Present day: A major mob bust going down. The FBI pulls back surveillance, a killer flees. There's slaughter in the 'burbs of Chicago; a murderer heads downtown. Why did he do it? Where is he going? Above all, what will he do next?

Detective Wallace Greer and his partner, Romar Jones, are hot on the killer's trail. They give chase through the Gold Coast and its tony restaurants, under the El in the East Loop, by Lake Michigan and the Chicago River, following the evidence, but always slightly behind; bodies mark the route. Five days in a cold Chicago winter. Motives collide. Psyches split. There's no rest, no time; it's all angles and action. They have to head off the killer, prevent killings too close to home. But can they catch him? Kill him? There's only one way to find out.