Jericho Porter was done. Out. Retired. Porter had managed the impossible: retiring from the Gatekeepers…alive. Now, he was ready to slow down and live life on his terms. He was finally free. He was also mistaken. When Malkah Hafeez, an ex-lover and fellow Gatekeeper, calls in a favor, he knows he should refuse. She saved his life once, right before betraying him, gifting him with two neutralizing bullets center mass and leaving him for dead. He knows the smart play is to cut his losses, walk away, and disappear. He’s done it before; he can do it again. If he does, he dies. Against every sense of self-preservation, he agrees to one more contract, joining Malkah’s elite team as she completes the erasure of a high value target. Outgunned and outmanned, Porter must risk it all, unleashing the fearsome power of the Gatekeepers once again. In order to survive, he will have to step into his old world for one last dance with death.

Porter is missing, Bug doesn’t know where he is, but she’s going to find out. Someone has kidnapped Jericho Porter. After destroying the Gatekeeper HQ, the list of enemies is long. It doesn’t matter. Bug is going to find Porter even if she has to leave a trail of bodies in her wake. When Corman tells her there’s a group of rogue Gatekeepers called The Black Riders who may be behind Porter’s disappearance, Bug does everything possible to locate them and get Porter back. What she uncovers will challenge everything she thought she knew about Gatekeepers and companions. Secrets will be revealed, and lives will be threatened, starting with her own. She wouldn’t have it any other way.

Companions are being hunted…and killed. When the Black Riders obtain a death list revealing their identities, companions start dying mysteriously. Officially, the Gatekeepers are condemning the deaths. Unofficially, a new purge has begun, targeting blood-bonded companions. Now, Porter and Bug must uncover who controls the Black Riders, sanctioning the deaths of companions. They must step into the shadows, unravel Gatekeeper secrets, and destroy the Black Riders, before it’s too late. Together, they will step into a world of darkness and death, where only the lethal survive.