When Jesse McDermitt leaves the Marine Corps, he has no plans in place for the rest of his life. His greatest skill is neutralizing the enemy from up to a mile away, but there are few opportunities in the civilian world for a warrior. He only knows he doesn't want to spend the coming winter wearing a heavy coat and boots.

Jesse knows his way around boats and has an old friend in the Florida Keys, living day to day in paradise. Being an experienced diver and angler, Jesse immediately heads south toward the end of the road in Key West, a long dormant dream in his thoughts. With the help of friends, new and old, and a bulging bank account, Jesse finds just the right boat to not only live on, but soon uses to start a “very part-time” charter business. Things go smoothly until a barefoot Carolina girl, a Cat-5 hurricane, and a human trafficker all conspire against him at the same time.

Danger lurks in the sparkling waters off the sleepy little town of Marathon, in the heart of the Florida Keys, as well as in the dark, murky waters of the Everglades. But danger doesn't expect to run into someone like Jesse McDermitt—a man who will not only respond swiftly in facing it, but with overwhelming force.