JD will face death square in the face-as a bloodthirsty enemy returns to exact his revenge on the men who work this land. JD is growing up fast. Nevertheless, will it be fast enough to face this enemy and protect those he loves most? JD's close family ties will help shape the young man he is to become, but they also elicit many mixed emotions. With the help of Red Eagle, a Native American and close family friend, JD learns how important nature is and that nature speaks to us in many ways if we just look and listen. However, the relationship between father and son is the most troubling and the most touching. JD's father has no idea how high on a pedestal his son has placed him. John is a loving father but also a proud man, and he is not quite ready for his son to grow up. He is having a real problem with the lack of father-and-son time that he is accustomed. To top it all off, now his son is preparing to compete against him. Yet in the back of his mind, he knows the day will come when his son will replace him, just as he had replaced his father.