Criminal organizations succeed by enforcing a strict code of trust and loyalty. To penetrate these organizations and gain access to their inner circles the police need a magic bullet. Alex Caine is that magic bullet. Only thirty years old, Alex, who grew up hard on the mean streets of Montreal, already brings a lifetime’s worth of experience (foster care, military service, prison time) to the world’s most dangerous occupation: professional gang infiltrator. It is his job to befriend criminals, participate in their illegal activities, gather evidence – then live long enough to testify against them in court.

When allied troops liberate a small battle-scarred Belgium town in 1944 the American and British commanders do all they can to help the war-weary people back on their feet. There are mental and physical wounds to heal, fields to plough, the church to rebuild. But a top Nazi, knowing the War is lost, has infiltrated the town and is fostering dissent and disunity.