The Zigzag Xanadu

Where had the time gone?

And how was it that five years could feel like fifty?

The first two he'd spent in beautiful, exotic Hong Kong. Making use of the country's miniaturized nuclear bombs just seemed natural somehow. Creating a new China by converting stock market mogul, Mr. Chin, into Emperor Chin got it done.

After that, tight relations were developed with the newly-crowned Czarina Anastasia of Russia. The odds of nuclear war with the world's two other major players, Crayle and his crew reduced to zero.

Despite their Give Tyranny A Chance anthem, master spy Crayle put down the intellectual totalitarianism of the Illuminé across the globe. And so went their German offshoot, the Aryan Alliance.

The world's three religious leaders finally came on board with the target of World Peace. Would extorting them to such an ominous peace get Magus Crayle into Heaven when the time came?

Lessons and skills learned in the world of espionage could be well applied to normal life. But would they be enough? The team members now moved on as if the past few years were imagined, not lived. They were done and gone.

So, what now?

Under the President's orders for some rest and relaxation, Crayle travels across the Atlantic. Some new places, some old. His wife, Hekka, heads in the opposite direction as she pursues a lifelong quest to find her ancestors.

As if a magic hand is in control, the Crayle team, world leaders, and those in between converge onto the most unlikely place possible.

But, as with rust, tyranny never dies.

And the result is explosive.

Indeed.