It’s a shocking and seemingly inexplicable crime. Ethan Falk, a barista at an upscale suburban coffee shop, chases a customer into the parking lot, blindsides him and kills him. Witnesses describe an innocent older man being tackled and stabbed without provocation. But as the young man is arrested and processed for murder, he tells an even more disturbing story to police.

Years ago, as a boy, Ethan had been abducted, tortured, and abused by the older man. When his tormentor entered the coffee shop, he simply snapped. “How did you escape from your captor?” the police ask. That’s when the story takes an even stranger turn. “I was rescued by a guy named Scorpion . . .”

Jonathan Grave is hit hard by the news of Ethan’s arrest, and by the widening attempts by investigators to find a mysterious operator named Scorpion and prosecute him and his unnamed giant associate. He and his team dig deep into their own files to bring that old 0300 op back to life. Investigating the murder victim’s past, Grave and his associates find dark evidence of CIA involvement, clandestine interrogations, and a terrorist plan to attack a secure government facility in Washington. To thwart the plan, Grave must rescue Ethan a second time – while eluding law enforcement’s attempts to pin an eleven-year-old double murder on him.