The Inner Sanctum Book

On the surface, David Mitchell and the beautiful Jesse Hayes could not be more different. David is a fast-rising, lavishly compensated young portfolio manager in the nation's most profitable closed-end fund, the ultra-exclusive and expensive Sagamore Investment Management Group. Jesse, both attractive and smart, is an underpaid agent for the IRS. But both are drawn closer together in a web of venomous deception and death that stretches from the frenzy of Wall Street to the darkest corridors of Washington, D.C. David, a kid from the wrong side of the tracks about to make it big beyond his wildest dreams of wealth, is willing to do almost anything to assure that the company he has backed wins a gigantic government contract. Already he has lied and bribed to push the deal through. But then he crosses paths with Jesse, whose IRS boss has mysteriously died, and who has tax files pointing a finger of suspicion at the well-financed senatorial campaign of entrepreneur Elbridge Coleman. Coleman, whose connections to the military-industrial complex may run deeper than he is willing to acknowledge, is out to unseat the incumbent senator, known for attacking the excesses of the defense industry. David and Jesse are immediately attracted to each other, but as each begins to learn more about the other, pieces of a gigantic puzzle fall into place, revealing blackmail and corruption in the form of billions of dollars hidden in the military sector's top-secret "black budget," and the huge corporate interests that profit from it. Naturally, Jesse and her file are attracting some very unwelcome attention from powerful quarters, filling her with fear. Can she trust David with her life? Can David trust himself to resist the grim pressures and glittering promises of those who wish him to betray her?