Laynie, Tobin, and Jaz narrowly escape the hit squad sent by the Ukrainian mob-the third attempt to kill members of Director Wolfe’s staff. Whatever the task force does and wherever its people go, the enemy is right there, always one step ahead.

Wolfe admits that his organization has been compromised-that a mole within his staff is feeding information to the Chechen separatist group All Glorious for Allah. Before their enemy can strike again, Wolfe orders the task force members to immediately abandon their homes and the team’s headquarters for safer grounds.

The task force, with Laynie leading it, has just reestablished itself within the protective walls of Broadsword when Wolfe receives a coded letter from Cossack, his deep-cover asset in Chechnya. In the letter, Cossack reveals that he has knowledge of a large and significant terror attack scheduled for New Year’s Eve. He also alludes to the leak in Wolfe’s organization and his fear that passing details of the attack through normal channels will blow his precarious cover.

Cossack insists on passing intel on the impending attack to the one person he feels he can trust, the operative who foiled the assassination attempt on Vassili Aleksandrovich Petroff, Russian envoy to the UN.

Cossack’s demand sends Laynie halfway around the world to a covert meeting in the city of Tbilisi, Georgia. It sends her to her death.

The fourth volume in the Laynie Portland series is so harrowing, you’ll need to step away and restart your heart.