Ground fire from insurgent forces in Iraq brings down a U.S. helicopter carrying an inspection team. To tackle the effects of insurgent forces, the U.S. government decides to jumpstart a project to make effective use of a new stealth technology. They award a contract to a defense consortium to develop a new defensive technology. The project lasts eighteen months and employs the latest developments in nanotechnology, but instead of using it as a defensive system, they use the device for a strategic operation - destroying a nuclear weapons facility, assisted via a covert operation by a foreign intelligence agency. However, the facility produces two weapons, and each target one of two metropolitan areas in the Middle East. A U.S. strike force equipped with the new device must prevent a possible nuclear war from engulfing the region. In order to be successful, intervention by the U.S. not only requires trust, but also cooperation with their principal adversary. John Barron is a former Software Engineering professional, and since 2007 has spent most of the past two years writing a novel-the first of his career as an author. He is an avid reader and enjoys subjects ranging from 20th century military history and politics to breakthroughs in technology. He began his professional career with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1972 as an entry-level Software Engineer, and later relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area, working for Lockheed Missiles & Space Corp., as a Scientific Programmer Analyst in real-time satellite control systems. He started a new job in Electronic Warfare (EW) systems a few years later, in 1982, and ended his professional career in EW after retiring from Northrop Grumman Corp. in 2007. Soon thereafter, he began working on this novel after acquiring an interest in the science of nanotechnology. John's experience in EW spans twenty-five years developing several real-time surveillance systems. He met his wife, Beverly, in 1972 while working at the CIA, and they married shortly afterwards. They both enjoy spending time on their 38-foot sailboat in San Francisco Bay, and share their home and their lives with two Siberian Huskies, who love going for walks, swimming in the backyard pool, and begging for samples from the barbecue. They are also adept at navigating the topside of a sailboat while underway, and are the two Siberians alluded to in the novel.