A large chemical manufacturer has been poisoning the groundwater of southwestern Virginia with relative impunity for years. Now someone is murdering the environmental activists trying to stop them. When a dedicated young researcher for the Sierra Club turns up dead, his distraught father calls Jack Wells, his closest friend and commanding officer from Afghanistan for help. A former Marine and ex-FBI agent, Wells is now a charter fishing captain, dodging his past by living quietly on Marco Island, Florida. The last thing he wants in his life is more violence, but fearing that his friend's volatile temperament would get him arrested, or more likely killed, Wells goes to Roanoke in his place to investigate the young researcher's death. What he finds in this small, seemingly bucolic city is enough poison and corruption to put a major metropolis to shame: the all-powerful chemical company that doesn't even pay lip service to the law; the militarized but untrained police force with its lethal SWAT team, armored tanks, and crooked chief; a dirty local FBI agent; and a notorious imported contract killer who's wanted to kill Wells for years. Within a few hours of his arrival, the death Wells went to investigate quickly fades into the least of his problems. Powerful people want him dead. And soon, the peaceful valley is awash in blood.