Barney Trent may be a CIA legend, but now his talents are waning, his career is crumbling, and his wife is leaving.
His best friend, Gordon Montgomery, happens to be the sitting U.S. president, but that relationship goes south when Barney rejects Montgomery's offer to retire and take a cushy job in Washington. Instead, Barney is demoted and transferred to Tijuana, Mexico, to report on the drug war. Angered by the crimes of the "narco-terrorists," he decides that his last act as a CIA operative will be to destroy the Andele Cartel, a group that appears to have ties to Washington.
What Barney doesn't know is that the president's rise, from California congressman to the Oval Office, was financed with payoffs from this same cartel. As he comes to realize this fact, his mission reaches into the power centers of Washington, and the battle escalates.
Barney’s truculent march through Baja results in a PR nightmare for the U.S., seething anger from Mexico—and multiple entities seeking his destruction.
With a suitcase full of stolen drug profits and a price on his head, Barney sets a trap for the cartel—and the President—assisted by an assortment of oddball characters, including a ne’er-do-well private detective and a DEA agent, who is estranged from that agency for blogging against the drug war.
When the cartel finally locates Barney at a posh Cabo San Lucas hotel, they send their best assassins to take him down. There’s just one catch. They have to fight the president and the CIA for the privilege.