Although he has now chosen to only work part-time for the Department of State, counter-terrorist operative Bruce McGowan continues to debate himself whether it is time to abandon the action life he has lived for over thirty years and finally settle down with his new bride, the beautiful Adrianna Wolf, or continue in his quest to protect Americas people. But suddenly an early morning phone call from his preceptor boss, Lionel Byrd, summons him for what could be one final, but very significant mission. This time it will be different. This time he will go solo on the job without partnering with his Zulu teammates.

The most powerful figure in the world needs Americas best operative to investigate the thirty year old massacre of a Montagnard (Degar) village by an American infantry unit during the Vietnam War. Chosen for the mission not only for his investigative and special ops skills, McGowan is historically familiar with the ethnic group, having lived with the Degars in the early 1970s while training their soldiers. With a Vietnamese counter-part named Thanh, McGowan travels into the Central Highlands of Vietnam to seek out the only survivor of the village massacre to secure the statement that would bring down the former American commander, who is not only a man of prominence and wealth, but someone of personal interest to the White House.

What follows is a whirlwind that tragically catches up the very people closest to McGowan, setting him off on a path of fury and vengeance unequalled to anything the reader has seen to this point in the anterior novels, Wolf Laurel and Provocation.