Friday Island

A mysterious demand e-mailed to the White House has only one condition: that the president step down and let his vice president run the nation. The threat behind the demand is a particle beam weapon. A super-laser powerful enough to slice a Navy ship in half, yet focused enough to pass through a kitchen window and melt a refrigerator without breaking the window pane. The technology behind the Nightshade Laser was developed in the United States and subsequently compromised. The scientist who created the space age weapon is missing. A ragged beachcomber finds a yellow metal canister floating on the tide, and like a note in a bottle, it contains a message that might lead them to Nightshade.