The U.S.S. Indianapolis, a submarine on training maneuvers off the coast of Italy, suddenly ceases transmitting-then vanishes without a trace... A Pershing missile is hijacked from a maximum security installation at a West German Air Force base... Two men are behind these fateful incidents: Colonel Valentin Baranov, the new head of the KGB, and Arkady Kurshin, the ruthless assassin and Baranov's deadliest weapon. To disrupt the duo's sinister plans, the CIA must recruit "retired" agent Kirk McGarvey. Driven by a vendetta against Baranov, McGarvey stalks Kurshin through Europe, determined to find him before time runs out on a countdown to an act of terrorism so devastating it could alter the balance of world power forever.