Two best friends, one secret that could end the world.

'Now I’ll tell you what happened, as best I can. No spin. No agenda. If I get something wrong, it’s not because I’m being evasive or trying to protect Sebastian. It’s simply because I’m still trying to understand what happened today… It’s to explain, as best I can, what Sebastian has done, and why tomorrow when you wake up, it will be the end of the world.’

Political hatchet man Charlie will do anything to protect Sebastian, his best friend and a member of Australia's parliament. Friends since school, they've always had each other's backs.

But then a single phrase in Mandarin is spoken in Sebastian's ear, and he does the unthinkable. As Charlie tries to piece it all together – from their youth spent in Hong Kong to the recent past in Beijing – things in the outside world start to fall apart too. Planes can't land, the phone lines go down and the power is out.

Then the Secret Intelligence Service comes knocking.