In 1986, because of Secretary General Gorbachev's "glasnost" policies, an ever increasing number of cases of bribery, embezzlement and other economic crimes surface throughout the Soviet Union. Many high-level government officials are already in a gulag because of their alleged involvement in the Uzbek Cotton Affair, where millions of rubles have mysteriously disppeared. Now, together with the money problem, nuclear scientists start to disappear.

Investigator Colonel Vladimir Antonovich is tasked to stop the flow of nuclear scientists, whether they are voluntary or otherwise. As part of a special committee, Vladimir prepares a trap to catch the bureaucrat(s) that might be involved. Before it is over, many on the special committee are dead, and more scientists have been kidnapped, including Aleksandra, Vladimir's wife, who is also a nuclear scientist.

World leaders are frightened by the prospect of nuclear scientists ending up in Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan or other countries where terrorists seek mass-destruction capabilities. Colonel Antonovich forms a tiger team, and rushes for the Sheremetyevo airport, where he suspects his wife and other scientists are being held. The question now is, will he get to them before they are shipped out of country for good?