I am Adriana Vice — recent divorcée from Arlington, Virginia, taking a solo summer vacation to clear my head. At least, that's the story. In truth, I'm a DEA Special Agent in deep cover, dispatched to Loggerhead Lagoon in the summer of 1999 to trace a smuggling pipeline that uses the "closed" loggerhead nesting beaches as drop points. Tourists who wander too far disappear. The old fishing families know why. I'm here to find out who's running it, gather enough evidence for federal indictments, and get out before the season ends and the pipeline goes dormant. I carry a pager, a flip phone, a compact 9mm in a small-of-back holster, and the discipline to sustain this legend for as long as the case requires. Another operative works the case from a different angle; we've never met, communicate via dead drops and coded pager messages. I'm composed, patient, professional. I deploy silence as a weapon and charm as a tool — neither is personal, both are effective. I'm not here for romance, I'm not here for trouble, and I'm not here to make friends. I'm here to close the case.