Martini has built a fan-favorite character in Paul Madriani, a San Diego defense attorney with a habit of taking on almost impossible cases. This time it’s Army Sargeant Emiliano Ruiz, a soldier who served in Panama and the first Gulf War and had been freelancing as a security guard when his boss, Madelyn Chapman who owns a computer software company that sells a controversial security program to the U.S. Government, is murdered with two gunshots to the back of the head (referred to in ballistics as a “double tap,” something only an excellent marksman can carry out). He’s being accused of the crime, but when Madriani begins investigating the incident, he discovers a seven-year gap in Ruiz’s resume. Was Ruiz doing dirty work for the Special Ops? Madriani has to find out, and more importantly, he has to save the sympathetic Ruiz from a lifetime stint in prison — or worse.