Blackmail, murder and a love affair complicate decision-making in the US Air Force effort to replace the C-130 aircraft with a new aircraft. A task force is formed to develope a contract proposal for its acquisition. Conflicts quickly occur between two armed services and the Defense hierarchy, the potential bidders for the program and the Congressional oversight committees. The anti-hero is a Washington Post investigative reporter with insider access to the decision making process. First and foremost, this is a novel about the Pentagon and the people who inhabit it. It necessarily also includes their interactions with the Congress, the media and private industry. The characters are fictional but representative of those who have created the military-industrial complex and perpetuate it in an honest attempt to secure the defense of our nation.