The Ghost Rig (Ridge Road)

By V.M. Merrick

Something is stealing cattle...
And leaving no trace.

Not hoofprints.
Not broken fences.
Not even a missing signal.

Because the cattle still show up exactly where they should be.

On paper.

When Madeline Miller returns to her family's ranch, she expects a routine investigation.

What she finds instead...
is a system.

A quiet, invisible operation built on:

cloned RFID tagssignal dead zonestrucks that don't existcattle that are there... until they aren't

This isn't rustling.

It's precision theft.

Modern.
Scalable.
Untouchable.

Until she makes one mistake:

She follows it.

Now she's hunting a network that doesn't leave evidence-
only data.

And the deeper she goes, the clearer it becomes:

This isn't about cattle.

It's about control.

Because someone figured out how to steal without being seen.

And they're not planning to stop.

For readers who like:

grounded, modern Western thrillersprocedural investigations with real stakestech-meets-rural crime (Blake Crouch Longmire tone)quiet tension instead of noise

The Ghost Rig
A Ridge Road Novella

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GYD8448Q
• ISBN13: 9798258603227
• Release Date: April 2026
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 147 Pages
• Weight: 0.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.4" x 6.0"