Renegade

Renegade, the second of the five-novel Marq'ssan Cycle, opens in August 2077 as the Pacific Northwest Free Zone, having survived the first year of its existence, faces both internal and external challenges. The US's Security Services has deployed a paramilitary covert action team to capture Kay Zeldin, Security's most wanted renegade, and destabilize the Zone's civil order. Nevertheless, Kay ventures outside the Free Zone to search for her spouse and dozens of other scientists who have disappeared, travelling through a war-torn American landscape she barely recognizes. When she encounters Security's formidable Elizabeth Weatherall, each woman risks all she has become in no-holds-barred, mortal combat.