What happens if both the president and vice-president-elect die before taking the oath of office? The answer is far from certain?in fact, what follows would be nothing short of total political chaos. Shot down over Siberia, ex-Justice Department agent Cotton Malone is forced into a fight for survival against Aleksandr Zorin, a man whose loyalty to the former Soviet Union has festered for decades into an intense hatred of the United States. Before escaping, Malone learns that Zorin and another ex-KGB officer, this one a sleeper still embedded in the West, are headed overseas to Washington D.C. Noon on January 20th?Inauguration Day?is only hours away. A flaw in the Constitution, and an even more flawed presidential succession act, have opened the door to disaster and Zorin intends to exploit both weaknesses to their fullest. Armed with a weapon leftover from the Cold War, one long thought to be just a myth, Zorin plans to attack. He s aided by a shocking secret hidden in the archives of America s oldest fraternal organization?the Society of Cincinnati?a group that once lent out its military savvy to presidents, including helping to formulate three invasion plans of what was intended to be America s 14th colony?Canada. In a race against the clock that starts in the frozen extremes of Russia and ultimately ends at the White House itself, Malone must not only battle Zorin, he must also confront a crippling fear that he s long denied, but which now jeopardizes everything. Steve Berry s trademark mix of history and speculation is all here in this provocative new thriller."