"Dick, I need a war." Nicolas Creel is a man on a mission. He heads up the world's largest defense contractor, The Ares Corporation. He's retained Dick Pender to "perception manage" his company to even more riches by manipulating world conflicts. However, Creel may have an even grander plan in mind. Shaw (no first name), a man with a truly unique past, travels the world reluctantly doing the bidding of a secret multi-national intelligence agency in order to keep the world at peace--and safe. Katie James, a journalist who will do anything to get back to the top of her profession, has just gotten the break of a lifetime, the chance to interview the sole survivor of a massacre that has left citizens around the world stunned.