Former LAPD detective Nicholas Marten's investigation into the murder of his former girlfriend leads him across the globe and to a chance meeting with US President John Henry Harris. But President Harris is on the run from a murderous cabal. With the help of Demi Picard, a beautiful and enigmatic French photojournalist, Marten and Harris uncover one of the most secretive and brutally powerful groups this world has ever known. This brotherhood of blood will stop at nothing to realise their deprived ambitions. The origin of their evil reaches back to the Renaissance, when the dying political thinker Niccolo Machiavelli fashioned a sinister addendum to his most famous work, The Prince. Titled simply The Covenant, it is a terrifying blueprint for the gaining and keeping of true political power. For 500 years, this despotic order of the supremely rich and powerful has kept Machiavelli's original manuscript hidden away under heavy guard, the document itself worshipped like a divine artefact. Outmanned, outnumbered, outgunned, three people now stand alone against this sinister group: Nicholas Marten, Demi Picard, and John Henry Harris, president of the United States.