Special Agent Jeremy Waller is thrilled to earn a spot in law enforcement's most elite squad, the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team - until his assignments begin to contradict his sense of what's right and wrong, what's legal and what's not. Jordan Mitchell is a telecommunications tycoon in control of one of the largest personal fortunes in the world - and the keeper of some very dangerous secrets. Senator Elizabeth Beachum could be the next president of the United States, but someone seems willing to do anything - including framing her for the murder of a National Security Council staffer - to ensure she never sees the White House. Sirad Malneauz is beautiful and brilliant and a stone cold killer. Hamid Mirhadi is a Wall Street hotshot who has figured out a way to make a lot of money via the War on Terror; if only it were legal. Now, all five are about to slip into a world few know about, where there are no rules except that everything must be kept secret and not everyone can survive. And in the end, FBI agent Waller will find that sometimes the only way out of the darkness is to head even deeper into the black.