John McTavish is not the sort of person to get mixed up in a scenario which would lead to his murder, but he has been found with his throat slashed in Miami. Alex Shanahan owed him a lot from when they worked together at Boston's Logan Airport, so she agrees to his widow's request to try and find out what had happened. In Miami she hears unbelievable rumours that he was somehow mixed up in drug- running and discovers that John was in possession of a logbook from a jet which had crashed in Peru. At a loss to get at the truth and off her own patch, she hires the help of a local investigator, Jack Dolan. He reveals that parts from the crashed 'plane are being re-cycled, and that they are being sold by various companies which are fronts for laundering drug money. The only way Alex can establish the link between these activities and McTavish's death is to confront the dealers handling the illegal parts, but someone is able to anticipate her every move and it looks as though she, too, may end up with a knife at her throat.