Alex Cross returns in the most harrowing case of his career-one that risks the life of his closest friend and partner, John Sampson. Alex Cross is on his way to resign from the Washington Police Force when his partner and oldest friend, John Sampson, knocks on the door, desperate. Sampson's best friend has been framed for murders he didn't commit. Cross is their only hope. But there's a problem-his friend is subject to the code, conduct, and law of an insular world that plays by its own rules: the United States Army. Trapped in a world of lies, murder, sex, and corruption thick enough to reverse their very notions of guilt and innocence, Cross and Sampson end up in a deadly showdown against enemies more formidable than they've ever faced. And only one man will walk away.