Sean Dillon (abridged)

Russian writer and ex-paratrooper named Alexander Kurbsky has gotten fed up with the Putin government, and decides he wants to "disappear" into the West. He is under no illusions, however, about how the news will be greeted at home, having seen too many of his countrymen die mysteriously at the hands of the thuggish Russian security services....

A disturbing audiotape has made its way to General Charles Ferguson, adviser to the prime minister, and from him to the president of the United States: battlefield chatter from an ambush in Helmand province, Afghanistan, in which 12 U.S. Army Rangers and a British medical team died. Most of the Taliban voices are Afghan, but not all of them - shockingly, some of them are British, and one in particular, the voice of the commander, bears an Irish accent.

The President is coming to London, but not to an entirely warm welcome. A fanatical mullah is offering a blessing to anyone who will assassinate the President, and though most London Muslims think the mullah has crossed the line, a few think otherwise. Urgently, Sean Dillon, General Charles Ferguson, and the rest of the small band known as the “Prime Minister’s private army” are called in, augmented by an extra-ordinary new recruit, an intelligence captain and Afghan war hero named Sara Gideon.

An eminent Iranian scientist has made a startling breakthrough in nuclear weapons research, but he can’t stand the thought of his country owning the bomb. He would run if he could, but if he does, his family dies. He is desperate, he doesn’t know what to do. It is up to Sean Dillon and the rest of the small band known as the “Prime Minister’s private army” to come up with a plan. Most particularly, it is up to their newest member, an intelligence captain and Afghan war hero named Sara Gideon, who thinks there just might be a way to bring it off.