A Russian sub in the Caribbean is seized by a mysterious 'force' that causes it to sink an American cruise ship. American anti-ballistic missiles inexplicably explode in their silos. A USAF F-15 escorting a VIP aboard another plane suddenly launches sidewinder missiles at the very aircraft it was meant to protect.

Counterspy Alex Hawke and his MI6 colleague Ambrose Congreve are called in to find out who and what is behind these events - and why. But even these seasoned operatives are frightened by what they discover. Someone has created the world's first ultra-intelligent machine - a superweapon that could shift the geopolitical balance.

In a hunt that takes them from Palo Alto, California to Vladimir Putin's mega-yacht in the Mediterranean, to Moscow and Cambridge University, Hawke and Congreve move closer to unmasking the diabolical scientist behind this new weapon, a brilliant expert in artificial intelligence with deep ties to Tehran. In a climactic showdown in the Persian Gulf, Hawke will engage in an epic battle with Iranian warships and go nose to nose with an enemy unlike any he's fought before . . . an enemy that isn't even human - it's superhuman.

Genre: Thriller