John Milton is in Rio de Janeiro to strike a couple of things off his bucket list. He’s staying with an old army friend who runs a private security company with a contract to protect government officials. When one of the bodyguards doesn’t turn up for work, Milton offers to stand in. The job is routine: take the wife and daughter of an anti-corruption judge to a school recital. What could possibly go wrong? But the girl is snatched off the street and Milton is nearly killed. As he recovers at a Group Fifteen safe house, he works out what to do next. He has two objectives: first, he’s going to find the girl. And, second, he’s going to find the criminals who took her and punish them for what they’ve done. The conspirators think Milton is an old, washed-up drunk living on past glories. They couldn’t have made a worse mistake. Milton’s trip to Rio turns into a lethal quest that leads to the lawless favelas and the corridors of power, and then right into the horrific heart of darkness.