Frank's old friend Ray Adamec, former ace navy pilot has been hired to test pilot a superhot, supersleek jet---the MAX 1. But then Ray disappears, and the MAX 1 is nowhere to be found. Frank's pilot license proves invaluable as the Hardys take control of the MAX 2. Their mission: find Ray and recover the MAX 1 before it falls into dangerous hands.
Finda a clue to the whereabouts of the MAX 1 in the Utah desert, the boys set out to investigate. Instead they find themselves outnumbered and outgunned in a high-tech, high-altitude air battle. They've flown into the middle of a subversive plot posing a deadly threat to the top levels of the U. S. space program and the U. S. government!