Hailed as a hero for the new millennium, Austin is the leader of NUMA's special assignments team-- and the threat before him now is definitely special. A confrontation between a radical environmentalist group and a Danish cruiser has forced Austin and colleague Joe Zavala to come to the rescue of a shipful of trapped men; but when they investigate further, they discover that something far more sinister is at work.

Undersea adventurer Dirk Pitt faces the toughest challenge of his life when he plunges into a deadly sea zone to rescue the gigantic Starbuck, America's nuclear arsenal, while battling deep-sea assassins.