Chapter One Summary

The book begins with the main protagonists fifteen-year-old Aiden Falconer and his eleven-year-old sister Meg who have just recently survived an ordeal in which their parents, John and Louise Falconer, were falsely accused of aiding and abetting terrorists. Because the parents were imprisoned before a fair trial, Aiden and Meg were forced to go on the run from state and federal authorities for several months. Because they cleverly eluded capture for so long, the FBI has a begrudging admiration for the two youngsters. It is not everyone, after all, who can outwit the FBI for weeks on end and succeed at it.

Eventually, the reader learns, John and Louise were cleared of their non-existent crimes and Aiden and Meg were reunited with their parents. In this back story, all of which occurs before the book even begins in the terse Prologue...