In the mid-21st century, a second civil war threatens to destroy America when the President falls to a bullet while across the oceans the twelve wealthiest Russian oligarchs overthrow the authoritarian Russian dictatorship and divide the country into twelve great houses between them. Then, after America defaults on its massive debts with China, China's economy implodes, igniting a catastrophic depression. As the three great nations slide towards anarchy and extinction, two extraordinary men simultaneously rise in prominence in the global power vacuum.

One, an obscure U.N. administrator with cultlike charisma, is quietly bringing the countries of Europe together and then he intends to unite all nations under a New World Order with himself holding the absolute powers of Imperator. The other, a man who claims to be a direct descendant of Genghis Khan, embarks upon a war of conquest to restore Mongolia to her former greatness and then he intends to fulfill the dreams of his legendary forefather and build a single-world empire with himself holding the absolute powers of the Khan of Khans. A battle to the death between East and West appears inevitable.

Meanwhile, a freelance agent named Max Doss, working for a secret, off-the-books U.S. agency led by a man known as Herr Direktor, finds himself caught in the middle of a deadly arms race between Mongolia, Europe, and the U.S., a race to harness recently discovered alien technology. Doss must find an obscure but brilliant Vietnamese man named Billy Duc before America's rivals do as he may be the only person on the planet who can unlock the secrets of alien technology. If Doss fails, America will certainly fall.