Plot
The five high-risk prisoners leave Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Among them is Philippe Roussard, a top sniper. The U.S. lets them go in a secret deal, thinking they can track the men with a trace in their blood. The plan fails. The men swap their blood on a plane and vanish. Roussard is now free and wants revenge. This act, meant to keep kids safe, starts a new wave of fear.
Six months later, Rousard attempted to murder Scot Harvath's world breaks when his girlfriend, Tracy, is shot outside his house. The hit comes with a dark message: blood on his door, a shell casing, and a note promising blood for blood. Tracy falls into a sleep, and Harvath feels a drive to act. This was not random; it was a planned hit by a pro with a grudge. The state tells him to stay out of the case, but that only makes him more set on finding the man who did it.
As Harvath stays by Tracy's bed, his past and present meet. He thinks of his work, his lost father, and the bond he found with her. The hit on her is just the start. Soon, his mother is hurt in California and left blind, and other friends are struck in cruel ways. The path is clear: a foe is hunting everyone Harvath loves, using steps based on the Ten Plagues of Egypt.
President Rutledge stops Harvath at every turn. He tells him to stand down and let official teams work the case. The President will not share data or let Harvath help, which looks wrong. Evidence grows that the hits are tied to a secret state deal. Harvath loses trust in the leaders. He is sure the President hides a key fact about the men who were let go.
Harvath refuses to stay on the sidelines. He turns to his own team, including Tim Finney and a group in Colorado. They find secrets and a man known as the Troll who sells data. Harvath learns that one of the freed prisoners is behind the hits. Because the state will not help, Harvath must work outside the law, making him a hunted man.
Harvath uses the Troll's network to find the killer. They do not trust each other, but the work moves forward. The Troll helps Harvath see the path of the hits and the signs from the plagues of Egypt. They find that the killer has help and has a grudge linked to the work Harvath did in the past to stop terror groups.
The killer's hits follow the ten plagues of Egypt, with each strike on those close to Harvath getting more cruel. From blood and bugs to sores and dark, the way he kills shows a pattern. The man is not just out for blood; he is sending a message. He uses those Harvath loves to show his own loss. The state cannot act due to a secret deal, leaving Harvath alone to stop the next strike.
With no help from the state, Harvath starts a hunt around the world. He follows leads from Mexico to Brazil. He finds the names of the other freed men, but the path always leads back to one man: Philippe Roussard. As Harvath gets close, he sees that Roussard's grudge is deep, born from a past of terror and lies linked to the secret work Harvath once did.
At the Sargasso site, Harvath and his team use top-tier data and black-market links to stay ahead of the killer and the state. They hack banks, track cash, and use the Troll's reach to find Roussard’s plans. The team sees that the hits are not just for payback, but are part of a larger plan run by a man from Harvath's past.
The search shows that five men left Guantanamo, not four. The fifth, Roussard, is the son of Adara Nidal and the grandson of Abu Nidal. Roussard's grudge is one he was born with; he wants to avenge his mother's death, which happened during a job Harvath ran. The real mind behind the hits is Ari Schoen, who was Adara's lover and is Roussard's grandfather, pulling the strings from the dark.
The truth behind the men being let go comes out: the President, under the threat of mass child murder, made a deal with terrorists to free the five men to save the lives of school kids. The deal came with a promise never to hunt or hurt the freed men, a promise that now puts many lives at risk as Roussard's killing spree goes on. Harvath's work threatens to break the weak peace, but he will not let state guilt stop him.
Called a traitor, Harvath is hunted by a CIA team led by Rick Morrell, tasked with stopping him at any cost. As he stays ahead of them, he must also race to stop the last, most deadly strike. The state cannot act because of its secret deal, leaving Harvath as the only line of defense against a killer who knows him better than anyone. Roussard's last plan is found: a strike on a big wedding with the President and many of Harvath's friends, like Meg Cassidy. Using a fast boat with a big gun, Roussard wants to turn the lake red with blood to finish the last plague. Harvath, with help from old friends, stops the strike in a high-speed boat chase and fight.
Harvath rams Roussard's boat to stop the massacre. The two men fight in the water, and Harvath kills Roussard. The hit is stopped, but lives are lost. Harvath is left to face his acts and the choices of the state. Harvath tracks the cash and the plan back to Ari Schoen, the former agent and Roussard's grandfather. Schoen’s path for revenge led him to use Roussard to target Harvath. In a meeting, Harvath refuses to kill Schoen, leaving him to live with what he has done. The Troll ends it with a remote bomb.
The facts are clear: Schoen's want for revenge, the President's bad deal, and the state's choice to trade lives for the greater good. National safety shows the cost of the war. Each act of violence only makes new foes. Harvath is cleared of treason but loses in the state. He cares for his hurt loved ones, including Tracy, who survives. He begins to heal. The President wants to make peace, but Harvath is changed, down by the fact that this war is built on what one does.
