On a trip to Raleigh Lynn Powers meets with a gentleman who feels he is sitting on the board of a poorly run nonprofit. Lynn agrees to research the agency and give him her opinion. Her investigation raises concerns about the credibility of the nonprofit. As a follow-up to her review of the nonprofit, she travels to Raleigh to report her findings. She travels with Mars who is scheduled to speak with cadets in the highway patrol training program. They stop to visit Lynn’s friend and are in time to save him from an assassination attempt. Their role in saving him draws attention from the people who have organized the questionable nonprofit as a money laundering scheme. Those involved in the scheme target Mars for termination. This all adds excitement to the usual winter holiday activities in River Bend.