An American defense contractor goes to Iran to sell top-secret technology, and the CIA knows all about it thanks to a spy in Tehran. But someone in Washington leaks the story to an ambitious journalist, and the spy is captured, brutally tortured and executed.

The director of the CIA isn't about to let the death of his agent go unpunished. Speaker of the House John Fitzpatrick Mahoney has his own reasons to get to the bottom of the leak: it might have come from Congress. Moreover, Mahoney once had an affair with the journalist, and now that she's in jail for refusing to reveal her source, she's threatening to tell the tabloids everything unless he helps her. Joe DeMarco is tasked with getting the journalist off his boss's back, but he soon discovers that he and the CIA aren't the only ones looking for the journalist's source. A killer is following DeMarco's every move, hoping DeMarco will lead him to his prey.