A fatal sabotage of an airplane, murdering 130 people and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, the apparent corporate espionage activities of a computer expert for a national technological corporation, and the murder of a gay investment analyst in New York, appear to be thoroughly unrelated crimes, except that tenacious and persistent FBI agent Lee Sawyer is determined to learn how the three events are connected. His investigations consume the bulk of this work by David Baldacci, and eventually climax in the revelation of a treacherous conspiracy involving murder, blackmail, and double crosses among the culprits.

Jason Archer uncovers criminal activity as he is compiling the records and integrating the information of his company, Triton Global, a corporate leader in the technology field. Triton is headed by partners Nathan Gamble and Quentin Rowe, who dislike one another intensely. As Jason alters his flight and sets out to deliver the documents to whom he believes are law enforcement officials, he avoids the crash of the sabotaged airplane, on which Federal Reserve Board Chairman Arthur Lieberman sits. Jason's trip does not go as he plans, and he is kidnapped by some culprits who want the documents he has and are ready and willing to kill him if necessary. Jason's wife, Sidney, is convinced that, contrary to Triton's accusations, her husband is not guilty of espionage, and she sets out to prove his innocence, unaware of his whereabouts and of the danger in which she is placing herself.

FBI agent Lee Sawyer, charged with the investigation of the airline crash, stumbles upon the story of Jason Archer and, as well, the death of a gay investment analyst, believed to have committed suicide, but actually murdered by those who wish to neutralize the possibility that he may expose crimes of Triton's leader, Gamble. Sawyer's powers of investigation, use of current forensic science, and basic "gumshoe" detective work, allow him to connect the three crimes and to uncover a treacherous array of criminal activity, all having begun with the blackmail of Fed Chair Arthur Lieberman, because of his homosexual affair with the analyst, Jeff Page. When Lieberman is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he decides to expose the blackmail that forced his unilateral change in interest rates, in order to bring down his blackmailer, Nathan Gamble. Gamble arranges for the plane sabotage, in order to prevent Lieberman's confession, and, as well, the murder of Jeff Page, who he had paid to have an affair with Lieberman. Jason Archer, who has discovered the entire scheme through his integration of Triton's information systems, including incriminating emails from Gamble, must also be neutralized, but other forces are at work, including those of Quentin Rowe, whose desire is to rid himself of partner Gamble. Against the backdrop of all of this crime, important statements are made about the perils of technology, especially when in the hands of the "bad guys," and the potentially dangerous and disastrous nature of the power of the Federal Reserve Board to impact the entire global economy by whimsically altering interest rates and affecting the lives of millions of Americans, banking, and the economic health of the entire world.