From the New York Times bestselling author of The Rules of Silence and Mercy comes another relentless thriller that will keep readers up all night.

When a mysterious woman arrives at the home of Paul Bern, a forensic artist who lives in Austin, Texas, she brings him two things: a human skull that she says she has smuggled out of Mexico, and an incredible secret that brings him face to face with the unimaginable. Sucked into the puzzle of a past he didn't know he had, Bern finds himself inextricably embroiled in a U.S. intelligence operation that unravels in the shadows of Mexico City's murky underworld. Bern's own special skills (and a family secret) make him the central player in a stalking game in which a terrorist is the target, the past is the present, and the future of thousands of people lies in the balance of an elaborate deception. And only Bern can keep the scales from tipping.