British Intelligence agent Nick Stone has just been given a chilling ultimatum: find a missing agent who appears to have defected or lose the guardianship of his nine-year-old goddaughter. In Stone's mind, there is no choice. The "runner" is Sarah Greenwood, U.K. liaison with the Counterterrorism Center. Steel-willed, beautiful, cunning, Sarah is also Nick's former lover, the only woman who has ever been allowed under his rough, impenetrable guard.But once Nick tracks down Sarah, his mission takes a decidedly dark turn. For suddenly they have become the hunted, racing deeper into a deadly conspiracy that will change the course of world events -- and the lives of millions.