Following the success of hisNew York Timesbestseller,Cuba, Stephen Coonts once again combines masterful storytelling with a frighteningly plausible scenario set in one of the world's most volatile hot spots. This time, however, for Admiral Jake Grafton the stakes will be chillingly personal.

Jake Grafton takes his wife, Callie, along when the U.S. government sends him to Hong Kong to find out how deeply the U.S. consul-general is embedded in a political money-raising scandal. And why not? Jake and Callie met and fell in love in Hong Kong during the Vietnam War, and the consul-general is an old friend from those days, Tiger Cole.

The Graftons quickly discover that Hong Kong is a powder keg ready to explode. A political murder and the closure of a foreign bank by the communist government are the sparks that light the fuse . . . and Tiger Cole is right in the middle of the action.

When Callie is kidnapped by a rebel faction, Jake finds himself drawn into the vortex of a high-tech civil war. Drawing on the skills of CIA operative Tommy Carmellini, in order to save his wife Jake Grafton must figure out who he can trust-both among the Western factions vying for control of the volatile situation, and among the Chinese patriots fighting for their nation's future-and make sure the right side wins.