When he and his son visit the Central American country of Costa Verde as guests of Peralta, the ousted president's wealthy son, and Elena, the president's recently widowed daughter, Mallory's son is snatched by the ruling junta's goons. With his son a "disappeared" and his hosts plotting counter-revolution, Mallory is shanghaied by his commander-in-chief for an unprecedented return to active duty. He's ordered to go underground in Central America to track down a renegade CIA agent.

Abruptly, he's plunged into an unfamiliar world of spymasters turned agents, highly placed moles, and even Vatican politics. Mallory can't prove it, but he has stumbled onto economic terrorists posing as the archbishop and priests at Costa Verde's National Cathedral, protected by their mole in the Vatican. With the counter-revolution in full swing, and his loyalties wrenched between duty, finding his son, and a deepening love affair with Elena, it's up to Deke Mallory to expose and bring down the Hidden Empire - if he can just stay alive long enough to get back into the cockpit!