Vacant Seat, The

"At the end of your quest, at such a time you think you have the answer, you must look under the last stone, which will be in the palm of your hand," the mysterious Sheikh told her. Brazilian journalist Stefania DiMaggio neither wants, desires, nor relishes her first assignment. A dead end worthless project on a subject she hates. Reluctantly, she teams up with the dashing Thomas Houghton, the Duke of Radcliffe, who is keenly interested in her project for his own purposes. They follow leads throughout Europe and back to Brazil. Slowly but surely the corpses start piling up behind them. The duo cheat death at each turn as Stefania resists her growing affection for Thomas. Their activities don't go unnoticed by Svetlana Greschenko of Russian intelligence, who follows their every move. But the answer to the riddle eludes Stefania, what did the Sheikh's cryptic words mean? As Stefania digs deeper, and collects the pieces to an unbelievable puzzle, she realizes she's stumbled onto perhaps the greatest secret of the twentieth century, a secret which the Vatican, the Russians, Thomas and his family desperately never want to see the light of day. Stefania puts pen to paper on the eve of a summit at the Vatican to resolve the war in the Ukraine. Does Stefania trade her blockbuster story for Thomas' heart, or does fate intervene?