The war on terror detonated, literally, when Sarajevo was obliterated by a homemade nuclear weapon. Major democracies devolved into all‑surveillance regimes, while the developing nations sank beneath a torrent of genocides. The enigmatic American John Paul appears responsible for the global system"s downfall, and intelligence operative Clavis Shepherd must pursue him through shattered societies in the ruins of collapsed empires to uncover the real core of darkness—a genocidal engine, in the ashes of their former hopes.