Summary

Chapters 1-5 Summary

Rachel Sexton is meeting her father at a well-known restaurant in Washington, DC. Rachel's father is Senator Sedgewick Sexton, the republican candidate for President. Her father is trying unsuccessfully to get her to leave her job as intelligence liaison to the White House. While there, Rachel is paged. On her way to work, she is paged again. The message is the same as the first: that she is to report to the her boss, the director of the National Reconnaissance Office immediately. As Rachel makes her way to the director's office, she is paged for a third time. When she meets with her boss, William Pickering, he informs her that the President of the United States wants to see her immediately. Pickering appears concerned that the President intends to capitalize on the rift between Rachel and her father, who is the President's political opponent. Pickering does not have any...

Chapters 6 - 10 Summary

Rachel is transported via helicopter to see President Zachary Herney aboard Air Force One, which is parked at an old NASA launch site. They go to his on-board office, and he admits to Rachel that he intends to use her for political purposes.The President tells Rachel that NASA has made a very important discovery and wants to know if Rachel shares her father's poor opinion of space exploration. Rachel admits that NASA has had its fair share of costly and well-publicized mistakes lately that her father has used to his advantage. President Herney admits that he has always been a huge supporter of NASA, and they have recently made a discovery that will justify all the money invested in the agency.

Meanwhile, Senator Sexton is in a limousine on his way to a live debate being broadcast by CNN. With him is his campaign assistant, Gabrielle Ashe. They...

Chapters 11 - 15 Summary

Rachel ponders what the President has told her. She thinks a monumental discovery must mean that NASA has discovered evidence of extra-terrestrial life, but at the same time,...