Atticus Crayle isn't your average teenage genius. He lives alone in the council house he officially shares with his mum and is extremely self-sufficient. He has built a chemistry lab in his attic and spends his weekends secretly testing homemade chemicals and explosives. His only friend is Gemma, who blows up dirt with him every Saturday. She has secrets of her own. Her uncle Damon is a spy and she plans to be one too. Atticus is on holiday with Gemma and Damon when he finds himself under attack by gunmen and caught up in a kidnapping plot involving spies, trained killers and organised crime....

After uncovering secret rooms, a stash of weapons and evidence of her parents' dangerous past life, Annie Banks discovers a bigger secret buried in her own brain - codes, files and deadly martial arts skills, which snap into life when she needs them. When their parents disappear, Annie and her brother Pete work together to unlock the clues left behind. Pursued by trained killers, Annie and Pete use all their hidden talents to search for their parents and survive in a dangerous world of spies and organised crime.