Desert Mischief

Near Phoenix, detective Lori Sanchez killed the son of a cartel boss during a police raid. The kingpin now wants revenge, and he has sent a highly skilled assassin to carry out a dark plan against her.

Guillermo Montero has been forced out of his work as a prison counselor, and his first consulting job is to coordinate a high-tech conference at an isolated desert site. The gathering hides private meetings among four chip manufacturers who are developing an advanced computing technology. Sanchez is responsible for security, protecting the executives involved and keeping their trade secrets from being stolen.

Soon the event spirals out of control. Corporate spies swarm the conference, hired killers try to murder one company's chief executive, and Japanese ninjas move through the nights. Sanchez and Montero must identify each intruder and work out how they plan to disrupt the meetings before it is too late.

The central question is whether the MSS, a Chinese intelligence bureau, is behind the trouble, or whether American operatives are the source. This is the fourth book in the Sanchez series.