PJ Carpenter senses something odd in the rhythm of the terror world. For weeks, the veteran CIA paramilitary officer has been raising alarms that al Qaeda is up to something. The terror group has been unusually quiet. More troubling is the fact that its most lethal commander, a man known only as Mumeet-the Bringer of Death-has gone completely off the radar. But by the time US intelligence realizes that Carpenter's instincts are on the mark, it may be too late. Pressured into action by its recently-named new leader, al Qaeda is already well on its way to a dramatic return to jihad operations. And Carpenter's nemesis Mumeet will lead the first attack under the new strategy; one that will strike at the heart of the US homeland and two paragons of American culture. With little else to go on, Carpenter is sent to Cairo to hunt down two mysterious men. As he travels from Egypt and on to South America gathering bits of intelligence, it becomes clear he is chasing Mumeet, and the terrorist is already inside the United States. Now Carpenter and the US government are running out of time to uncover the plot and stop the Bringer of Death before he unleashes the most devastating attacks on US soil since 2001.