As an elite assassin for the CIA, Helen Warwick was trained to keep a low profile. But now that she's retired, she's forced to take on a very different, and very public, role—as the proud mother of a rising young politician. At a DC press conference for her son's campaign, she sees the ominous green light of a gun laser fixed on her son's head, and her CIA training kicks in. She jumps into action, pushes her son down, and saves him from a sniper's bullet. In that moment, Helen realizes she will never escape the secrets of her past—or the deranged man she thought she killed.

He is still alive—and coming for her family. His code name is Scorpius. A Russian mole embedded in the CIA, he recruits dangerous sociopaths ejected from the military and trains them to kill at command. None of his CIA colleagues—including Helen—know his true identity. But when members of his kill team begin to disappear, he realizes his operation may be at risk. His greatest threat, Helen Warwick, has agreed to rejoin the CIA to help expose Scorpius after the assassination attempt on her son. She suspects that Scorpius may be one of her colleagues, part of a vast conspiracy that reaches the highest levels of government. And now that her family has been personally targeted, she's willing to break every rule to stop Scorpius and his trained killers. Unless, of course, they kill her first.