This novel picks up a few years after the ending of Shadow Partners. Manfred Kurtz is still the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of ATF's Detroit Field Division, and Angelo Tana is his assistant. The joint ATF Detroit Police Department (DPD) task force continues to work successfully on matters that cross jurisdictional lines. The story begins with a series of brutal murders in three separate States. Seemingly, they are not connected. Local jurisdictions are busy investigating the crimes, with no reason to suspect any relationship to other incidents. When she chances upon a Detroit crime scene, AUSA Janet Evergreen misses being killed by seconds. Although Janet had not witnessed the assassination of a DPD officer, she did take note of the driver of a getaway vehicle-a man who recognized Janet. Manfred Kurtz and the Task Force members become involved after another source reveals facts about another murder. Assigned ATF agents and DPD officers again begin work on what first appears as a simple case. Far from being an elementary, the men and women will become embroiled in political corruption, murder, firearms trafficking and the first (ALPHA) strike against America by a determined terrorist organization. China wants to make inroads into America's love of guns through established firearms' importation procedures. However, the legitimate effort has been subverted by new adversaries from China. Led by a Chinese colonel from the People's Liberation Army and a cabal, consisting of a select group of military and political members of China's elite, a subplot surfaces. Alliances and treacherous activities will quickly pit radical Muslims from Iran, Iraq and China, against Kurtz, the Task Force and Chinese investigators with similar credentials as ATF. Before long, the race is on to identify and neutralize the terrorist group responsible for many dead Americans. The country's law enforcement is stymied on the makeup of the group and where they might strike again. In a bizarre turn of events, ATF becomes the number one target of criticism from all sides of the firearms' issues, and is blamed for the attacks. With the ATF/DPD Task Force morale wavering, even with promising leads in hand, the Director of another agency decides ATF has been mortally wounded. He calculates that the time is right to scrape up the tidbits developed by the Task Force. His agency identified what the group's acronym stands for, and intends to parlay what he has into a chance for significant publicity. Even so, the Director might not have all of the information he requires for success, or does he? Faced with having to relinquish the investigation, Manfred Kurtz and Angelo Tana receive a lifeline. It's tossed to them by a Chinese criminal investigator. Colonel Mozi Zemin has come across information vital to the Task Force. However, Kurtz and Tana must travel to Hong Kong where they race to intercept a shipment of weapons of mass destruction. Back in the U.S., the Task Force investigation continues--and so do the assassinations of American citizens. Progress is being made, though. Bit-by-bit, ATF and DPD officers and their support people begin to build a picture of the scope of the terrorist operation. But, just before a national enforcement operation, Washington decides to hold back ATF. Instead, their bosses at the Treasury Department acquiesce to a partial case-takeover by the Departments of Defense and Justice. A small carrier task force will search the Pacific for the arms shipments, while ATF handles the countrywide raids.