Plot summary

When Takayama, the governor of Tokyo, is murdered, it falls on ex-CIA agent Travis Hunter to track down those responsible. And rookie FBI agent Sean Mac is assigned to work with Hunter on the case. It was the FBI who actually asked the CIA's Tokyo office to look into the killing, believing it to be linked to the Yakuza, a dangerous Japanese mafia. Tht's why the CIA is sniffing around under the auspices of Homeland Security. Mac proves to be more of a distraction, not really knowledgeable about procedures or Japanese customs. Hunter was raised in Japan, and he has a strong understanding of the Yakuza and their mysterious, eccentric, and sinister ways. Hunter and Mac discover a plan by Kuroda, the rising leader of a new Yakuza outfit, to build an enormous drug-dealing network with a Chinese Tong leader named Chen, and Kuroda is killing everyone who gets in his way. It was Kuroda who had Takayama killed. Hunter turns to help from Kojima, the second-in-command of an old-school Yakuza outfit run by elderly Oyabun Ishikawa. Hunter has been told that Kojima is the only Yakuza player who is capable of defeating Kuroda. Hunter visits Kojima, who laments that now that the new Yakuza are joining forces with the Tongs, they are becoming too powerful. Kojima tells Hunter that Kojima would love nothing more than to get ride of Kuroda. So who will get to Kuroda first -- Hunter or Kojima? As Hunter gets closer to Kuroda, he begins to endanger everyone associated with him. First, Kuroda has Ishikawa killed, making Kojima the new leader of Ishikawa's Yakuza outfit. And when Kuroda has Hunter's fiancé Nayako brutally murdered, Hunter's search for Kuroda becomes devastatingly personal. Teaming up with CIA spook Jewel and tattoo artist Kawamura, whose wife and young daughter were killed by Kuroda, Hunter sets out to take down Kuroda, permanently...even if he has to die trying.—Todd Baldridge