Michael Renaldi, a former regional security officer for the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service loves trading the financial markets. His retirement lifestyle is interrupted when former DSS colleagues come calling. His specialty, interrogation of Islamist insurgents and terrorists remains hot property.Saudi Arabia's plea for help with a captured terrorist should not be denied. The White House has banned specific interrogations and the scramble is on. Alternative techniques must be developed, urgently. He and agent Yuri Hagino, travel to Japan's Kansai International Airport investigating a believed fantastic solution. The high-stakes world of espionage leads Michael undercover again. He speeds to implement an efficient waterboard replacement system. New pain delivery methods must be tested with a real terrorist. But before he can savor his triumph, he receives an unbelievable shock that overturns everything he thought was absolute. Soon his imagination, his limits - and past them - are stretched as he races to spark full confession from a menacing terrorist.