It is 1988-the height of the Cold War. At Randolph Air Force Base in Texas, David Balzen is a straightforward, decisive, and ethical security police sergeant. But when he finds himself the solo hostage negotiator at a top secret research hangar, Balzen soon learns that reality is farther from his reach than he ever imagined.

While bargaining for the release of a female research assistant from a demented physicist, Balzen is confronted with one of man's oldest dreams or, in his case, a nightmare. During a last-ditch effort to save Christine Townsend, Balzen is thrown into the...