Rule Number One: never go to bed with someone who has more troubles than you. Unfortunately, this is the rule Harrison Pius breaks most often. To most of his friends, Pius is a successful management consultant. But in the shadowy world of professional gamblers and card sharks, he is known as "the Pope." Harrison has a way with women, but the only woman he ever wanted is the one he had to send away. He eases the pain of losing his one true love with single malt scotch, high-stakes golf games, winning thousands of dollars on the turn of a card, and a new girlfriend that brings fresh meaning to the word kinky. When Pius finds himself drawn into an international terrorist plot, he embarks on a roller coaster ride that takes him from the hills of San Francisco to the windswept dunes of Northern Ireland. Together with his detective cohort, Bert Brogger, Pius must unravel the deadly scheme that involves the Irish Republican Army. But in a strange twist of fate, Pius discovers that the roots of the conspiracy lead to his own backyard.