After a cutting-edge rocket explodes on launch, intelligence expert and former spy Jake Moran sets out on a high-stakes mission to find the truth in order to save the operation…and countless lives.

When ex-intelligence officer Jake Moran is hired by Kingfisher Aerospace to assist with a high-profile mission, he expects a standard rocket launch. But what he gets is far from routine—the Kingfisher Seven rocket explodes in spectacular and very public fashion. And billionaire owner Helena Nash wants answers.

The explosion forces Jake and his team at Cascadia Information Systems to pivot from monitoring weather satellites to gathering intelligence. The clock is ticking, and it’s up to them to find out what—or who—brought down the rocket.

Their investigation uncovers a plot that could destroy not only Kingfisher but the entire private aerospace industry. And Jake’s past holds the key. His history of not-quite-aboveboard tactics has earned him a long list of enemies, all with an eager eye for revenge.

Armed with covert tech, Jake and his team race to neutralize the threat. But if they can’t pinpoint the source in time, a nation could face a whole new kind of terror.

Shawn Klomparens is the author of Jessica Z. and Two Years, No Rain, as well as The Banks of Certain Rivers, written under the pen name Jon Harrison. In 2014, Klomparens received a Creative Writing Fellowship from the Wyoming Arts Council. He lived and wrote in Jackson, Wyoming, with his wife and two children until July 2024, when he died of a terminal illness.