The Gulf War has been over for ten years. It's up to Hornet pilots like Cmdr. Brick Maxwell and his glory-seeking commanding officer, Killer Delancey, to keep the peace by a narrow margin - a margin called the No-Fly Zone. The Iraqi MiG pilots buzz the borders - just close enough to shake up the U.S. Hornets' nest. And the rules of engagement require the Hornets to hold their fire unless the Iraqis show hostile intent.

When a motor launch carrying the USS Ronald Reagan's top brass is attacked, the US vows a swift reprisal. Enter skipper Brick Maxwell and his Roadrunners - the jocks who fly the F/A-18 Super Hornets. Their mission: a deep air strike in Northern Yemen. But their target - the commander who masterminded the attack - has laid a deadly trap for Maxwell and his fellow warriors....

Cmdr. Brick Maxwell and his F/A-18 squadron are flying cover for the president of Taiwan's jetliner when it is blown out of the sky. Other than a slight shimmer of light preceding the catastrophe, there's no visible cause for the explosion. But Maxwell suspects that China has stolen the plans for the Black Star - a virtually invisible super stealth fighter. Now a full-scale war is inevitable - unless Maxwell and a team of commandos can hijack the state-of-the-art killing machine.

Cmdr. Brick Maxwell's best friend, Raz Rasmussen, was shot down on the first night of the first Gulf War. Though his body was never recovered, he was declared KIA and forgotten. Years later, his remarried widow receives evidence that Raz might be alive. She asks Maxwell to learn the truth. Maxwell is thwarted by the CIA until his old enemy, Col. Jamal Al-Fasr, is captured in a battle on the Iranian border. When Al-Fasr offers to exchange himself for an American POW, Maxwell finds himself thrust into a web of intrigue and a shocking betrayal.

When Brick Maxwell's wingman is shot down and taken prisoner by a Palestinian splinter group, special envoy Rick Solares negotiates his release. But Brick suspects something sinister going on behind the scenes. And when the woman he loves falls victim to the same terrorists, his devotion to duty turns into a desire for vengeance. With the help of his Roadrunner Squadron, an angry Maxwell will risk everything to make the enemy pay.

As China expands its industrial might, it becomes one of the biggest oil-consuming countries in the world. And the only thing blocking China's access to an unlimited fuel supply is the socialist republic of Vietnam. When a Vietnamese oil rig is destroyed, China is obviously the culprit. The US - recently joined in a defense pact with Vietnam - calls upon Commander Brick Maxwell to fly the hyperadvanced Black Star stealth jet against the Chinese. But the Chinese have on their side technology to match America's - and one of Maxwell's old enemies, who is hunting him with a vengeance.