A lone figure stands silhouetted atop the Mausoleum of Hadrian. Behind him, the sun is setting; below, the river is in full flood. The City of Rome lies on the far bank. Footsteps pound up the stairs. He jumps. Bruised and battered, he crawls out of the raging river. Alone, unarmed, without money or friends, he has only twenty-four hours to expose a deadly conspiracy, and save the leader of the world.