Alexa Durham is identified as a Talent and abducted by Shadow Force, a covert U.S. Organization. She and eight others are trained and manipulated to further goals of the U.S. intelligence community. They learn to interrogate others, destroy minds, and duel hostile Talents on the mindscape, a different form of reality visible only to Talents. The Talents are deployed to oppose Al Qaeda. As links to Al Qaeda are pursued, there are interactions with Anonymous, several rogue Talents, and a very dark intelligence community that tests the bounds of morality.