In 2003, in the chaos surrounding the Iraq War and the fall of Baghdad, a team of top freelance assassins infiltrates and then escapes the country with a near priceless treasure. Since then, there's been barely a whisper of a rumor of those men, the treasure, and what it actually means. A decade later, Judd Ryder returns to the DC area from a covert operation in Iraq to see his doppelganger across the street, a man who is wearing his clothes, living in his house, and pretending to be him. Just as he's about to confront him, Ryder watches as his double is killed in an all-too-convenient car accident. Not only was someone pretending to be him, someone else wanted to kill him. As he soon learns, the key to all of this is a legendary Cold War freelance assassin known as the Carnivore. Ryder and his colleague Eva Blake were the last two people known to have had contact with him. Now someone is trying to use them to lure the Carnivore out of retirement or hiding, wherever he might be. At stake appears to be a treasure of unimaginable value. And the players are the most dangerous freelancers on the world stage.