Lieutenant Alex Delillo is embroiled in the sinister disappearance of an ex-LAPD officer last seen in war-ravaged Iraq. Cathy Salem is desperate for Lieutenant Alex Delillos help. Her husband Jack an ex-LAPD officer now working for a private security firm has officially been listed as missing after he failed to return home from an eleven-month placement in Iraq. Cathy knows that he is in hiding in the States but it is all too apparent that he is too scared to come home. Her only clue to his whereabouts is a package sent by him to her posted in Trona in Death Valley with a letter inside it addressed to Alex. Alex met him once years ago and have never spoken since. Alex nevertheless agrees to look into Jacks disappearance. It is only when Cathy herself vanishes and Alex is nearly run off the road whilst following a lead as to Jacks whereabouts that she realises that this goes far beyond a simple missing persons case.