When the actions of Jason Bourne spark a fire that threatens to burn down decades of research across a number of secret intelligence agencies, Eric Byer, the man who built the programs, decides he must sacrifice one of them: Outcome. Aaron Cross, one of Outcome''s six agents, and research scientist Marta Shearing go on the run when Byer targets them for termination. But Cross proves to be a far deadlier target than Byer realizes.

Aaron Cross is one of six agents in a program called Outcome. Unlike the CIA's Treadstone, Outcome agents have been developed and trained for use by the Department of Defense. More than assassins, Outcome agents are designed for use in isolated, high-risk, long-term intelligence assignments. The behavioral science that was suggested as the underpinning of the Treadstone agents has been upgraded and advanced, but it's the shared origins of these two programs that makes Outcome so vulnerable as Bourne's story becomes public knowledge.