This original short story takes us back in time to show us how it all began. On a whirlwind, action-packed thriller ride through Italy, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, it shows us the beginning of CIA operative Agent Zero's career - and brings us up to the fateful moment when his memory came to be lost.

Jacob Snow—elite soldier-turned-CIA agent, haunted by his tortured past—is one of the CIA’s greatest assets and is dispatched when the stakes are highest. When an ancient Egyptian relic goes missing under mysterious circumstances, Jacob knows this is no run-of-the-mill robbery: The relic holds a secret—one that could destroy everything.

When nuclear waste is stolen by jihadists in the middle of the night from an unguarded New York City hospital, the police, in a frantic race against time, call in the FBI. Luke Stone, head of an elite, secretive department within the FBI, is the only man they can turn to. Luke realizes right away that the terrorists' aim is to create a dirty bomb, that they seek a high-value target, and that they will hit it within 48 hours.

Archeologists are found murdered in the wake of discovering a mysterious, precious relic deep in the jungles of South America. Jacob Snow, elite soldier-turned-CIA agent, finds himself in a race against time to uncover the mysterious motives. Not only is this ancient relic priceless, but it could unsettle world security.

Every day without fail, Travis Devine puts on a cheap suit, grabs his faux-leather briefcase, and boards the 6:20 commuter train to Manhattan, where he works as an entry-level analyst at the city’s most prestigious investment firm. In the mornings, he gazes out the train window at the lavish homes of the uberwealthy, dreaming about joining their ranks. In the evenings, he listens to the fiscal news on his phone, already preparing for the next grueling day in the cutthroat realm of finance. Then one morning Devine’s tedious routine is shattered by an anonymous email: She is dead.