The Gauntlet

Phoenix police detective Ben Shockley, an alcoholic, is cautioned by his longtime partner Maynard Josephson, his only real friend on the force, that he should clean up his act as a new police commissioner has been appointed, former D.A. Blakelock. So Shockley is a bit surprised that in his first meeting with Blakelock, he is given, while not a plum one, an assignment with the perks of travel: to escort a proverbial nothing witness, convict Gus Mally, from prison in Las Vegas to remand in Phoenix to testify in a nothing trial. Shockley is surprised to discover upon his arrival at the Las Vegas prison that Gus is really Augustina, a prostitute. She does whatever she can not to go with him as word on the street is that "they" will do anything to kill her. While he is skeptical about her many claims about the threats against her, he, as they begin their trek back to Phoenix, begins to believe that those threats are real as attempt after attempt is made on their lives, and that a horse named "Mally No Show" with quickly increasing long odds handled by the Vegas bookies is really her and by association him making it to Phoenix alive. While she is more astute to what is going on, he is a little less so in not wanting to face reality. As such, he ends up doing whatever it takes to make it back to Phoenix alive against those odds just to prove "them" wrong.