Book excerpt: A white supremacist, barricaded with his family on an isolated Montana mountaintop, holding off the cops with assault rifles. A brilliant hostage negotiator who has failed to come to terms with his personal demons, reluctantly taking leadership of the one case he can't afford to lose. A virtual army of state and local cops, national guardsmen, U.S. Marshals, and the FBI's elite hostage rescue team, clawing for jurisdiction, vowing vengeance for fallen comrades. A growing crowd of onlookers, sympathizers, and troublemakers, some willing to turn an isolated battle into an all-out war. A mixture as explosive and unstable as nitroglycerine... The Standoff. A stunning debut from a major new talent.