Publisher's Synopsis
In the second year of their partnership, Commonwealth counter terrorist task force operatives, Mark Praed and Alexandra Lansing, are sent on a mission which takes them across the galaxy to a new world. Their mission is to locate Talon, a particularly brutal but elusive terrorist who seems to be involved in every vicious attack against citizens of the Commonwealth. There is only one lead: the task force has learned a drug dealer named Randall Hamish has contacted Talon with a proposition to join forces. He and his gang have set down on the recently terra-formed farming planet of Tallis, and are terrorizing the legal, deed-holding settlers, hoping to force the colony to leave. Hamish wants the planet all to himself so he can grow, harvest, and process the illegal drug, bliss. He hopes Talon can help him with the chore of removing the settlers. In exchange, he'll provide the terrorist with enough bliss to use as currency to purchase weapons. Posing as a convicted felon, Praed will infiltrate Hamish's gang while Alex is sidelined in the settlement as his contact. Praed's orders are to find out everything he can about Talon, with emphasis on the location of the terrorist's base. He will report it all to Alex, who in turn, will pass it on to their superior, Henry Davison. To complicate matters, Hamish has taken two of the settlers as his prisoners, and Praed is to return them to the settlement, if possible. Right from the start, however, the mission seems to go sideways. Will Praed and Alex find a way to turn it around in time to locate Talon, stop Hamish's scheme, and release the prisoners without losing their own lives?
