Book excerpt: It is the Fall of 2000. Evan Pannick has endured a hostage situation in One Freak Day and has returned to the life that he treasures, knowing that despite some uncomfortable perspectives, he is Very Happy To Be Here! In The DeSoto Mission, the difficulty of dealing with his own mysterious medical problem continues to defy explanation and then becomes life-threatening. Finally his physician, Phillipa St Barbarra, feels that she has made a breakthrough. However, this discovery may be even more lethal to Evan. Superimposed on the situation is Evan's misguided graduate student Adam who so desperately wants a transplant for his ailing mother that he deploys a nuclear weapon, obtained during a training period abroad. Evan is left by the FBI to confront the nuclear device in the medieval Castle that broods unoccupied outside town. A mysterious Cherokee Indian enters Evan's life and reveals the source of Evan's medical problem by unveiling Evan's past and his involvement in The DeSoto Mission.