Part way through integrating their first female member into the Shadow Squadron, Lieutenant Commander Ryan Cross and his team are called upon to investigate the possible kidnapping of a powerful senator's son in Mali--and find themselves confronting an infamous slaver called the Spider.

The Secretary of State's plane has gone down in the Central African Republic, Intelligence says he is currently in the hands of a bunch of child soldiers, and Lieutenant Commander Ryan Cross and his Shadow Squadron are assigned to rescue him--but the situation is more complicated than Cross has been led to believe.