Roger Ferris is one of the CIA's soldiers in the war on terrorism. He has come out of Iraq with a shattered leg and an intense mission - to penetrate the network of a master terrorist known only as "Suleiman." Ferris's plan for getting inside Suleiman's tent is inspired by a masterpiece of British intelligence during World War II: He prepares a body of lies, literally the corpse of an imaginary CIA officer who appears to have accomplished the impossible...

Working in secret for years to solve the puzzle in the writings of the 17th-century astronomer Johannes Kepler, Ivan Volkov, after the loss of his son and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, makes the fraught decision to contact the CIA, risking his life to help stop the Doomsday clock.

CIA operative Roger Ferris is on a covert mission. He is working in Jordan and searching for terrorists who have been bombing civilian targets. Ferris uncovers information on the Islamist mastermind Al-Saleem. He devises a plan to infiltrate Al-Saleem's terrorist network with the help of his Langley boss, Ed Hoffman. Ferris enlists the help of the Chief of Jordanian Intelligence, Hani Salaam on this operation, but what he is not certain of is how...