When he arrives in Phnom-Penh in March 1996 as U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia, Amb. Quinn encounters an issue that he recalled as the greatest challenge during his time as ambassador in the Philippines—the prevalence of seemingly perfect counterfeit $100 bills. A U.S. Secret Service officer in Thailand had detected some of these counterfeit c-notes and had traced them back into Cambodia. When he reported this to Amb. Quinn, an operation with the Cambodian police was quickly organized. The perpetrator was found to be hiding in the North Korean embassy in the city. At dawn, travelling in a North Korean diplomatic vehicle, the suspect, who had been identified as a major international terrorist who had hijacked a commercial airliner, makes a desperate run for the border. Amb. Quinn urgently contacts the Cambodian Minister of the Interior in an effort to prevent his escape. With U.S. and Cambodian agents in pursuit, the event will come to a climax at a remote border crossing.