When the al-Jamil terrorist group assaults USS Mt. St. Helens, the National Intelligence Oversight Committee must rely on the Agency to secure the classified material within a cargo hold before the antagonists acquire it. NIOC Director Robert Cordell convinces Gabe Logan that he is their only option, but Teresa Lipan counters that this is an assignment outside of Agency jurisdiction. Gabe agrees to go anyway, for a chance at stopping terrorist leader Ghassan al-Bitar, a Syrian he almost caught a year ago, and with whom he has a score to settle.
With his partner Lian Xing on vacation in Cyprus, Gabe flies to the Indian Ocean where a clan of Somali pirates called the Warsingala Protectors have invaded the ship. Bitar is leading them, and Gabe suspects this assault involves more than a mere pirating operation. Intercepting Spec Ops communications, pilot Alima Haddad warns Gabe that Cordell did not tell him everything, and Logan realises the contents of Hold Five, a secret even to the Navy, are Bitar's primary target.
Establishing a link to St. Helens' communications dish, Alima attempts to extract Logan, but her helicopter is shot down. Despite Gabe's efforts, she dies. Frustrated and furious, Gabe destroys several pirate boats carrying stolen goods from St Helens and re-enters the ship via the damaged main hull. However, Bitar has already stolen the cargo inside Hold Five, which NIOC couriers ship.
When Gabe reaches the bridge, Arleigh Burke-class destroyers with the Fifth Fleet have already begun launching cruise missiles to scuttle their own ship. He tries to stop Bitar from escaping, but terrorist Fahid Tamer distracts him. Gabe kills Fahid and escapes from the ship before it sinks. His return to the Agency brings more complications when Cordell mentions Lian was "never" in Cyprus, and produces pictures of her with a Chinese man, both in a foreign land. From Cordell's point of view, Lian being a defector or a double agent, the Agency would be compromised, and the NIOC suspends the IPCA