An ultra-secret four-person team hides deep in the bowels of the National Security Agency, and they have no business being there. Codenamed Talons, and secretly directed by President Stanley Coles, they conduct covert missions that go well beyond NSA’s legal authority. One Talon operative, Dex Battle, wants out, but a brilliant American scientist, Dr. Walter Boldt–the brains behind a revolutionary new space weapon system–is missing and might have defected. President Coles orders the Talons to do whatever it takes to find and retrieve him. As the mission unfolds, CIA and NSA begin to bicker, disputing each other’s authority and sources. Meanwhile, Dex and his teammates are pulled deeper and deeper into a daunting web of espionage, politics, and deadly conflict.

While the Talons frantically work to find and return Dr. Boldt, disputes between the US and China grow steadily worse. After one too many provocations, President Coles authorizes an American jet fighter to blow a Chinese attack helicopter out of the sky. China responds and the two countries move quickly to the brink of war. America has a hidden advantage–Dr. Boldt’s secret space weapon might be able to cripple China’s military. There’s one problem, though. The weapon can’t be activated without Boldt’s biometrics. The clock is ticking, and if the Talons can’t bring Boldt back quickly enough, it will likely be too late to prevent a catastrophic war.