"In the 1980s, Simon Cross enjoyed a life of international intrigue as the world's greatest secret agent; today, he's a retiree who splits his time between romancing widows and ruminating on whether the various missions he undertook as a younger man were as much about saving the world as they were maintaining a status quo favorable to those in positions of power. Enter Liberty Nuance, an old flame bearing life-altering news: their fiery fling three decades earlier resulted in the birth of a daughter, Lily, a brilliant geologist currently targeted for assassination by the mysterious leader of a multinational corporation. And so, plot thus set, Cross embarks upon an investigation that quickly escalates into a globe-spanning battle against a variety of sinister villains."--