The C.C.I. (Central Control of Intelligence) is a worldwide underground organization responsible for training and deploying some of the world's best spies. They strive to maintain peace through subtle espionage, coercion, and, if necessary, force. Only the best are allowed to join.

Nico Hasenclever, the right-hand man of the most notorious mob boss in Europe, is a ten-year past failure of the C.C.I. spy training program. Though he lacks stealth and espionage skills, he compensates with raw strength, an unpredictable mindset, and sheer dumb luck. He's pulled off more heists for the big boss than any other lackey, which has caught the attention of the C.C.I. They have dispatched their best agent to infiltrate his crew.

Vivienne Masse, code name: Harbinger, age 35, is the best agent the C.C.I. has ever seen. Starting her career earlier than anyone else, she successfully infiltrated a French crime family at age 13. This family had killed her own, and through careful surveillance, intelligence, and eavesdropping, she collected enough evidence to get every member locked up for multiple lifetimes. She handed this information to her maid, who was secretly a C.C.I. agent planted to take down the crime family.

Since joining the C.C.I., Vivienne has completed over two hundred high-priority missions, many of which have prevented potentially catastrophic outcomes. She has never failed—except once. Her one failure is Nico, her former student. Unable to meet her high standards due to his brazen sloppiness, she strongly encouraged his removal from the organization, wanting to return to her normal duties instead of wasting her talent on training others.

Over the past ten years, Nico has changed significantly. He is no longer the homeless, scrawny kid the C.C.I. took in years ago. He has never forgotten the face of the person who kicked him out of the agency and sent him back to the streets, where a crime family later picked him up and taught him how to fight dirty and look out for himself.

Knowing all of Vivienne's tricks, Nico enjoys toying with his former teacher as he struggles to protect his new family from her. Despite their history, he can't bring himself to end her, recognizing the good she has done for the world. Hes torn between choosing his family and his conscious.