A shooting at an exclusive Florida high school masks an even more insidious plot. When the authorities are tight-lipped about the incident's details, anguished families retain former homicide investigator Mike Gage to find the answers they so desperately seek. Mike knew one of the dead kids, the daughter of a close associate, motivating him even more to discover what happened and why. As Gage digs into the backgrounds of the two shooters and finds that one might have been a victim of early childhood abuse, an attempt on his own life tells Gage he's on the right track. That dangerous road eventually leads to a shadily-financed school for boys, behavior-altering drugs, and a mind-warping on-line game that portends youthful terrorism nationwide.