As sirens wail in the heat of a city night, an over-burdened police department is up against a crime wave that's spreading like blood from an open wound. Joe Ryker is a cop from the old school. Homicide is his job. Murder is his life. He's one man with a rifle, choosing his victims at random, killing with the cold skill of a pro. Detective Sgt. Ryker is going in after him: into the sleaze and decay, into the night. Somewhere in the panic-stricken city the killer and the cop will come face to face--and a last deadly battle will be waged...