Ronald E. Breeden

Joe Chance is a sadistic serial killer who is wanted by the FBI, which might seem normal, but these are not normal circumstances. The authorities aren't looking to lock him up, but rather give him an opportunity to resume his life if he will go along with an experiment. An experiment that features a revolutionary new medicine. Dr. John Willard has been employed by the FBI for many years to perfect the formula he created. This formula, in theory, will take all violence out of criminals and turn them into useful citizens. The wait has been worthwhile as it is the hope of an ambitious United States government that this medicine will lead to world peace. The Joe Chance Experiment is top secret and must be kept from the public at all costs. Those costs turn out to be many when FBI agents involved in the experiment begin to question the morality of such an experiment and then begin to violently lose their lives. Julius Rolland and Gary Britton, the bureau's two best agents, are put to the task of finding out exactly why everything seems to be spiraling out of control. Dr. Willard is worried because an old colleague who helped him develop the prototype for his medicine has shown up out of the blue and is telling him things about the experiment. This is disturbing since his old colleague should have no idea the experiment exists.Then the unfathomable occurs. Joe Chance escapes custody before the experiment begins. Now the race is on to find not only Chance, but whoever else has been knocking off FBI agents. The clock is ticking, the clues are few and not only are the agents in fear for their own lives, but the public at large. A public that must remain in the dark about yet another government secret. So the pressure is immense as a fed up Rolland and Britton are determined to make sense out of the senseless and hopefully close this case once and for all.

Billy Cord is a haunted man who has lived in hell for ten years. On October twentieth, nineteen seventy-nine, which was exactly ten years ago tonight, his life changed forever. He has never been able to escape the guilt or deal with the pain and torment which has gnawed slowly away at his soul. The reminder is constant. She is confined to a wheelchair because of him. Julie Banter was his girlfriend at the time, now she is his wife, and he feels that he has ruined her life. Ten years of hell. For Billy, now twenty-seven, the heavy debt that he's been slowly paying off these last ten years is about to be paid in full.Billy's struggle is not the only one that will be resolved on this night. Another friend of Billy's unexpectedly shows up carrying his own torment from their teenage years. Vic Stern was the man behind the trigger in an accidental shooting which left a friend dead. His escape to the Marines helped, but he soon finds that the past always remains when you come back home. As if the cold October storm which hovers over this night hadn't wreaked enough havoc there is yet another crisis coming to a head. Roy Brill is a jealous man who is unwilling to accept that his marriage is coming to an end. He is on a collision course with the town cop, who was once his best friend, and who must once again find the faith that he lost ten years ago when an accident that paralyzed his sister occurred on his watch.