What if a foreign rogue nation launched a war against the United States within its own borders? America's largest cities are in flames. Its majestic landmarks are in ruins. Electronic sabotage cripples its far-flung communications systems. Race battles against race in a raging civil conflagration. The first waves of a meticulously orchestrated international terrorist campaign have achieved a stunning and terrifying success. As grim national leaders hunker down with advisors, as the finest living minds in strategic intelligence together with state-of-the-art computers link up to search out and destroy the source of the savagery, as armies both with and without uniforms mobilize to win the ultimate unconventional war, two men - once friends, now adversaries to the death - race to a decisive confrontation.

On one side is General Amir Taleh, an implacable foe of the United States, a nimble survivor of the brutal cross-currents of Iran's internal politics, and a shrewd fighter who believes that killing for revenge is pointless but killing for a higher purpose is justified.

Opposing him are two American operatives who become tactical allies as well as unexpected lovers: Colonel Peter Thorn, the Delta Force veteran who has faced down the masters of terror on foreign soil and now feels powerless to defeat them at home; and Special Agent Helen Gray, as beautiful as she is a formidable player in the old-boy network of special operations. Together, they must find a way to defeat Taleh and his forces before the West awakens to its greatest nightmare of all.