Plot

After Washington DC Detective, forensic psychologist and author Dr. Alex Cross (Morgan Freeman), loses control of a sting operation resulting in his partner Tracie Fisher's (Jill Teed) death. Cross and Fisher were working together to apprehend a serial killer, and Fisher was used as bait to lure to the killer. Cross and his team were closely following Fisher. The killer discovers the electronic equipment on Fisher and Fisher pulls the gun on the killer. She accidentally shoots the killer in the leg, leading to him crashing his car, which falls all the way from the top of a dam. Cross retires from the police force.

His departure is short-lived (it's only been 8 months) when Megan Rose (Mika Boorem), the daughter of a US senator Hank Rose (Michael Moriarty), is kidnapped from her private school by Gary Soneji (Michael Wincott), a computer science teacher. The son of the Russian President also studied in Megan's class and was good friends with her. Dmitri and Megan pass notes to each other over the computer in class and Soneji asks Megan to meet him after class in his office. There Soneji abducts Megan by injecting her with a sedative (hidden inside a pen). Megan scratches the face of her kidnapper, who is revealed to be wearing a mask and his real name is Jonathan Mercusio. He smuggles Megan out of the school inside a mobile cabinet, disguised a set of computer CPUs.

US Secret Service Special Agent Jezzie Flannigan (Monica Potter) is held responsible for the breach in security that allowed Soneji to take the girl. By the time Jezzie discovered the breach, Soneji had taken Megan out of the school campus.

After Cross receives a phone call from Soneji, he is struck with horror and panic when he finds a small sneaker belonging to Megan in his mailbox. Cross records the call and takes the evidence to FBI Agent Kyle Craig (Jay O. Sanders). The case itself is being headed by FBI Special Agent-In-Charge Ollie McArthur (Dylan Baker). Ollie has excluded Jezzie from the investigation saying that she failed the service. Cross argues that Jezzie saw Soneji 5 days a week for 2 years and knows the most about him. Cross tells Hank and Elizabeth Rose (Penelope Ann Miller) that he doesn't believe that the kidnapping is about money.

Meanwhile Soneji takes Megan to a boat and takes the boat out to the ocean and drops anchor. When Megan tries to escape, she is spotted by a fisherman on the shore. Soneji shoots the fisherman dead and locks Megan back inside.

Ollie's team discovers that Soneji had a keyboard tracker on Megan's computer. Every keystroke she made was recorded by Soneji. But the team cannot Decrypt the notes sent or received by Megan without her password. Agent Ben Devine was in charge of security apparatus at the school.

Checking the camera footage of Soneji's room, Cross figures out that one photo of Lindberg is missing from the class. When he clicks on the photo in the computer, it takes Cross to a live video feed of a room, and Cross finds that Soneji's real name is Jonathan Mercusio. At the house, the FBI finds detailed plans to kidnap Megan. Cross soon realizes that Soneji is trying to emulate the 1932 Charles A. Lindbergh Jr. kidnapping, a crime so infamous that it became known as the Crime of the Century. Cross finds that Soneji was quoting the words of Bruno Hauptmann, the kidnapper of Lindbergh's baby.

With the knowledge that Soneji is trying to make a name for himself in the same way as Richard Hauptmann, Cross is even more determined to bring Soneji to justice and get Megan back safely, which he posits is a story-line worthy of one of his true crime books. In response, Cross and Flannigan join forces to track down Soneji and find Megan. When the fisherman's dead body is discovered, they also find Megan's jacket nearby.

Despite Soneji's now-public identity, the FBI is unable to capture him until Cross secretly tracks his calls and locations. Unbeknownst to Cross and Flannigan, Soneji's abduction of Megan is only a small part of his elaborate plan to secure greater fame.

His coordinated kidnap plot is then revealed to center around the son of the President of Russia, Dimitri Starodubov (Anton Yelchin). Cross finds from Jezzie that Dmitri was Megan's best friend in class. In fact, Soneji was using Megan's encryption password to send messages to Dmitri. Soneji attempts to capture the young boy by luring him away from the police and security guards. Soneji sends a message to Dmitri as Megan asking him to go to a pay phone outside the embassy. Cross and Jezzie stakeout outside the Russian embassy.

However, before Soneji is able to kidnap Starodubov, Cross and Flannigan confront Soneji and rescue the boy. Jezzie freezes at a critical moment that allows Soneji to escape. Soneji returns to the yacht to find that Megan is missing. In desperation, Soneji sends Cross a ransom demand asking for $10 million in diamonds from the president. If Cross fails to comply, Soneji will have no further reason to reach an agreement and Megan will be killed. Knowing there is no other recourse, Cross complies and follows a set of directions to a number of public phone-booths spread out throughout the city where he will make deliveries and collect further instructions. Cross eventually delivers the diamonds by throwing them off a moving train to a man in black.

Soneji soon arrives at Flannigan's home in order to kidnap her and use her as ransom. However, after arriving and disabling Flannigan with a taser, Soneji finds Cross present, who confronts him about the ransom. Cross comments on Soneji receiving $12 million in ransom, to which Soneji does not react. He realizes that Soneji did not demand the ransom, and when Soneji attempts to escape, Cross shoots him dead.

Upon further investigation, Cross realizes that Flannigan had known about Soneji for some time now and had used him as a pawn in her own plot to collect a ransom from Megan's family. She and her fellow Secret Service agent Ben Devine (Billy Burke) had crafted a plan together to do just that, and had been slowly gathering Soneji's information to use when the time was right.

Cross realizes that someone had discovered Soneji long before his plot became active and can't help but think that Flannigan has been playing them all along. This culminates in Cross accessing Flannigan's personal computer, which contains all the details of the Soneji plot leading up to the kidnapping of Megan, the attempted kidnapping of Dmitri, including his information, time-lines, and plans.

Cross soon tracks Flannigan down to a secluded farmhouse. Here, Flannigan has brutally murdered Devine, and she is now intent on killing Megan. Cross gets the better of Flannigan though and arrives in time to prevent another tragedy. He takes aim, and with a single shot, stops Flannigan from pursuing Megan. Cross then takes Megan to safety, delivering her back to her parents and a sense of closure to a traumatic ordeal. Megan and her family now have the opportunity to move on with their lives, thanks to Cross.