When Russian president Maxim Krupin discovers that he has inoperable brain cancer, he's determined to cling to power. Upon learning of Krupin's condition, CIA director Irene Kennedy understands that the US is facing an opponent who has nothing to lose. The only way to avoid a confrontation that could leave millions dead is to send Mitch Rapp to Russia under impossibly dangerous orders. If his mission is discovered, Rapp will plunge Russia and America into a conflict that neither will survive.