On the same evening that a body is found in Picketsville’s urgent care clinic, a mysterious break-in occurs at the house of one of Callend University’s faculty. Sheriff Ike Schwartz thinks both events might be connected to an icon, The Virgin of Tenderness, in the faculty member’s possession. Is the victim somehow connected to the university? And why did he enter the country under an assumed name?

Then, what appears to be outdated spycraft-a microdot-is found on the icon. In an era of sophisticated cyber-encrypted information trans-fer, the presence of this bit of CIA nostalgia brings in Charlie Garland and the forces from Langley.

Ike has no wish to engage with them or their problems. He has killers to apprehend and sets out to do his job-in spite of the meddling by government agencies. But there is more to this spycraft than meets the eye. A dead CIA agent and a rogue handler all result in a potential international incident…