Lincoln is summoned back into action by General McKabe, an old ally who once led the elite “Shadow Force”. A new global threat has emerged: a syber-terrorist cell known as the “CUBE” is plotting a catastrophic attack. Their target: the Argo Pearl of the Sea, the world’s largest and most advanced cruise ship…a technological marvel that doubles as a floating entertainment resort city. On board there are ten thousand passengers who enjoy the pleasure cruise, together with a small group of Delegation members who are involved in a highly secret, covert, economic summit to include some of the world’s most powerful financial leaders. The Delegation’s state rooms and meeting dome is located on the twelfth level, which is private and highly guarded. They will join other members of the Delegation from around the world in Spain.

The mission, code-named Operation Dark Sunset, is clear. The Shadow Force team will infiltrate the ship’s passengers and crew, identify the terrorists, eliminate the threat without involving the passengers and leave no connection to the United States government, while preventing an international disaster. The deeper Lincoln dives into the mission, the more he realizes that this is not just a terrorist act, but rather a psychological and philosophical war against the world’s over-reliance on digital and AI systems. The enemy, who is intermingled throughout the ship, communicates in a code that takes three of the world’s foremost program linguists and cyber technologists to decipher. The cruise ship becomes a chessboard in deep water and Lincoln finds himself playing against an unseen, often incomprehensible opponent.