December 1999, the United States relinquishes control of the Panama Canal. The Chinese-owned Panama Ports Company assumes control and a veil of secrecy descends over the strategic waterway. A clandestine mission to China’s Fujian province discovers that most of the missiles pointed at Taiwan are dummies. CIA analyst Jonas Benjamin suspects the missing missiles are being shipped to Panama on Chinese container ships. He sets out for the Panama Zone to confirm his suspicions but disappears. Against a mosaic of unforgettable characters, where nothing is as it seems, the forces of greed, power, avarice, fear, and honor collide in a race against time.