The eighth novel in the Alex Cross series Alex Cross is preparing to resign from the Washington Police Force. He's enjoying the feeling; not least because the Mastermind is now in prison. & Alex has met a woman Jamilla Hughes & he is talking about the future. Then John Sampson shows up at the house desperate for Alex's help. Three young military wives have been brutally killed during a 'girls' night out' & Sampson's friend a master sergeant at the army base stands accused. Uncovering evidence of a series of suspicious murder convictions Alex & Sampson are determined to infiltrate the closed world of the military. But what is the army trying to hide? & do the mysterious symbols daubed on the house of the accused mean that there are more sinister forces at work?