Things are not exactly what they used to be for Charlie Castillo. The former Presidential Agent's Office of Organizational Analysis has been disbanded, he and his colleagues have been abruptly retired, and the sudden death of the President has brought a much more unsympathetic man into the Oval Office.

"Just how many bodies did this Castillo leave scattered all over the world?" the President asked. "I really don't know, Mr. President." "You're the Director of National Intelligence," the President snapped. "Shouldn't you know a little detail like that?"

But just because Castillo is out of the government doesn't mean he's out of business. As experience has very painfully demonstrated to him there are a number of things that the intelligence community can't do, won't do, or doesn't do well, and he has the men and assets to help set things straight.

But the first opportunity, when it comes, is shocking: A barrel marked "BIOLOGICAL HAZARD" from an anonymous shipper arrives at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute at Fort Detrick, Maryland. The barrel contains some of the most dangerous biohazard material on earth [ all of which was supposed to have been destroyed during a raid orchestrated by Castillo on a secret Russian factory in the Congo. Clearly, the message is that more of the deadly material remains, but who has it and what do they want? Castillo has a feeling he's not going to like the answers.