The mob, working with domestic terrorists, are killing and destroying until they own all of San Francisco's criminal enterprises. In her second novel, Detective Sergeant Karen Neilsen, powers through every barrier and obstacle to reach the top of the crime syndicate's power pyramid and end the threat of armies raised out of hate, for the purpose of shattering lives, wrecking freedoms and making syndicate heads richer and more powerful. As she climbs the pyramid, she endangers herself and those whom she trusts and who trust her. Unseen forces, their motives unknowable, stir about her friends and herself in secret. Is there betrayal? And, who's betraying whom? The results of failure are too bloody to allow. There can be no turning back. There can be no pause.