Irina Ismaylova kills men and women. For her victims, death comes unexpectedly, and she leaves no trace of her presence behind, because each assassination is carried out in its own unique and ingenious fashion. Irina does not kill for pleasure, or for money. She kills at the behest of Sergei Krupatin, the sleek and brilliant Russian crime lord who exerts a mysterious and monstrous hold over her. Irina is desperate to escape Krupatin, to regain a portion of her shattered self, but before she can she must carry out one last, deadly mission for him. But this time, Irina's odds of surviving seem impossible. FBI special agent Cate Cuevas, still in mourning, has just learned of a devastating betrayal by her slain husband. Wounded and shaken, she is suddenly plunged into the most challenging and dangerous assignment of her career. The leaders of three great international crime organizations, the Hong Kong Chinese, the Sicilian La Cosa Nostra, and the Russian Mafia, are to meet in Houston. The implications are stunning, and horrendous. But the FBI has a chance to stop this unholy alliance, if Cate Cuevas can infiltrate the Russian contingent - and if she can get out alive. When Cate and Irina meet, each playing their shadow roles, they are drawn to each other strangely and powerfully. And as Cate and Irina fight to survive amid the intricate and deadly stratagems of men of violence and cunning - Sergei Krupatin, the courtly young Siciliano Carlo Bontate, the mysteriously exotic Chinese Wei Tsing, and Cate's win-at-all-costs FBI handlers - their relationship becomes an ever-more-intimate dance of sexual attraction and murderous intent.