Paul Bannerman was once his nation's deadliest weapon -- a top covert operative heading up the most lethal group of contract agents and network specialists in all of Europe. Now Bannerman is a liability -- an unpredictable loose cannon that could irreparably damage America's shaky intelligence structure, if he chose to. So the decision has come down from the top: Bannerman and his people must be eliminated.Suddenly death is running in Westport, Connecticut-one in a nationwide network of secret "halfway towns" where the country's most dangerous former agents have been "retired." At war with powerful elements within his own government-a war not of his making-Bannerman has been lured here to this place of yard sales, mini-vans, commuter trains, and murder. The plan is for Bannerman and those he ran to die here, quietly. But Bannerman has other plans.