Tess Dixon, the wife of the infamous crimelord Cullen Dixon, and an old flame of Hawke's, escapes her husband's bodyguards and Archangel contacts Hawke to deliver her to a safehouse. She plans to testify against her husband's involvement in a plot to assassinate several top-ranking Washington officials, but Hawke's previous involvement with Tess makes it difficult for him. He must set his feelings aside once Tess comes under attack by Cullen's thugs who want to make sure Tess doesn't live to testify.