A COWBOY TURNS UP DEAD at the San Antonio rodeo. In his hands are a pistol and an empty snuff can filled with painkillers. Was it a cry for help—the young man was a wounded veteran—or was it murder? The ME rules suicide and the politically motivated DA is all too happy to file charges against Nick Fischer. His pistol was in the dead man's hand. The move puts Nick on the wrong side of the law, opposite SAPD detective Diana Ochoa, his new girlfriend. But the cowboy's estranged father thinks his son was murdered and hires Nick to find the killer. The clues link the cowboy to a sleazy doctor operating a pill mill and an enforcer with shadowy ties to a Mexican drug cartel. When Nick exposes the operation, Diana's six-year-old son turns up missing, and the only witness is found hanging from a river bridge. There's a warning—drop the case or the boy dies. With no backup and time running out, Nick must face the cartel enforcer alone to save the boy and bring a killer to justice.