Superspy middle schooler Ben Ripley is faced with an impossible choice when he learns that fellow spy-in-training Erica Hale has been accused of bombing CIA headquarters. He doesn't believe Erica did it, but he's the only one in the CIA that does. To prove her innocence, Ben must track down a fabled colonial-era insurgent group called the Croatoan that's blackmailing Erica and bring them down. But this conspiracy is going to be hard to crack when no one has seen the group since the Revolutionary War.