After the court convicted a powerful radical leader of a felony, he was found dead in his cell. Amid a public outcry, Herbst Grummond took the blame for a FBI operation gone awry. He ended his forbidden affair with a beautiful juror from the trial; gave up a brilliant Bureau career; and moved to a remote island, unaware that by doing so he became the only person that the FBI could use in a new kind of crisis. Now the President of the United States was missing, but no one was talking and the public was unaware. Grummond, a long-time friend of the president, was the only one who could try to contact him without arousing suspicion. When attempts to renew his relationship with the former juror fails, he finds that she is also missing; and discovers that both disappearances are tied to a twisted and shocking link to the past.