Scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, one of the major testing facilities for the United States Department of Defense, have developed a powerful laser weapon that has the ability to kill more people at one time than the atomic bombs did at Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. The US government secretly installed the laser into the American module of the International Space Station. Officials believe it is safe and secure. But two spies for al Qaeda, a worldwide terrorist organization, have infiltrated the National Security Council. Theyve alerted their operative, Abreu, about the existence and location of this weapon of mass destruction for which there is no defense. Al Qaeda executes a long-term plan to insert a terrorist into the NASA astronaut corps and to the International Space Station. There, the spy is to gain control of and use the laser weapon to devastate the North American continent. Tipped off about the existence of the al Qaeda plot, American security agencies must combine efforts to find and stop the terrorist. The plan and the American investigation collide head on at the International Space Station.