Carlton Westerfield is out of the murder business. Now, he serves as an advisor to crime boss Faustino Perez, who has joined forces with his friend, Reynaldo Gomez, another drug kingpin, in a bold venture. The pair have come up with a plan to oppose the powerful Golfo drug cartel and try to take over a segment of the wholesale distribution market. Their goals, they tell Carlton, are twofold: one, get better prices on their own inventory needs; and two, replace the bunch of harsh enforcers the cartel has running the Nuevo Laredo warehouse operation. The plan sounds shaky to Carlton, and he advises them accordingly. Of course, the headstrong drug kingpins go forward anyway. At first, Carlton is tasked only with giving advice on smuggling the necessary weapons into Mexico. But his assignment soon expands to finding out what his new girlfriend-DEA Agent Heather Colson-might know about Administration efforts to thwart their plan. Stuck in the middle between his new love interest and his criminally-minded associates, Carlton soon finds out that knowing the truth about something can be just as costly as being misled-it can kill you.