Razing Beijing

Ages erect cities, one hour destroys them.Robert Stuart is one hard-nosed businessman. He is also suspected by the FBI of murder and treason that he did not commit. Emily Chang is his tenacious, beautiful colleague, and while the secret she holds can clear his name, it is evidence of a conspiracy to speed the rise of one empire on the ashes of another. Stuart and Chang together pursue an unlikely conspirator along a trail of industrial espionage and bloodshed. They also enter a race to seize control of mankind's most sinister weapon yet.Amid the Mojave Desert's arid swelter, Robert Stuart’s decision to abort the troubled test flight for which he is responsible is overridden by the company's CEO—whose daughter is among the casualties of the ensuing crash. Stuart presses on with the task of sifting through wreckage for clues to understand how they had inadvertently killed their colleagues and others. They unearth controversial evidence that turns the attention of federal investigators to Stuart’s own role in the tragedy.In Washington, D.C., the FBI have invited CIA operations veteran Sam McBurney to examine the disturbing discovery of a classified satellite document in the possession of an Iranian diplomat. Inside the ransacked Georgetown apartment, McBurney comes face-to-face with the terrorist he thought he had eliminated decades ago—except now he is certainly dead and lashed, flagrante delicto, to a young female confidante to the President of the United States. McBurney finds the White House cool to his case for Chinese-Iranian subterfuge, yet he receives grudging approval to exfiltrate from China a senior weapons expert who can provide them with answers.Emily Chang owes her independent streak to her physicist father, a strength she summons while estranging herself from him and the oppressive regime under which he labors. A discredited Stuart bets his reputation on her prowess in computer forensics to solve the riddle of the inexplicable plane crash. While the secret she discovers would vindicate Stuart, its revelation could deliver a death sentence to the people she loves.FBI suspects themselves, Stuart and Chang hunt for the true perpetrators of espionage and bloodshed. In doing so they unknowingly wade into the crosscurrents of a deadly international conspiracy.Sidney Elston's debut thriller was edited by Simon & Schuster's Emily Bestler, whose #1 best-selling authors include Vince Flynn, Brad Thor, and John Connolly.About the AuthorSidney Elston has traveled extensively to Japan, China, and Western Europe. Following graduation from Villanova University with a degree in engineering, he spent sixteen years in the field of aircraft engine design; his earliest inventions are inside the engines that power Air Force One. Razing Beijing is his first novel. He lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and daughter and is at work on his second novel, The Yacht Club.