To Die For

The third installment in the 6:20 Man series follows Travis Devine, a federal agent working for the Office of Special Projects (OSP), a covert unit under the Department of Homeland Security. After returning from a mission in Maine, Devine finds a threatening note from a mysterious assassin known as "the Girl on the Train." He reports it to his boss, Emerson Campbell, a retired Army two-star general, who assigns him a new mission: fly to Seattle to provide security for twelve-year-old Betsy Odom and escort her to a meeting with her uncle, Danny Glass, who is seeking emergency guardianship.

Glass is the defendant in a federal RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) prosecution, charged with crimes including drug distribution, extortion, and human trafficking. He and Devine share a history from Iraq, where Glass's heroism saved lives including those of Devine's platoon. After leaving the Army, Glass built a criminal empire. Betsy's parents, Dwayne and Alice Odom, recently died of reported drug overdoses, and the Department of Justice obtained temporary FBI guardianship of Betsy the same day, a speed that raises Devine's suspicions.

In Seattle, Devine meets FBI Special Agent Ellen Saxby, who guards Betsy in a run-down hotel and notes that three government witnesses against Glass have been murdered. Betsy is stone-faced and defiant. Over burgers, she tells Devine her parents were not drug users and she never administered Narcan, a medication used to reverse opioid overdoses, contradicting the official report. She wants Glass to take her in because he is wealthy and she has grown up in poverty.

That evening, a small-time informant named Perry Rollins offers to sell Devine information about Glass. Devine also meets Nate Shore, a former Army soldier, and Korey Rose, a former cook, both old friends of Dwayne who confirm the Odoms were not drug users. When Devine follows Rollins to a nearby bar, he finds the man dying from stab wounds. Detective Stephen Braddock of the Seattle PD takes the case.

Devine escorts Betsy to meet Glass at the Four Seasons. During the meal, Betsy nearly gives Devine a distress signal the two arranged in advance but stops after Glass makes her laugh. Devine then drives to the Odoms' trailer in rural Kittitas County, where he finds no drug paraphernalia and discovers Betsy's copy of Think and Grow Rich filled with margin notes revealing her ambition and love for her parents.

The narrative shifts to Pru Jackson, the Girl on the Train, a former CIA field agent who was betrayed by her superiors and spent two years being tortured in a foreign prison. Now a mercenary pursuing a vendetta against those who abandoned her, she travels to Seattle and tracks Devine's movements.

Over dinner, Betsy reveals that on the day her parents died, they drove from Ricketts, a remote town in southeastern Washington, after meeting two men who gave her father a duffel bag. Minutes later, both parents struggled to breathe and died. Devine travels to Ricketts, where the lavish government center and military-grade vehicles far exceed what the town's tax base could support. Police Chief Eric King, who uses a wheelchair, is unhelpful, and the Odoms' remains have been cremated. His wife, Mayor Mercedes King, is decades younger and calculating. That evening, armed men kidnap Devine, but he escapes through a crash maneuver and the intervention of a mysterious motorcycle rider.

Dr. Sara Coburn, the medical examiner who autopsied the Odoms, contacts Devine and reveals the official drug-overdose reports are forgeries. Her findings suggest cyanide poisoning combined with DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide), a compound that accelerates absorption through the skin. Before Devine can protect her, attackers destroy the building she is in, killing Coburn. Devine is hospitalized with a concussion but discharges himself to attend Betsy's guardianship hearing.

At the hearing, the DOJ withdraws the RICO case against Glass on national security grounds. When the judge asks Betsy about her wishes, she stuns the courtroom by naming Devine as her preferred guardian. After initial resistance, Devine agrees.

That night, Jackson meets Devine at Seattle's Gum Wall, a well-known alley landmark. She warns him the situation extends far beyond Glass or Betsy and reveals that Mayor Mercedes King is actually Anne Cassidy, a former CIA colleague who orchestrated Jackson's imprisonment. CIA officers Will Chambers and Angela Davenport then contact Devine, revealing that Glass has been cooperating against a domestic terrorist organization called 12/24/65, named for the date the Ku Klux Klan was founded. The group plans to overthrow the U.S. government and includes members in Congress, the military, and law enforcement. Ricketts is their unofficial headquarters.

Devine confronts Saxby after learning her burned-out persona is fabricated. She admits the FBI manipulated Devine's bond with Betsy, using the girl as bait to provoke a 12/24/65 attack and force Glass's full cooperation.

Returning to Ricketts, Devine confronts the Cowboy Tavern waitress, identified by Campbell's research as Dr. Madeline Trumbull, a chemist with ties to militia groups. Trumbull confesses she poisoned the Odoms with cyanide-laced antibacterial wipes given under the pretext of a flu outbreak. She then swallows her own poison and dies. In the Odoms' bedroom, Devine discovers that Alice Glass was adopted and that Dwayne was incapable of fathering children. Glass admits he is Betsy's biological father, having conceived her at Alice's request. Dwayne eventually learned the truth and sold Glass's secret to 12/24/65, who paid the Odoms with the car and trailer. When Dwayne threatened to go public, the organization murdered both parents.

Devine takes Betsy to her trailer with Shore and Rose standing guard. A drone-delivered bomb destroys the home, but Devine evacuates everyone in time. In the chaos, Rose is killed and Betsy is abducted. Devine and Shore trace her to a 12/24/65 safe house outside Ricketts, eliminate the guards, and rescue the girl. Glass, meanwhile, has vanished with Mercedes King, who intends to ransom him to his criminal enemies. Devine and Shore assault King's home and free Glass while federal agents simultaneously raid the 12/24/65 compound. Jackson extracts King's confession to orchestrating Jackson's imprisonment via video call, then detonates an explosive under King's home, killing her.

In the aftermath, Devine locates a USB stick Rollins had hidden in a neighbor's apartment, containing evidence on Glass, and passes it to Glass. Braddock confirms that captured 12/24/65 operatives have confessed to Rollins's murder. At the Seattle airport, Devine says goodbye to Betsy, Glass, and Shore, who are heading abroad while Glass cooperates with the government. Shore has been hired as Betsy's companion and protector. Betsy gives Devine a drawing of the two of them holding hands and asks him to visit. Devine receives a final text from Jackson, wishing him well and offering her help if he ever needs it.