From the time Jeff Kendrick and Joshua Allison Beaumont became roommates at Harlan's Preparatory School in San Francisco, they maintained a roller-coaster-like relationship. Though they followed divergent paths, their lives were bonded by fate. Each was mutually driven in their quest for military careers, but Beaumont, better known as Jab, flunked the West Point entrance exam and eventually became a pilot for a Central American drug cartel-flying at least ten thousand kilos of drugs out of Panama during the last two years. Jeff Kendrick's life takes a different path-pursuing a notable career in public service as an agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration and later as a college professor.
When Jab refuses to sabotage a plane for the cartel, he fears his life is in danger and flees to the United States. Hoping to save his life, Jab requests the aid of Kendrick, who rejoins the DEA to help decipher the conspiracy. Jab and Kendrick are assisted in the mission by Danielle von Sedvels, a sociologist and expert in Peruvian politics.
The three become irrevocably united as they join forces for a concerted and dangerous action against narco-terrorists bent on attacking US vital interests in the Panama Canal.