There has been an attack on a U.S. Supreme Court juror; the assailant has escaped. The investigation that begins reveals that the crime is connected to recent high-profile scandals in the upper echelons of power and to illegal financing of secret intelligence operations. Young lawyers Brad Miller from Washington and Monte Pike from Portland, along with detective Daphne Haggard from Balmoral, are forced to take risks and show rare integrity as they engage in an intellectual battle with corrupt colleagues and intelligence agents.