• David Coburn: Working undercover, but profiting from the activities of the remote outpost he is supposed to have infiltrated.
• Hari Tan: Sapphire trader turned modern-day pirate preying on shipping in the Malacca Strait.
• Heather Cameron: Unicef nurse struggling to prevent the exploitation of children on a beach of toxic waste.
• Luther O'Halloran: Nuclear defense analyst on assignment to the US National Counter-Proliferation Centre.

4 people whos futures hang in the balance when the crew of a Russian super tanker are found dying of radiation poisoning - The consequence of a consiract so menacing that unless Coburn can halt an attack on a war ship in the Yellow Sea.