Despite using all means at her disposal to find out what happened to Robby, Vail is thwarted—until her colleague, Detective Paul Bledsoe, hooks her up with Hector DeSantos, a covert Defense Department operative who has a knack for finding di0cult to locate information. But DeSantos is an unwilling partner, and other than o1ering superficial cooperation to pay back the debt he owes Bledsoe, he is reluctant to work his valuable informants for what he views as Vail’s personal crusade to find her lover.

That is, until Vail pries loose long-buried secrets, lies, and deceptions on the part of her own task force members. It’s information that even DeSantos can’t ignore, a discovery of great magnitude that reveals larger forces at play—forces that propel Vail and DeSantos into a frantic search that takes them from the wineries of Napa Valley to the monuments of Washington, D.C., the wealthy beach enclaves of San Diego, and the bright excesses of Las Vegas.