Kevin Sullivan, Chief Executive Officer of Chicago National Bank, discovers a series of unusual activities at the bank, which he suspects is money laundering. He reports his findings to the Chicago office of the FBI and begins to work with Karen Robbins, one of their most experienced agents in financial crimes. Robbins, a computer expert, follows the money trail from Chicago National Bank through the Cayman Islands to accounts in London, Zurich, and Riyadh. John Andrews, a Chicago businessman, suddenly throws Chicago National into turmoil with a hostile takeover attempt of the bank. As personal pressure closes in on Andrews, he significantly raises the price of his tender offer. Research into Andrew's background leads Sullivan to suspect that Andrews might have a violent and criminal history. Robbins traces the source of the money laundering to Chicago's Russian Mafia. Her investigation of the money trail in Europe and the Middle East catches the attention of The FBI Counterterrorism unit in Washington, D.C. and they begin to take an active interest in the case. Against this background, threats have been set into motion which will enable people with deeply rooted hatreds to finally turn those hatreds into revenge. Robbins must find and stop the Mafia boss who left Russia years ago before these threats are realized. With very little time left before disaster strikes, powerful government forces in Washington, London, and Moscow work together to assist Robbins. Unexpected help comes from an old scientist in Vienna who has waited for sixty years to find a way to repay America and its allies for releasing him from Mauthausen concentration camp.