Travis Greer can stop time. Something flip in his head and the world stops. He can see everything, touch things, move things around, but he has stepped out of the flow, at least for a little while. It's like wiggling your ears; some people can do it while most can't. Except this is a bit less frequent. There is only one other Stopper in the world.It first happened when he was five-years-old. His mother was standing right there, but she wouldn't look at him, no matter how he screamed and screamed. It scared him so badly that he repressed it for thirteen years. The second time it happened, when he was eighteen, was no less terrifying.He met Jane in college. She is a Rider; she doesn't stop time, but when a Stopper does it, she doesn't freeze. You're not the only one, she tells him. There is another, somewhere to the east. In Asia, maybe Russia. She decides Travis isn't going to do anything significant with his talent and she goes off to find the other one.Ten years later and Jane is back. The other Stopper is Ivan Partishev, she says. He's the Russian Defense Minister, and he's crazy. He wants to take over the world.He knows about you. He doesn't want another Stopper around to interfere. He's sending his Riders to kill you. We have to kill him first.