Mark Beamon has always been an unconventional FBI agent. Years of putting the truth ahead of political expediency have resulted in a dead-end job in the Phoenix office. But a new terrorist threat brings him back from the wilderness. A videotape proves that a terrorist cell in the United States has access to modern missile technology. The FBI suspects there is a connection between the Mob and the fanatics, and sends Beamon undercover with a fellow agent. When the other agent is brutally murdered, Beamon's attempts to trace the man who fingered them lead him into an international criminal conspiracy that may have roots in the American government. As events plunge him into a river of deceit, he is forced to address the most important question of his life. What makes a crime a crime?