Saving the lives of two American archaeologists who nearly drown in a sacrificial pool in the Andes Mountains, Dirk Pitt becomes unwittingly involved in a sinister crime organization that has discovered an ancient treasure.

Dirt Pitt matches wits with a nefarious Chinese smuggler who specializes in secretly transporting illegal Chinese immigrants into countries around the world, as he tracks his quarry to a remote port in Louisiana and searches for a treasure ship that sank at the beginning of World War II.

"Japan, 1945: Two US bombers take off with atomic bombs. Only one gets through. The Pacific, 1993: A Japanese cargo ship bound for the United States is instantly, thunderously vaporized, taking with it a Norwegian vessel. Japanese fanatics have developed a chilling plan to devastate and destroy the Western powers. From the ocean depths to the discovery of cache of lost Nazi loot, Dirk Pitt is untangling a savage conspiracy and igniting a daring counterattack....

In the final days of World War II, the Japanese launch two submarines carrying a new strain of a deadly virus to the west coast of the United States, but years after the subs are lost at sea, someone plots to use their deadly cargo.

Dirk Pitt is enlisted to spearhead his most daring mission yet---the rescue of a vital document for the United States. To the deviated America the document is worth billions: to Great Britain it is worth much more than money.