Two years after his court-ordered exile, Nick Walker has hit bottom. He's out of a job, has lost his fiancée, his best friend, and everything he cares about, and the man responsible has got away. After the gunfight on the Alpha Centauri Express, terrorist Kenneth Saracen fled Federation space, heading for parts unknown. Nick tracked him until the leads ran out, but now the trail has gone cold. Once the toast of Federation law enforcement, Nick is out of leads, out of ideas, and has nothing left to live for.But he still has one friend who hasn't given up on him. Victoria Cross, once his lover, now his lawyer, is determined to find Nick and drag him back to civilization. She knows his anguish from personal experience, and understands where his self-destructive path must lead. Come hell or high altitude, she will find him and set him on the trail again. She knows he will resist her efforts, but she has an ace in the hole that he won't be able to ignore: She knows where to find Saracen.