A container ship from Shanghai explodes on its approach to Seattle. A US spy vessel in the South China Sea tangles with the Chinese navy. A stolen USB stick recovered in Texas exposes a terrorist conspiracy. As America is outmaneuvered by an increasingly bold President Zhou of China, Jack Ryan depends on the operatives of the Campus secret intelligence agency to plug the gaps between diplomacy and negotiation. But as an international summit approaches, Ryan must face Zhou alone. What he doesn't know is that the secret mastermind plotting conspiracy and destruction has had the leader of the free world in his sights all along . . .