Castilblanco is with his wife on vacation. Chen's assigned to a money laundering case in Beijing for her language skills. Castilblanco turns out to be in the wrong place at the right time as he's forced to join a task force. Chen is in the right place at the wrong time when she becomes involved with the terrorist case. And those royals! They're not so helpless after all.

But what is the terrorist's plan? The detectives figure that ransom isn't worth all that effort, so something else must be motivating him. He's also an old nemesis of Castilblanco, but that's not enough motivation either. What is the true motivation?

Woven through the plot are twists and turns that involve American and European authorities.