I know why our aircraft are going down reads the cryptic note left by a disgraced employee of America's leading aircraft manufacturer. But for the passengers and crew of Flight 262, a brand-new aircraft, it comes too late. The worst aviation disaster in U.S. history is about to take place. Reaching from the deathbed of Japan's most notorious organized crime boss to terror 40,000 feet above the Rocky Mountains, a scheme of unparalleled subtlety - and brutality - unfolds. Its target: the hostile takeover and control of the greatest aircraft manufacturer in the United States and ultimately the control of the entire world's aerospace industry. Three men hold pieces of the puzzle linking this scheme with two fatal air crashes. Roger Case is a lawyer specializing in aviation litigation. Brian MacHenry is a freelance airline accident investigator. And the most unlikely member of the trio is a young Japanese policeman named Shig Onishi. They must join forces to unravel a conspiracy and save a great American corporation - a takeover that could shake the world's two greatest economies to their very foundations.