Book excerpt: From below the Christmas tree lights of Rockefeller Center, Zach Pike, star quarterback of the New York Jets, is brutally kidnapped. As girlfriend Meg Symes helplessly looks on, Zach is spirited away, just the start of an overseas odyssey that will have him shackled, shown to the world by way of a grisly CNN video - put on display. But why? Does the answer lie in secrets relating to the defense contract work of Zach’s father, Ben? Or is it all owing to a childhood friendship Zach and Meg shared with Zvi Langer, an Israeli with a clandestine list of terrorist kills? As a vortex of events swirl around the seemingly senseless abduction, Zvi and Meg get reacquainted and work as a team to help their friend; the U.S. Attorney General gets suspicious and presses for an investigation of Ben Pike even as the FBI interestingly opposes it; and a rogue CIA Director of Operations plays a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with the abductors. The climax involves the harrowing reunion of Zach, Meg, and Zvi in a high stakes international crisis that is also a test of individual courage.