As Director of the National Underwater and Marine Agency, Dirk Pitt has always had a knack for finding rouble. This time, though, trouble has found him . . .
On a NUMA mission to the Black Sea to locate the wreck of a lost Ottoman Empire ship, Pitt and his friend Al Giordino respond to an urgent Mayday from a nearby freighter.
But by the time they reach the area there's no one left alive - just dead bodies and the smell of sulphur in the air. When a massive blast from the stern suddenly scuttles the ship, Pitt and Giordino are lucky not to add to the death toll.