New York was overwhelmed by the usual bustle of Christmas Eve. But Ryan Lock isn't in the mood for celebrations. A former military man, and now the head of the security service of the largest holding company in the field of biotechnology, Meditek, he is busy up to his neck. Animal rights activists have launched a huge campaign against the holding and its head, Nicholas van Straten. During open negotiations between the head of the company and the leader of radical human rights activists, the latter was shot dead with a sniper rifle. Immediately after this, the son of one of the leading specialists of the holding was kidnapped. But when Locke begins to unravel these crimes, he comes to a stunning conclusion: it’s not Meditek that needs to be protected...