"Most people run from fires; firemen and cops run toward them especially when someone inside is screaming. It began when a boy banged on Burgess's car window. He got a gasped "Fire at the mosque and someone's in there " and a frantic gesture toward the old commercial building that served as a mosque for Portland's Somali community.

His dash into the building leads to a very young mother and tiny baby in a locked closet and to his worst nightmare -- investigating the death of another child. He must deal with suspicious uncooperative refugees members of a motorcycle gang businessmen...