America's election is over, and the new Secretary of State goes to Europe to repair America's alliances. Along the way, Al Qaeda plans his assassination.
A new Administraton has begun in Washington, and Secretary of State Ronald Adams undertakes an initial trip to Europe in Air Force Two, determined to repair America's traditional alliances and image. Stops are planned at Dublin, Paris, Vienna, Moscow, Riga and London. Along the way, Al Qaeda plans his assassination, codenamed Operation Salah al-Din (Saladin).
In Dublin, the Secretary's party enjoys a warm welcome. Ambassador Carlisle, the newly confirmed American Ambassador to Latvia, an authority on antique furniture, spots a large Victorian era secretary in Ambassador McGowan's official Phoenix Park residence. He uncovers the Elizabethan era desk that it contains, and suspects that it has hidden compartments. He is not mistaken. The desk had been commissioned by Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe. It contains in a hidden compartment a priceless medieval manuscript. Carlisle returns to Dublin after the official party has left, and murders Ambassador McGowan.
The Secretary's official tour is a triumph. The welcome news of the return of American moral leadership heartens our friends. But his reasonable approach infuriates Al Qaeda. Following the narrow failure of an assassination plot within the Kremlin itself, the fallback plan, a mass assassination plan at Runnymede, is set in motion.