Time Stops Ticking — Simon Gray

china, desperate to secure its status as the world’s new superpower, develops a plan to trade water for oil with the middle east, however a computer disc describing the deal is stolen by a disgruntled government employee with intention of smuggling it to the west.a situation that should be a world away from four disconnected british school friends, embarking on a re-bonding cycling holiday. they meet up with the rest of the group in hong kong and start cycling through the non-tourist countryside of southern china. a place where economic prosperity has yet to be felt. as they ride, slowly the gaps in their friendships are revealed.the disc smuggler is caught and a vicious criminal gang boss is secretly employed by the chinese government to track down who the disc has been sent onto.unknown to the others, one of the friends has been working as a government courier and uses the holiday as an opportunity to help the u.s. government smuggle the disc from china.the gang leader catches up and starts to eliminate the group one by one to find the courier.their tour leader also has a secret plan; kidnapping several members with the intention of bringing worldwide publicity to the chinese government’s program of forced land acquisition for economic development; forcing land owners off the land for little or no compensation.their friendships in ruins, one friend is determined not to give up on what he believes is the thread that knits together all that life is worth living for, he finds where the gang leader is holding the others and attempts a rescue.