A small nation that bolsters the terrorist cause is flexing its military muscle in a far corner of the world. On a mission to the now-volatile Mediterranean, F/A-18 pilot Lieutenant Ed Stovic shoots down an Algerian MiG at the climax of a dramatic, high-stakes dogfight and becomes an overnight hero in the eyes of his countrymen ... and the target of a zealot's revenge. Suddeny Stovic and his loved ones have been marked for death by an enraged avenger, a pawn of powerful Islamic extremists with devastating plans for America.But there is another player in the shadows, unseen by the hunters and the hunted alike. A specialist who moves covertly through the most secret branches of the government -- a lethal tool of an ambitious NSA Director who will stop at nothing to attain the power she covets -- Kent "Rat" Rathman must now devise a brilliant counterstrike ... to save a friend and his country.