On a dig at the edge of the sun-seared Sonoran Desert, archaeologist Nicolette Scott witnesses a bizarre plane crash that leaves a young man dead in the cockpit of his mangled, burning Cessna. Federal investigators call it "pilot error," but the dead man's grieving grandfather, John Gault, a man who shares Nick's passion for aviation, is demanding answers.

Nick knows what she saw with her own eyes—a chopper shadowing the Cessna before it went down—but no one seems to believe her except John. The two join forces, using a lovingly restored B-24 warplane to rip open a secret hidden in the heat-soaked desert. What they find will plunge them into a fierce battle against a deadly conspiracy in the heart of the West's most forbidding land.