Evan is a freelance covert operative, a reckless fool who doesn’t have enough sense to stay out of dangerous places or turn down risky jobs. The shadowy Committee for Imperial Security hires him to retrieve an object of value from the planet Hemica. Only, exactly what the object is doesn’t seem to fall within the scope of his need to know. To further complicate matters, a planet-wide disaster devastated Hemica years ago and caused the place to be evacuated. Only the place isn’t as deserted as the official story claims. Despite these obstacles, Evan locates the object and almost has it in his grasp. Only he has to divert and rescue a fourteen-year-old girl first. And that’s when the job really goes off the rails. Enemies old and new are now hunting Evan and the girl around, under, and through a decaying abandoned urban wilderness.About the author:Ray Tabler is a retired engineer and author, originally from Louisville, Kentucky. He chased the north-bound dollar to Michigan because of a tragic addiction to a steady paycheck, where he married a lovely Yankee girl. Several decades later, despite the siren call of warmer climes, Ray might be permanently lodged in the frozen north. Ray’s previous novel, A Grand Imperial War, is available from Ring of Fire Press, and his short fiction can be found in the pages of The Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, Baen’s Universe, and Cosmic Crime Stories.