The US government has a deadly assignment - and James Matlock is the perfect man for the job.

James Matlock is a Vietnam veteran and college professor - with a disturbing past. The faceless men in Washington know his secrets. And they want him to investigate what seems to be a large-scale drugs and prostitution business.

Matlock is given a piece of silver paper with codes on it, and the name of the criminal organisation: Nimrod. He is soon trapped in a maze of unrelenting terror, as the people he cares for most are under threat. Would he have accepted the job if he'd known just what it would mean? Or that disclosure of the truth could cause such horror?