Former Justice Department operative Cotton Malone has hunted priceless treasures and confronted ruthless adversaries around the world. Now, a grave threat to the very foundation of our country has summoned him home to America.

It is 1906, and in New York City, the Italian crime group known as the Black Hand (La Mano Nera) is on a spree: kidnapping, extortion, arson. Detective Isaac Bell of the Van Dorn Agency is hired to form a special "Black Hand squad," but the gangsters appear to be everywhere -- so much so that Bell begins to wonder if there are imitators, criminals using the name for the terror effect. And then the murders begin, each one of a man more powerful than...

Shanghai noon: An Imperial guard journeys from China to the American West, where he partners with an outlaw cowboy to rescue the daughter of the Chinese emperor, who has been kidnapped. Shanghai knights: Chon Wang and Roy O'Bannon travel to London together after Chon Wang's father is murdered by Chinese rebels, and meet turn-of-the-century figures in British history.

Bob Lee Swagger is a master marksman who has retreated from his duty as an off-the-books hired gun for the military. He has become disillusioned with his government, but finds that the government needs Swagger to scope out the location of a rumored attempt on the life of the president. A shadowy government operative begs Swagger to use his sniper's skills to out-fox the assassin. Ultimately he is double-crosses and framed for the attempted assassination....