Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett investigates a mysterious death at a secret, remote high-tech facility in this riveting new novel from #1 New York Timesbestselling author C. J. Box. While tracking a wounded elk in the midst of an epic Rocky Mountain spring snowstorm, Joe Pickett makes a startling and gruesome discovery: the frozen and mutilated body of a man who has obviously trespassed on a private ranch and was killed near the location of a mysterious high-tech structure. Joe also finds the man's vehicle on an isolated mountainside—the victim's ID indicates that he is a prominent University of Wyoming professor. When Joe attempts to learn more, his investigation is obstructed by federal agents, extremists, and Governor Colter Allen. Nate Romanowski is rebuilding his falconry company—and financing this through crypto mining with the assistance of Geronimo Jones. Nate is then approached by a shadowy group of local militant activists that is gaining in power and influence, and demanding that Wyoming join other western states and secede from the union—by force, if necessary. They ask Nate to throw in with them, but he's wary. Should he trust them, or is he being set up? As a storm of peril gathers around them, Joe and Nate confront it in different ways—and maybe, for the first time, on opposite sides.