Philip Shelby s electrifying bestseller "Days of Drums" was praised as "taut and exciting" "(Los Angeles Times)." Now this master of Washington thriller pits a maverick military officer against the ultimate nemesis: an unrelenting assassin who is the mastermind behind a far-reaching government conspiracy. In a tense stakeout at an Army warehouse， Warrant Officer Rachel Collins breaks all the rules by going on her own -- and in a flash from her Sig-Sauer， takes down a barricaded arms dealer. But the man s dying words -- "Found out about North， didn t ya?" -- are a shocking tip-off to the truth about General Griffin North， an African-American icon whose ambitions toward the vice-presidency died with him in a fatal accident. Now seeing North s death in a new light， Rachel digs up deadly truths within the darkest corners of authority. Taking on a covert probe that has already claimed the life of a top agent inside the Criminal Investigation Division， Rachel cracks an ironclad chain of government cover-ups. And the essential link is the Engineer: a killer of cold precision who could silence Rachel forever -- but insted lures her with top-secret disclosures， into an explosive confrontation that will strike at the highest ranks of leadership.