Over thirty years ago, on an ultra-secret flight to the South Pacific, the transport plane Vixen 03 vanished. It was believed to be lost at sea. And carrying canisters of the most lethal substance known to man.

Now Vixen 03 has returned to haunt the world. Dirk Pitt, the ace maritime troubleshooter who raised the Titanic, is the only man who can overcome the nightmarish problems involved in retrieving her cargo. And the price of failure is terrifying.