Special Agent John Tall Wolf of the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) describes his job like this: "I work at the intersection of Native American and mainstream cultures. If there's a four-car pile-up, I try to sort things out."
The metaphor is particularly apt on the August morning in New Orleans when all the traffic lights turn green at the same time causing citywide gridlock and providing the perfect cover for a gang of eight men on motorcycles to rob the Thibodeaux State Bank. Normally, the FBI would have sole responsibility to investigate.
This time, though, John is called in because the robbers were decked out as Native Americans, a 21st century take on a war party. John raises the idea that the warpaint and feathers might be misdirection. Then a group calling itself Red Nation Rising claims credit for the robbery.
That name might be double entendre. Washington suspects that China might be at work in the shadows, testing cyberwarfare against the United States. John Tall Wolf and his FBI counterpart, Deputy Director Byron DeWitt, have to come up with answers, bag the crooks and make it fast.