Never

CIA officer Tamara Levit investigates arms trafficking and Islamist violence in North Africa while an undercover operative attempts to trace the network moving weapons across the Sahara. In Beijing, senior official Kai Chang navigates a divided leadership, and United States president Pauline Green faces crises that connect regional conflict with competition between nuclear powers.

A series of retaliatory decisions involving China, the United States and their allies turns limited incidents into a widening confrontation. The novel examines escalation through intelligence reports, military doctrine and political pressure, showing how leaders who intend to avoid war can nevertheless create a sequence in which every response makes the next crisis harder to contain.