Hidden Jihad opens at mid-century, in 2050, two years after the election of Jefferson Rhodes. At a lavish extravaganza at the Western White House, President Rhodes asks his old college friend Mark Forster to join his administration as head of a Commission on Religious Unity, his disingenuous attempt to appear inclusive toward religion. A significant encounter takes place between Heather Marshall and journalist Todd Stewart, who, unlikely opposites, hit it off and fall in love as the story progresses. Mike Bardolf is at President Rhodes' s side, working toward Palladium' s secret agenda. Unbeknownst to either Bardolf or Rhodes, the scion of the Bahram family legacy, Hamad Bahram, himself also a secret member of Palladium, gradually worms his way into the good graces of the president with sweeping ultimate objectives. Bahram and a cousin in Iran set plans in motion to test a new generation of nuclear device, with the ultimate goal of smuggling one into the U.S. for an attack on a major U.S. city.