Plot summary

The FBI exceptionally agrees to collaborate with its Chinese counterpart when a brilliant hacker sabotages a nuclear plant in Chai Wan, Hong Kong, to explode from overheating. China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) cyber warfare unit ace, captain Chen Dawai, is tasked to find the culprits, enlists his sister, hacking engineer Chen Lien, and convinces unenthusiastic, intellectually inferior FBI counterpart Carol Barrett to appeal to his former MIT roommate, Nicholas Hathaway, who knows his value and obtains a deal to end his hacking conviction to jail time if they succeed while his electronically monitored and by deputy U.S. marshal Mark Jessup. Analyzing the hacker's code yields clues trailing to Tokyo and Jakarta as well as the realization the power plant was just a test, the real target is a disruption of the stock exchange -and world economy- to make a speculative fortune, but the ruthless gang is soon on their tail and stops at nothing to avoid exposure, while Nick and Lien have an affair.—KGF Vissers