The Nexus Trilogy part of a Nexus 5 study. Sam goes to the study and meets Kaden's close friends and colleagues: Rangan Shankari, Ilya Alexander, and Watson Cole (Wats). Sam takes Nexus 5, connecting her mind with the others, and they discover who she is and Kade uses Nexus to knock her out. When Sam awakes she threatens the group with prison, and promises a pardon in exchange for Kade's help. Wats escapes before the ERD extracts the group. The ERD describe a mission to spy on Su-Yong Shu, a brilliant Chinese neuro-scientist who is implicated in murder and brain control coercion. Kade
The Nexus Trilogy agrees to work with the ERD and hand over Nexus 5. Kade and the group are sent to retrieve the Nexus 5 data, and on the way, they install a backdoor into the Nexus 5 operating system. Sam is required to have permanent integration with Nexus 5, despite her disagreement with Warren Becker, the Enforcement Division Deputy Director at the ERD. Kade and Sam, now with the pseudonym of Robyn Rodriguez, travel to Bangkok for a conference that Kade is invited to by Shu. Wats follows in hopes of setting Kade free and spreading Nexus 5 to the general public.