Secrets pervade Navy Lt. Barbara O'Leary's life. Who is her biological father? What caused her beautiful and troubled birth mother's death? How did Barbara help her mentor outmaneuver a corporate rival? Why did she accept the assignment to Chad and that dangerous journey through a civil war? These personal and professional secrets, buried throughout her life, collide as Barbara moves between her quests for personal fulfillment and success in her professional career. Powerful psychological forces are difficult to keep in check, and they threaten to ruin what she wants to accomplish. In her personal life—the one her superiors must not learn of—Barbara continually battles her secret urges. Accomplished, gutsy, and intelligent, she is drawn into an ever-widening vortex of secrets that culminates in a secret mission executed during a civil war in Chad. It tests not only the young officer's cunning, but her raw courage. In her war between undercover triumphs and under-the-covers transgressions, Barbara must step gingerly to save her career, her reputation, and possibly her life.