Sword is an international anti-terror organization.
Its members are known both internally and externally as Rogue Patriots, hence the name, agents from various spy organizations around the world who remain loyal to their particular country but who have been ostracized nevertheless. Since these dedicated men and women still want to be of service to their nations and to humanity as a whole, they have been recruited into Sword by its leader. That man is the "inscrutable" Socrates, a former Brigadier General in the British Army.
This is what we are told about Sword and the need for its existence: "Planet-wide crime syndicates and terrorism are growing faster than any police or security service can handle. International borders are crossed with impunity but those same barriers prevent law enforcement from following. It is time for a new force; one that operates outside the law and fights fire with fire. Financed by many countries from a black account deep within the United Nations, Sword is the ultra-secret cutting edge in the war against terror."
Sword has a full and well provisioned staff but its main field operatives are:
Olga Stalina, aka Blade, a highly trained assassin with the Russian FSB: She was "on the run after killing a general in the Russian army after he tried to rape her. "Friends, she could count on the fingers of one hand, but enemies; that was a different question. She wasn't sure how many fingers and toes she would need to answer that one".
Dempsey, (first name unknown) a black American former CIA agent with a conscience: He "had dealt out his own justice in a war zone, when local troops massacred a family. It made him unpopular in at least two countries and he was "disappeared" from the Agency".
Lei Cheng, a brilliant young female hacker from China, said to be one of the very best in the world: "She worked for the Chinese security services and didn't like what she uncovered. There were secrets which she felt should not be. So, she published them on the internet. And then ran for her life".
Jack Carter, a British Special Forces operative attached to the Security Services: A mission he had been on went wrong resulting in the loss of several members of the team including his wife. He has a list of those he knows were responsible and a plan to get vengeance.
Heading the list of organizations that pose threats to the peace and order of the nations of the world is Scorpion, "the planet's largest terror and crime syndicate". It is lead by a particularly nasty individual name Viktor Volkov. Its tentacles seem to be everywhere.
Good Lines:
- When asked by Carter just how many knives she was carrying, Blade replies, "A girl never gives away her secrets", adding "it is always enough to handle any opposition".