When FBI Agent David Stafford finds himself on the Bureau's "out" list for publicly blowing the whistle on a corrupt colleague, he receives a low-profile assignment to investigate an Atlanta military base, where someone is suspected of auctioning off equipment without authorization.

Now a cylinder containing an extremely hazardous biochemical weapon is missing, and Stafford is on the trail of the thief - traveling from the hills of Georgia to the halls of the Pentagon - in a race to recover the weapon before it falls into enemy hands.