As The family gather to celebrate the silver anniversary of Angela and James Donaldson, he is found dead. Inquiries into his death soon question, the initial supposition of an accident as a web of distrust and animosity is unearthed.

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In the aftermath of 9/11 and the run up to the Iraq war, US President Mike Santos rides high in the polls. But to stay there he needs Saddam Hussein's scrotum, hanging from his gun belt. When Britain's Secret Intelligence Service uncovers a terrorist plot to detonate a Dirty Bomb in Washington DC, Alex Bowman is dispatched to the States to help the overstretched US authorities deal with the problem. The leading hawk in the US cabinet, Secretary of Defence Karl Herzfeld, pressures the CIA to conjure up the missing evidence of WMDs he needs to justify the war. When the CIA fails to produce the necessary data Herzfeld resolves to facilitate the detonation of the Dirty Bomb, pin the blame on Saddam Hussein and justify the war. As Alex Bowman tracks the terrorists, a desperate Herzfeld unleashes a mortar attack on Washington DC, claiming the assault is Iraqi inspired. Tanks rumble onto the White House lawn as Special Forces troops surround the capital. With Washington under siege and Herzfeld apparently in charge the terrorists are assured a free hand. The Dirty Bomb is put in place, ready to detonate. But Alex Bowman and his FBI associates are in hot pursuit...