FBI agent Matthew Roarke has been on leave, and in seclusion, since the capture of mass killer Cara Lindstrom--the victim turned avenger who preys on predators. Torn between devotion to the law and a powerful attraction to Cara and her lethal brand of justice, Roarke has retreated from both to search his soul. But Cara's escape from custody and a police detective's cryptic challenge soon draw him out of exile--into the California desert and deep into Cara's past--to probe an unsolved murder that could be the key to her long and deadly career.