Unimpressed with D.C dealings, Kayla Jeateski doesn't bother with politics until the evening politics bother with her. Kidnapped to swing a vote, she's caught up in a brutal game that has her playing with missing pieces and an unfair rulebook that sets her even further behind.
Aided by another pawn and a conflicted knight or two, Kayla tries to keep up. But Washington is never a competition for the weak, and her opponent is far too familiar with pushing power.
If the senator has his way, Kayla can't help but recognize that she's looking at her final match.
Angry at the country he once fought for, Thomas Evans tried out a different team. But months in, he's learned that some games shouldn't be played. In re-switching sides though, he pits himself against a ruthless opponent: Senator Aaron Greyble, who knows all the dirty tricks on Capitol Hill.
That includes how to hit him where it hurts. Evans' own allies – a traumatized kidnapped victim, a guilt-ridden subordinate, and his already affected family – can all easily be used against him.
Those painful potential checkmates make it hard to stay on the offensive, even for a man with Evans' past.
With his Mafia links and his job with a shady senator, Rod Andiluigi thought he was made for a life of crime – from breaking into offices to stealing files to threatening anyone stupid enough to get on his boss' bad side. It isn't until his first kidnapping gig that he realizes he's out of his league. Not that reformation is any easier.
There's a long list of players plotting against him: his boss, a ruthless hitman... people supposedly on his side. Yet Rod knew he wasn't at the kiddy table when he chose to play it straight.
So he's going to see the game through. Even if it's going to be his own teammates that get him killed.