Irina Ismaylov kills men and women. But she doesn't kill for pleasure, or for money. She kills at the behest of Sergei Krupatin, a Russian crime lord who exerts a strange and monstrous hold over her. Desperate to escape Krupatin, Irina must first carry out one last mission for him. But her odds of surviving seem impossible. FBI Special Agent Cate Cuevas has just learned of a devastating personal betrayal by her slain husband. Wounded and shaken, she is suddenly plunged into the most challenging and dangerous assignment of her career.

The leaders of the three great international crime organizations are planning a secret meeting in Houston. The implications are stunning. The FBI's only chance to stop this ominous alliance depends upon Cate being able to infiltrate the Russian contingent--and get out alive. When Cate and Irina meet, each playing her clandestine role, they discover a mutual and powerful attraction.

As the two women fight to survive amidst the intricate and cunning stratagems of violent men, their relationship becomes an ever-more-intimate dance of seduction and murderous intent.

This was one of those novels that formed quickly in my mind like a summer storm. I had made a proposal to my agent for an entirely different kind of book, and had felt so sure about it being the right thing for me to do that I took off on a research trip that lasted more than a month. In the end my agent didn't like the proposal, nor did my editor...at all. So in a brainstorm of just a few days, I came up with this story. This proposal was quickly accepted, and I immediately plunged into the novel. It took me a year to write, but the story came to me in a smooth and sustained stream of energy. When the book was published Demi Moore quickly bought the film option. Unfortunately, nothing ever came of it. This novel, however, contains the only scene in all my books that I wish I'd written differently...or maybe, even, not at all.