During his final hours in the Oval Office, the outgoing president grants a controversial last-minute pardon to Joel Backman, a notorious Washington power broker who has spent the last six years hidden away in a federal prison for compromising an extremely sophisticated satellite surveillance system. Once released, Backman is quietly smuggled out of the country, given a new name, a new identity, and a new home in Italy. Soon, however, the CIA leaks his whereabouts to the Israelis, Russians, Chinese, and Saudis, then sit back and watch to see who will kill him first.