Bienvenindos a la Desperado, Tejas! Or so reads the rotting wooden sign on the land fringing the little Texan town of Desperado. Formed by a friar as a refuge settlement for both American and Tejano (hispanics opposed to Mexican government) families, it waited hand and foot upon the body of Christ, never turning any of the sick, dying, or desperate out of its rickety wooden gates. Advocating simple, submissive, and anonymous obedience to the doctrines taught by the Christian faith- the shining light in a world darkened by the sinister powers of Santa Ana's army.
When outlaws began to hear of the hospitable countrylife conducted in this caring way, however, they began to feign ferocious disease, limping into the town doors in their deceitful disguise. For weeks, the consumed the beds of those wasting into oblivion, coughing, sputtering, and shaking in fevered trembles, simply to awaken one day with complete "healing". Then much rejoicing would break out among the people for the miraculous revival of health. The sick one would go to the church and drop to his knees, but seldom was the either fear or thankfulness to God in his heart.
But he still feared the world. Upon asking a minister, he would remain in the town to "help". At length, mysterious thefts, deaths, and disappearances occurred. The town of Desperado had eaten the poisonous apple of sin.
Now, nearly 200 years later, it is a wasteland of atrophed morals, a dilapidated citadel, its gates now firmly closed against the truth. Criminals roam the roads, undaunted and nearly always unchecked by the police, who have their hands so full they are helpless. Danger lurks around every corner. No one is safe.
This is the home of Connor Adams, a 17-year-old student whose family scraps by through his dad's auto tinkerings, his mom's gas station job and singing gig at the local bar, and his job of washing vehicles at a used car shop. The book opens as he's bouncing down a wide, unpaved street veining through the residential area of the town, counting the old houses as he passes. He pulls into one and his secret girlfriend Amelia Williams hops into the passenger seat. As they drive, he meets one of his friends, and, on Amelia's prompting, they begin to race. Unfortunately for them, tucked into the shadows is the car of Sheriff Blunt, the head of the Desperado police force. She snags them on her radar, and, with lights whirling in the dark atmosphere, gives chase. Connor's friend quickly darts into an alleyway, but him and Amelia are forced to the side of the road, where he tries to shove her into the driver's seat, saying he doesn't have his license. Walking to the window, the Sheriff demands to see it, and when she finds he has nothing to give her, makes a thorough inspection of the car. Upon her return, she asks Connor if this is his automobile, and when he replies in the positive, handcuffs both of them on the charges of illegal driving and car robbery.
However, while sleeping behind the bars of confinement, he sees a conglomeration of shades shaped like wicked beasts crowding around the city and speaking of its demise. His eyes are opened, and a shaft of Light streams in upon the deeds practiced by him and his friends. A voice from above tells him that he is chosen to bring Desperado to her knees...but he only has five days to do it before the staying hand of God loosens the demons, and all that he's ever known is utterly destroyed.
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