General Trusten Polk's F-16 explodes on takeoff in Denver. Within hours he's exposed as an impostor, a war hero politician controlled by others. As Captain Boyd Chailland, the pilot member of the accident board, uncovers Polk's lonely private life he finds another pilot from Polk's past knows all his secrets and is leaking them to the press. Congressman Roscoe Kelly is tied to bank fraud and other politicians with ties to Polk duck and weave. The press smells blood and government corruption dominates the news cycle. Is The Other Pilot a patriot or a criminal? Were did all that money come from? Boyd rushes to find The Other Pilot, as signs point to a criminal mastermind with a lust for revenge. The spark to set off civil war in America is on a ranch in west Texas. Boyd, his English teacher lover, his flight surgeon pal, a vintage aircraft enthusiast with a restored P-51 Mustang, and a small town sheriff are the nation's last line of defense.