A blast from out of the past . . . After a mission goes wrong Jack Ryan heads to Barcelona for some required R&R. In a restaurant he bumps into old friend Renee Moore - but they have barely time to talk before a bomb blows the place apart. Dying in Jack's arms, Renee gasps a final word: 'Sammler'. Unsure who or what this is but not a believer in coincidences, he decides to investigate both Renee's reasons for being in Spain and the bombing itself. Soon, Jack is on the trail of a secretive organisation intent on bringing the world's great powers to the brink of war . . .