The five ace intelligence agents gathered at the secret St. John Institute are the best of the best. The best at tradecraft. The best at weapons handling. The best at analyzing a volatile situation, getting in, getting what they came for, and getting out alive.

They are all dead-their old identities perished when they were kidnapped by the secret masters of the institute. Now they have new names and new personal histories. More important, each has received a life-saving organ transplant. And something else-twice a day, each is given an injection of a mysterious golden serum. They are no longer ordinary human beings. Their minds are linked in a bond that grows stronger with time.

Their leader is known as Denny Monroe. He doesn't trust anyone associated with the St. John Institute-especially not Charlotte Willson, who oversees the transplant project. Since the five agents are already dead, Monroe figures they're seen as expendable-and he's going to do whatever is necessary to protect himself and his four colleagues.

Half a world away, a Russian general, desperate to escape his country's failing economy and crumbling military, sells five small atomic bombs-suitcase nukes-to an international terrorist. He's paid a staggering sum that allows him to ignore the death and destruction the bombs will inevitably cause.

But General Temkov can't quite sleep peacefully at night. His best spy has vanished in the U.S. under suspicious circumstances. Kidnapping an Americana diplomat in Moscow, Temkov pressures the CIA to reveal the whereabouts of his missing man. But the CIA knows nothing.

The first suitcase nuke destroys a small African city-a test of the equipment. Three more bombs are on their way to London, Jerusalem, and Washington, D.C. The CIA is convinced that the missing spy and the missing bombs are somehow connected. But to find out exactly what is going on, they need Denny Monroe and his band of extraordinary telepaths. Monroe has needs of his own-to determine the identity of the mysterious "Kelly's People." Are they his team, or does the St. John Institute guard even more secrets?