Outside of Pakistan, the world's highest concentration of al-Qaeda lurks in South-East Asia and there, Nick Stone's bosses get wind of an act of terror that will dwarf even the nightmare of 9/11.

When Stone is despatched to Malaysia by the CIA to assassinate a biochemist, he expects his mission to be a straightforward part of the fight against Bin Laden. But there are complications, not least because he is working alongside an attractive woman whose motives he doesn't fully understand.