The action begins six days after a series of explosions
devastated Washington, D.C., targeting the National
Counterterrorism Center and killing 185 people, including
public officials and CIA employees. It was a bizarre act of
extreme violence that called for extreme measures on the
part of elite counterterrorism operative Mitch Rapp and his
trusted team member, Mike Nash. Now that the initial shock
of the catastrophe is over, key Washington officials are up
in arms over whether to make friends or foes of the agents
who stepped between the enemy's bullets and countless
American lives regardless of the legal consequences. Not
for the first time, Rapp finds himself in the frustrating
position of having to illustrate the realities of national
security to politicians whose view from the sidelines is
inevitably obstructed.
Meanwhile, three of the al Qaeda terrorists are still at
large, and Rapp has been unofficially ordered to find them
by any means necessary. No one knows the personal,
physical, and emotional sacrifices required of the job
better than Rapp. When he sees Nash cracking under the
pressure of the mission and the memories of the horrors he
witnessed during the terrorist attack, he makes a call he
hopes will save his friend, assuage the naysayers on
Capitol Hill, and get him one step closer to the enemy
before it's too late. Once again, Rapp proves himself to be
a hero unafraid "to walk the fine line between the moral
high ground and violence" (The Salt Lake Tribune) for our
country's safety, for the sake of freedom, for the pursuit
of honor.