Kidnapped by a cult of religious fanatics, an Austin school bus driver and eleven of his young charges are being held below ground in the cult's highly fortified compund, and federal investigators are making no progress in recuing the hostages. Molly Cates is the only reporter to have interviewed the cult's leader, Samuel Mordecai... an experience she loaths to repeat. Yet when one of the children's mothers pleads for Molly's help, how can she refuse? As the clock ticks, Molly races against time to psyche out the crazed Mordecai before he begins his final sacrifice.