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.

Sergeant Edgar Brighton of the Shadow Squadron is in Colombia, assisting on an anti-drug operation--but when he is captured and tortured by the rebels he must find a way to escape before they break him.

When an unidentified drone crashes in Antarctica, and the research station nearby stops communicating, Ryan Cross and the Shadow Squadron are sent to investigate--but their job is complicated by a Russian special forces team, and an officer of Phantom Cell who is more interested in the device than the safety of the American scientists.