In the waning months of World War II, Japan hid vast quantities of gold and other stolen valuables in boobytrapped underground caches all across the Philippines. By 1947, some of that loot was recovered by the United States government, which told no one about the find. Instead, those assets were stamped classified and secretly assimilated into something called the Black Eagle Trust. In the present day, retired Justice Department operative Cotton Malone is in Switzerland doing a favor for a friend. But what was supposed to be a simple operation turns violent, and Cotton is thrust into a war between the world’s oldest bank and the CIA, a battle that directly involves the Black Eagle Trust. He quickly discovers that everything hinges on a woman from his past, who suddenly reappears harboring a host of explosive secrets centering on bitcoin.