In a globe-spanning chase, from the beer halls of Germany,
to the tech gardens of California, the Zermatt Group joins
forces with Forensic Instincts to solve a heinous crime and
resolve a complex human mystery.
What would you do if your daughter was kidnapped and
given only a week to live?
Lauren Pennington is celebrating her junior year abroad when
life comes to a screeching halt. At Munich's Hofbräuhaus,
she engages in an innocent flirtation with a charming
stranger for the length of a drink. Drink finished, Lauren
leaves—only to be snatched from the streets and thrown into
an unmarked van.
Officially, Aidan Deveraux is a communications expert for
one of the largest financial firms in the world. In his
secret life, the former Marine heads the Zermatt Group, a
covert team of military and spy agency operatives that
search the data stream for troubling events in an
increasingly troubled world. When his artificial
intelligence system detects Lauren's kidnapping, Aidan
immediately sees the bigger picture.
Silicon Valley: Lauren's father, Vance Pennington, is about
to launch a ground-breaking technology with his company
NanoUSA—a technology that the Chinese are desperate for. No
sooner does Aidan arrive on Vance's doorstep to explain the
situation than the father receives a chilling text message:
hand over the technology or Lauren will be dead in a week.
In a globe-spanning chase, from the beer halls of Germany,
to the tech gardens of California, to the skyscrapers of
China, and finally the farmlands of Croatia, Aidan's team
cracks levels of high-tech security and complex human
mystery with a dogged determination. Drawing in teammates
from the Forensic Instincts team (introduced in The Girl
Who Disappeared Twice), the Zermatt Group will uncover
the Chinese businessmen responsible, find the traitors
within NanoUSA who are helping them, and save Lauren from a
brutal death.