It was spring in the Midwest and the perfect storm was brewing.

A scientist of considerable renown, Dr. James Conroy, Jr., was leading a grassroots movement to improve access to medical treatment in the United States. At the same time, a group known as the Crusaders for Common Sense was rallying around the cry, "Stop Playing God with Medicine." Claiming that medical science merely maintained the body while the soul rotted from within, they stood opposed to Conroy-violently opposed.

Like most residents of St. Louis, Missouri, Sam "Doc" Price and Nicole Veles watched in horror as the violence escalated. But after a noted medical researcher was attacked at Nicole's apartment, she and Doc were plunged into a world of domestic terrorism.

Doc found an unlikely ally in FBI Special Agent Rebecca Marte. Together, they tried to make sense of the Crusaders' actions that defied all logic. The terrorists showed no fear of identification-or even death. In the end, Doc risked everything he loved in a final, deadly gambit with the Crusaders, only to find that the cost of his ploy may be more than he can pay.