A seeminly random drive-by shooting in Long Beach, CA goes unsolved. Ballistic evidence sets off alarms in Washington, DC nearly a year after the killing. Detective Sam Devereaux is assigned a visiting investigator from the CIA to work the case. He is kept out of the "loop" for reasons of "National Security." Devereaux goes ballistic himself and is finally told the identity of the suspected killer and the chase is on. The hunt reaches from Long Beach to the corridors of the CIA and a chilling climax on a ferry boat during a raging Northwest snowstorm.