In the ashes of atomic war, Mayor Lloyd Riddell has rebuilt Center City into a fragile refuge of hope, only to see that peace threatened by neighboring Northburg and its conquest-driven leader, David Barr. When a spy is killed and a warning reaches him, Riddell refuses to answer violence with violence, even as his hatred for Barr burns hot enough to tempt him toward war. Instead, he sends his ally Ken Naylor on urgent errands and goes alone to confront the danger at its source. On the road to Northburg, Riddell wrestles with his conviction that peace must be defended without becoming another form of destruction. What he finds is a fortified, militarized town ruled by fear. After overpowering a guard, he steals the man's uniform and identity, slipping inside disguised as one of Barr's soldiers. Within Northburg's walls, Riddell discovers a population uneasy under armed patrols and resentful of Barr's ambitions. In a bar, he overhears farmers openly opposing the coming war and realizes that resistance may already be stirring. As he probes their anger under cover of arrest, Riddell sees a chance to stop the looming conflict before it explodes, and to do it without sacrificing the hard-won ideals that Center City represents. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.