For decades since the collapse of communism, North Korea, the so-called "hermit kingdom" has survived by making international crime a state enterprise. CIA operative Frank Mitchum's area of specialty is Bureau 39 - the top-secret government unit responsible for financing the rogue state's weapons of mass destruction. Mitchum uncovers the involvement of Jimmy Wu, a Hong Kong methamphetamine mogul, whose cross-border smuggling routes are vital to Bureau 39's supply of WMD components. An explosion at a container terminal in Hong Kong, an arms dealer and smuggler arrested in Thailand, and the disappearance of a CIA asset plague the investigation.Even as the bodies pile up, Mitchum races to cut off Bureau 39's resources before it is too late; because the threat of the world's first nuclear holocaust depends on it.