When his client is killed by a terrorist, Micah delves into her past.
Until he gets the answering machine message, private detective Micah Dunn has never heard of Julia Morvant. Calling from Jamaica, she asks him to meet her at the New Orleans airport. She needs help, she says, and he can tell by her tone that she needs it badly. Dunn is a Vietnam vet whose left arm hangs uselessly at his side, but who excels in helping the desperate people who seem to flock to his city. He has just arrived at the airport when Morvant's plane explodes in midair. Between the fireball in the sky and the alligators below, there is no chance of survival.
The flight was bombed, and Dunn becomes obsessed with the idea that his prospective client was the target. He knew nothing about her, but in death he will come to know her intimately – and risk his life to honor her own.