| abstract | - In the aftermath of a failed attempt to assassinate Pope Urban VIII (thwarted in part by Americans), Michel Ducos is forced to flee with his followers from Rome. The leaders of the French Huguenot group under Ducos settled in Scotland making plans to embarrass Cardinal Richelieu. Michel also has left strict instructions for several of his followers, led by Guillaume Locquifier, in Frankfurt to do nothing until he gives them new orders. Meanwhile, Duke Henri de Rohan, the highest ranking Huguenot, has his own group of agents monitoring events throughout Europe. He also would like to see Richelieu removed from office, but he views the radical actions of Ducos as self-defeating. After having learned of the events in Rome, Henri writes letters to his agents in Grantville, Frankfurt and elsewhere warning of the escape of Ducos and ordering them to notify him if Ducos appears. Rohan has two double agents working within the Ducos operation. Jacques-Pierre Dumais is one of the double agents working for the Duke; he works in Grantville as a garbage collector while secretly examining 20th century items that are discarded by the American residents. Spymaster Francisco Nasi has also been trying to track down Ducos. His agents and others have been sending reports on activities in Grantville and elsewhere within the State of Thuringia-Franconia. In the midst of this, the United States of Europe is preparing for elections, which incumbent Prime Minister Mike Stearns is sure that his political party will lose. But he figures that his opponent William Wettin will overextend himself and his Crown Loyalist party. Ducos' Huguenots in Frankfurt plan a demonstration and action in Grantville to vilify Richelieu by making assassination attempts on Grantville's powerful figures: Mayor Henry Dreeson and Presbyterian minister Enoch Wiley (as attempts on individuals such as Mike Stearns and Gustavus Adolphus remain impossible). The assassinations are successfully carried out during a manipulated demonstration against vaccination and autopsies and an anti-Semitic incident at Grantville's synagogue, which were used as covers for the assassination. In the aftermath, the results did not come out as the Huguenots had planned: Nasi, Stearns, and several others figured out who was truly responsible for the assassinations. However, they decided to use the widespread belief that anti-Semites were responsible to justify the total eradication of all antisemitic forces in the area controlled by Grantville's allies.
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