When a mysterious Army Colonel shows up on the campus of Weston University things take a turn for one of its students, Jake Hines. Jake, somewhat of a mystery himself, knows the colonel well, as well as he does the campus security chief Hank Barnes. These three men share something of a checkered past. A past that Jake has fought hard to forget but with the colonel here that was now impossible. Jake was sure he would be pulled into another of the colonel's intrigues. Complicating things were the three women in Jake's life. There was the attractive, divorced bartender "Sam" who couldn't hide her interest in Jake but who found it difficult to get him to respond. Allison, the voluptuous sex pot who offered everything she had but who had so far been rejected by him. And then there was Lucy, the woman that loved Jake with all her heart and soul and who attracted Jake in ways he couldn't understand but he knew was dangerous for them both. Follow these characters and many more as they lead you running head long through a mystery of murder, conspiracy, love and intrigue to the explosive conclusion of the first book of the "Applegate Saga."