Intelligence work is a great deal like flying. While flying is hours of sheer boredom with moments of stark terror, intelligence work is weeks of sheer boredom with moments of stark panic. Ben Jourdon works an analyst at the National Security Agency, specializing in the Middle East. He hadn't sought the job, and he isn't sure he even wants it. As with many of the things in life, though, Ben has little choice-the job is an excellent cover. The only thing he ever really wanted was to be a career Air Force flying officer, but that was not to be. After six years of flying, he had been medically grounded, courtesy of a bullet in Vietnam, and had to seek a new direction. The next six years saw him working as a Signals Intelligence Officer, but that came to an end on a dark street in Athens some eight years before. As for his true avocation, though, he was a professional assassin. What a surprise it would be for the security people at the NSA to find out about this other job ...