When Detective Emma Stone examines what locals call a hiking accident near Talkeetna, Alaska, the skull fracture doesn't match the fall. The young geologist's defensive wounds bring FBI Agent Jeremiah Steele to her investigation. Stone reads crime scenes like sheet music, catching details others miss. Steele analyzes evidence with mathematical precision. Oil and water-until they discover Marcus Chen died protecting a secret hidden in Alaska's gold-bearing streams. Their search leads to the Alliance compound, where solar panels and organic gardens mask a darker purpose. The survivalists preach environmental protection, but someone believes murder is conservation. When Emma's cover is blown, she flees through wilderness where her father's harsh survival training becomes the difference between life and death. Through a spring storm that grounds helicopters and floods roads, Emma evades armed pursuit while Steele races to find her. The killer waits in an abandoned mining cabin, where Alaska's unforgiving landscape will deliver its own verdict. Gold sparked Alaska's first murders in 1898. Now it's claiming new victims, and two mismatched investigators must survive the wilderness to stop a killer who sees death as preservation.
