In the pre-dawn hours of a rainy November morning in Seattle, a young woman is found murdered in the city's Pike Place section, her body wedged between two dumpsters in an alley. As he begins his investigation, homicide detective Sergeant John Elliott discovers that, although moonlighting at a local restaurant, the victim held a much more important "day" job. When no one wants to tell him exactly what she did for a living, Elliott's curiosity is aroused. When the FBI assigns a Special Agent to stay with him and follow his every move, he is determined to find out why. When he becomes an assassination target, the case become personal. Over the course of 48 hours, John Elliott attempts to piece together the facts behind this murder and, in the process, discovers that the killing was no random event. Working with his close friend, Coast Guard Captain Harry O'Connell and the victim's sister, a former White House Secret Service Agent, Elliott pieces together the details of a plan that reaches the highest levels of government. Together they race the clock attempting to prevent an event that could cost thousands of lives and rival the disaster that was 9/11.