On September 11, 2001, Jennifer Sinclair, a young Texan living in London, saw her homeland attacked: the World Trade centers, the Pentagon, and a plane which crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. It was difficult to be an American in a foreign country, even an ally of America's, following the events of September 11. Now married to a New Scotland Yard senior detective, Jenny never expected the climate of terrorism from the United States to sweep across the Atlantic and bring an undercurrent of fear to the United Kingdom.
Jenny now lives in the idyllic northwest London suburb of Hampstead, but she feels the uneasiness that all Americans abroad do. When it takes only one crazed individual to commit unreasoning violence, no one can consider himself or herself completely safe. The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police assigns extra officers to patrol possible target areas in what he calls, Operation Calm, but Jenny is not reassured. Then a cargo ship in the English Channel, reported to be carrying terrorist material, is boarded by anti-terror police. Although the New Scotland Yard spokesman insists that there is no danger to the public, she isn't relieved. Not long afterward, Richard Reid, who was born and raised in Britain, tries to destroy an American Airlines plane in flight with a bomb in his shoe. Each incident seems to be happening closer and closer to home.
Her husband, Detective Chief Inspector Colin Sinclair, recalls the days of IRA terrorism and assures her that police officers in the UK have a good deal of experience fighting terrorists. IRA terrorists, however, generally did not choose to die with their targets, and this new breed of evildoers seems to be willing to stop at nothing.
Still, Jenny never expected the clouds of violence to strike close to home and threaten her loved ones. Then early in 2002, a terrorist attack occurs in London and devastates her. Reeling from the trauma of sudden grief, Jenny's world is turned upside down, and she must find the strength to adjust to a life she would not have chosen, separated from family and in a country not her own.
Supported by an ex-Royal Army chaplain, counseled by a psychiatrist, and guided by Metropolitan Police officers who have become friends, Jenny struggles to make a new life for herself. Then a new danger appears, on the quaint streets of her Hampstead home, a danger she will have to face alone.
Thus The Mission continues the story of Houston-born Jenny – who traveled to London in the previous novel, The Witness – and the Metropolitan Police Service detectives and witness protection officers who kept her safe following her brutal attack by a serial killer. She faced a long recovery from her physical injuries and an even longer one from the trauma of violence. Testifying against her attacker in spite of her fear strengthened her, and gradually she moved from being a victim to being a survivor. The final step, however, involved leaving her trauma behind to become a victor, someone free to embrace hope and love.
