A blood-soaked carpet, a bashed-in face, and oozing gray-matter heralded the end of Francine Ketcham. The Chief Financial Officer of defense contractor Earhardt-Roane Avionics was beaten to a bloody pulp late one night in her office. It was the most gruesome crime in the history of the small southern town of Seaside Beach. Who would do such a thing and why? Did it have anything to do with the National Security Agency's undercover investigation of the company? Was the murder the result of a burglary gone wrong or was it intended to hide a threat to national security? Finding the answers falls to Grace Tran and the agents of NSA Field Team Six, whose mission is protecting the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic. Already on the agency's radar from a whistleblower complaint, the company takes center stage as the team intensifies its investigation, the case takes on a different hue when the inside source becomes an ear-witness to the murder. The team encounters good ole' boys, a dangerous militia, and secret corporate agendas as they peel back the layers to uncover a shocking tale of unbridled ambition, personality, pretense, and greed.