To get his agency off the ground, security expert Devlin Kirk takes a dangerous case. Sabotage threatens the profits of industrial giant McAllister Enterprises. Twice already, accounting errors have forced the company to drop out of $100 million deals, and both times a competing firm, the Aegis Group, swooped in to take over. The CEO suspects industrial espionage, and the obvious suspect is division director Austin Haas, who declined a job offer from Aegis six months ago but may be working for them from the inside. Before firing Haas, the CEO wants to be sure. In this industry, when you want to be sure, you call Devlin Kirk. Kirk, an ex-Secret Service agent, is struggling to establish his new private security agency. He doesn't like McAllister and he doesn't like the case, but debts are mounting against his small firm, and his client list is too short to say no. When Haas is found shot in an apparent suicide, things move from legal to lethal.