When a U.S. Coast Guard Cutter disappears in a ball of flame off the Texas coast and a Russian oil tanker explodes and sinks in the Houston Ship Channel, the price of oil skyrockets and the world teeters on the brink of financial collapse. The CIA station in Mexico City links the attacks to a sinister alliance between the Mexican drug cartels and the Russians, but Washington refuses to listen. Texas Governor Creed Tucker suspects a link between the attacks in the Gulf of Mexico and his own controversial decision to legalize marijuana and get Texas out of the War on Drugs. With the federal government threatening sanctions against the state of Texas, the governor calls upon legendary ex-CIA operative Mako Sloane to discover the truth behind the conspiracy. Together with his team of operatives, Mako uncovers a twisted web of international intrigue that leaves a trail of murder from the Washington suburbs to the hinterlands of Mexico.