In a remote inlet on the shores of Lake Travis in Austin Texas, the mutilated body of a man is found next to a burning cross. Both hands have been cut from the body and the head has been beaten to a pulp. DNA tests reveal no clues to the man's identity.
Detective Bill Ross and his team suspect that the killing may have been staged to look like a lynching, and that other motives were behind the killing. They find a clue that suggests that the dead man may have been special forces, and as their investigation unfolds it begins to reveal a frightening scenario. Political connected people, committed to an insatiable lust for power and control. Mexican drug cartels and powerful politicians entwined in an evil dance. Each step they take towards solving this barbaric crime takes them closer to the inner sanctum of power and control. Their lives could be at risk as they strive for the truth, and the truth could shake the very foundations of the government of the State of Texas, and have ramifications all the way to the White House.