Behind the well-known U.S. security organizations-the FBI and CIA among them-lies a heavily guarded, anonymous government agency dedicated to intelligence surveillance and to a highly specialized brand of citizen protection. Crafting a chilling mind puzzle, Jeffery Deaver lifts the curtain of a clandestine intelligence agency, pitting two opponents in a high-stakes volley of brilliant wits and calculated risks with deadly consequences. Henry Loving is a lifter, hired to get information by any means-including torture. His expertise is in getting an 'edge' by kidnapping or threatening someone close to his principal, exerting pressure until they cave. When Washington, D.C., police detective Ryan Kessler inexplicably becomes Loving's target, the job of keeping Kessler's family alive falls to a senior federal protection officer named Corte, who lost a friend to Loving's ruthless machinations six years earlier. As Corte and his team race to counter Loving, the lifter moves in on his prey-and Corte must choose between protecting his charges and exposing them to a killer in the name of long-awaited revenge.