A 2014 National Indie Excellence Award Finalist Matthew Harkes, curator of large mammals at the National Zoo, is drawn into the dangerous and corrupt world of illegal wildlife trade by the murder of a veterinarian and the slaughter of a genetically valuable black rhino imported from Namibia at the City Zoo in Baltimore. The death of the rhino deals a damaging blow to the managed population of black rhinos in North America. An avid outdoorsman, Harkes travels to Africa to explore the possibility of collecting genetic material from the last free-roaming wild rhinos in the world to use in frozen zoos in a last-ditch effort to maintain the endangered species in zoos and in the wild. Traveling from the deserts of Damaraland in Namibia to the game ranches of Kwa-Zulu Natal in South Africa, Harkes finds himself pitted against a mysterious enemy: an enemy bent on controlling the global trade in wildlife and destroying the animals he has dedicated his life to protect.