Murder, betrayal, greed, and conspiracy are the grievous ingredients in this story about twelve-year-old Jake Tanner's witness to the brutal murder of his mother and father by five desperate men. Now, eight years later, and grown to manhood, Jake's promise to find and kill the five men is hampered by his younger sister, Emily, who also witnessed the murders and has been hopelessly traumatized by the brutality of the event. Through a chance encounter with a beautiful young woman, and with the help of a United States federal marshal, Jake is finally free to begin his long awaited search to find the five men and the motive for the murders.
Complicating the search is a man named Burt Tolman, a neighbor that Jake recognized as one of the killers. Tolman also knows that Jake witnessed the murders, and is committed to kill him to avoid being hanged for the crime
With the help of a federal marshal who befriends Jake, and using his own ingenuity, Jake's search for justice and retribution does not ignore even the slightest hint of the killers' whereabouts, either in the United States or across the border into Mexico. The resulting capture of each killer is a unique, dangerous, and compelling story that slowly reveals the motive for the murders. A motive that is far more sinister than anyone could possibly conceive. A murder so far reaching, and of such epic proportion, that it stains with blood the hallways of our nation's capital.