With the unexpected death of Russian President Aleksandr Luganov, and Iran's efforts to acquire fully operational nuclear warheads successfully thwarted, American President An-drew Clarke decides the moment has come to unveil his comprehensive proposal to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

However, when a series of senior Ameri-can officials involved in the peace process are assassinated, Clarke orders Marcus Ryker and a team of CIA operatives to hunt down those responsible and bring the killing spree to an end.

What Ryker uncovers is a chilling plot to kill the American president himself, but at first, it's unclear who is the driving force behind the plot. Is it the Russians, seek-ing payback for the assassination of Luganov? Is it the Iranians, in retaliation for the American operation to keep Tehran from acquiring nukes? Or is it another conspirator altogether, some-one plotting to strike a blow against American hegemony in the Middle East and seize the lead-ership of the entire Sunni Muslim world?

By the time Ryker and his team fully un-derstand the plot and who's behind it, they find they have 48 hours to disrupt a terrible evil that has been set in motion.