Attorney Craig Malcault has survived an assassination plot over his possession of top-secret intelligence. He thought he had rebuilt his life at his new law firm in New York City, with a tycoon's taboo divorce case to pay the bills. But when the provocative, hypnotic lady client refuses to desert her cruel, blood-thirsty husband, Craig knows his enemies are a step ahead in the game.

Business has been lucrative in the code-named territory in Latin America that Craig saved from annihilation a decade ago. A tinder box of mercenaries, a clandestine army, and international spy rings, the territory holds the key to armed combat in global conflict hotspots. It is worth its name, Ara Pacis, Altar of Peace, in gold. No wonder Craig's client hunts for answers with a secret agent whose audacity pits him against the military trades of governments. Craig knows the man to be too high risk for anyone's good.

Then Craig's closest colleague is murdered in a mutiny instigated to protect the classified leadership of Ara Pacis. That leadership's concealed army can be assembled anywhere, at any time. Especially now. Craig returns to Ara Pacis to investigate if the recent killings that have alerted the Department of Defense are a battle for valor and freedom or revenge executions for hire. But he must start there where politics end. His client's naked devotion to the fearless leader of Ara Pacis and her ruthless husband's know-it-all lies about that army’s wars spell hostilities on a plane higher than the law can punish.