The Russians plot to undermine U.S. industry. A terrorist prepares to seed radioactive waste around a missile site. To the rescue come an environmental consultant and a computer hacker, who expose corruption in high places and save the day. A radical environmentalist sees the error of her ways and counsels them: "Do you know what the biggest danger to the environmental movement is? Extremists. Anything that alienates the public from the green movement will do more long-run damage than a hundred Valdezes and Chernobyls." Modesitt, who also writes fantasy and science fiction ( The Magic of Recluce , LJ 4/15/91), has imported the less effective conventions of that genre--sketchy characterization and heavy-handed reliance on insider's knowledge (e.g., the reader needs to refer to the book's glossary for dialog like this: "DEP is going to propose an RPAR")--without the imagination that redeems the best science fiction. A drab thriller whose message seems stale.