Iran is flexing its military muscle, kidnapping U.S. journalists and openly daring America to retaliate. But a hostile confrontation would spell political and global disaster, while doing nothing means exposing Americans to danger. To demonstrate Iran's worldwide reach, Iranian intelligence officers within the U.S. kidnap three prominent Americans from the Washington, D.C., area. Dispatched to free the hostages and get a handle on the main event, Stony Man discovers the planning stages of a radical multinational plot that could ignite the next—and last—world war.