Natalie Black, the U.S. ambassador to the Court of St. James's, has returned to Washington, her job in jeopardy. Her fiance, George McCallum, Viscount Lockenby, has died in a car accident, and mysterious rumors that she's responsible have begun to surface: that after she broke off the engagement, McCallum, devastated, killed himself. Then someone tries to force her off the A2 outside London. Again, rumors claim it was a sympathy ploy. When Black returns to the United States, she's nearly killed when a car almost mows her down while she's out for a run. No one believes her except FBI Special Agent Davis Sullivan. Meanwhile, somebody is following Sherlock. A stalker? Someone tries to shoot her from the back of a motorcycle, but the assailant gets away. Sherlock next receives a call from an Atlanta mental hospital, warning her that Blessed Backman has escaped. This is not good news. Blessed is an unusually cunning psychopath, out for revenge against the agents, primarily Sherlock, whom his dying mother had begged him to kill ever since she and Savich brought down her cult. How to discover who's trying to kill the ambassador to the United Kingdom? How to locate Blessed before he succeeds in finding and killing Sherlock? The clock is ticking as the danger intensifies.