Nick McCarty decides after ten years of black ops assassinations it's time for a change. Against the wishes of his shadow government bosses he has inexplicably managed to become a best-selling author with a string of novels about an assassin named Diego. The novels have made him world famous and provided a cover for his overseas sanctions. But Nick feels something's missing. An employer Nick sometimes takes sanctions from, when they coincide with the wishes of his government sponsors, orders the death of a woman in the witness protection program. Nick sees something in the woman's picture reminding him of someone he knew long ago. After a brief journey up to the restaurant in Northern California where his potential target, Rachel Hunter, works as a waitress, Nick makes a decision to alter his lifestyle. Hayden Tanus, the CEO of Tanus Import/Export looks out the window of his plush office on the Upper East Side of Manhattan wondering briefly if Rachel Hunter was finally dead. The fifty caliber bullet made a small hole in his window and a large one as it exited his head.

In the following days, playing the role of famous author doing research for his new novel, Nick enters Rachel's life. He inadvertently triggers an unforeseen chain of events launching him in a cross country flight with Rachel, her daughter Jean, and Deke the dog. Rachel has secrets. The people still wanting her dead are about to find out a cold blooded killer now stands in their way and body counts mean absolutely nothing to him.