CONO is a startling young man of mixed and haunting heritage who has been gifted - or cursed - with an accelerated nervous system. An orphan and a loner, he makes his way from the forests of Brazil to a life as a freelance spy, prostituting his talents to dubious organizations and governments. When he is called from Istanbul to rescue the fierce and stunning Xiao Li in Kazakhstan, he is sucked into a deadly maelstrom of betrayal that forces him to question all notions of friendship and allegiance. The fate of an oil-rich nation the size of Western Europe is at stake. So, too, is a hidden stockpile of weapons-grade uranium. A brutal Beijing agent craves Cono's suffering; a jihadi cell wants him dead. As the human cost of his mission escalates, Cono realizes that he must turn his strange talents toward higher deeds in the future - if by his guile he can survive the explosive present.