John Jett Gavallan, a former fighter pilot and now the high-flying CEO of investment firm Black Jet Securities, is about to take Mercury Broadband, Russia's leading media company, public on the New York Stock Exchange. But rumours of fraud have suddenly surfaced about the company that could jeopardise the deal. And when his number-two man - fellow Desert Storm fighter pilot Grafton Byrnes - disappears in Moscow, Gavallan fears the worst. Plunging into a desperate search for his best friend, the renegade top gun finds himself trapped in a conspiracy that could shatter the delicate balance between nations and plunge the global economy into chaos. Hunted by the F.B.I. and a band of elite killers, Jett races from Palm Beach to Zurich to Moscow in his search for answers. But for this brave ex-commando haunted by visions of war, the truth comes at a terrible price. The First Billion is a knockout of a novel that will linger long after the final, shocking twist is revealed.