On the trail of her missing brother, shaman Rashida bint Tariq bin Feroze al-Nazari travels to South Africa to interrogate a corp executive who may have actually seen Qasim. But the meeting turns into a trap she barely escapes, and Rashida realizes she and her shadowrunning team have stumbled onto something much deeper than a rash of missing children.

Their search for answers will take them from the glittering neon towers of Dubai to the harsh desert wilderness of the Arabian Caliphate. Rashida and her team scour every clue they find, whether it is in the deep African jungle, the artificial world of the Matrix, or the infinite astral plane, to uncover who's masterminding this plot...and stop them before it can be put into action.

And all the while, Rashida must contend with Scorpion, the insect spirit who came to her when she cried out for revenge against those who had killed her father and stolen her brother, and now lives within her in an uneasy alliance. Vicious, cunning, and deadly, Scorpion's power always comes with a price...and if Rashida isn't careful, she may end up paying it before she has the chance to save her brother...and punish the ones who took him.