Terrorists storm into the crowded House of Representatives and open fire. Within minutes, more than a hundred members of Congress and staff lie wounded, dead, or dying on the floor of the nerve center of American democracy. The nation is shocked, the President is in hiding, the armed forces are on alert... But who perpetrated this horror, and why? Are the conspirators foreign? Domestic? A drug cartel? Right-wing militiamen? A foreign country? Perhaps even homegrown seekers of power? Dead terrorists can tell no tales. Enter James Burlane bearing a commission from the President himself. A maverick former CIA agent, gourmet, wit, cynic, and patriot, Burlane asks the time-honored question, "Who profits?" The answers lead him to the heart of a conspiracy that threatens the integrity of the American government.