What is the half-life of conscience in a world of continuous betrayals? Is there a point where the accumulated remorse reaches a tipping point or does it just calcify? Is one finally loyal to an institution or to one's own notions of right and wrong?Mahoney joined the Central Intelligence Agency because they promised to repay his student loans. Once in, he became part of a small team headed by Schmidt, an enigmatic CIA veteran who takes on clandestine 'black' projects, operations that are deemed to be in the national interest but are forbidden by law or conventional morality. Mahoney finds himself committing crimes on behalf of his country in Central America, the new Russia and the post-911 Middle East, forming ties to a Russian oligarch, an Afghan warlord, a KGB agent and Elena, an avenger. Mahoney carries the legacy of murders, lies and betrayals around with him like the albatross hung around the neck of the ancient mariner, but when asked to condone the biggest lie of all, he begins to ask the fatal question "Why?" and finds that he himself has been betrayed. He launches a final act of treachery, one that - if he survives it - will expose corruption at the highest levels of government.