There were no records of how many Viktor Bukharov tortured in Russian prisons, but his victims would all agree, those who died were the lucky ones. Working his crony network Bukharov orchestrated illegal drug testing protocols and bribed Russian officials on behalf of a profit-hungry company.
Bukharov knew that journalist Kyle Tolliver had enough evidence to write an expose that would destroy everything. He threatened to kill Kyle if he ever did.
When Kyle revealed the truth in the New York Times that ten volunteers had died testing a vaccine, Springer Pharmaceutical was ruined and life as he knew it was over.
As Springer execs went to prison, Bukharov went on a rampage to take his revenge on Kyle. Like a hunted animal Kyle fled to Europe, working for Intellispan under a false identity. On assignment in Amsterdam Ellen Wheatley called him from Maine. She was his father’s hospice coordinator urging him to come home.
Ellen knew he was estranged from his father who had abused him growing up. Was she calling strictly out of duty?
He risked returning home to Southwest Harbor to find the answer and perhaps reunite with Ellen, the only woman he ever loved.
Unwanted publicity about the return of the whistleblower reached Bukharov, who immediately raced up the coast for Southwest Harbor. He located the Tolliver home, broke in and took Kyle’s father and Ellen hostage. Kyle lured him outside by taking cover in the boathouse, the very setting of his father’s beatings. To flush him out Bukharov torched the old shed. With the walls and roof collapsing around him, Kyle broke through the flames to face the killer.