1954. Vixen 03 is down. The plane, bound for the Pacific, carrying 36 Doomsday bombs - canisters armed with quick-death germs of unbelievable potency-vanishes. Vixen has in fact crashed into an ice-covered lake in Colorado. 1988. Dirk Pitt, who heroically raised the TITANIC, discovers the wreckage of Vixen 03. But two deadly canisters are missing. They're in the hands of a terrorist group. Their lethal mission: to sail a battleship 75 miles up the Potomac and blast Washington, D.C. to kingdom come. Only Dirk can stop them.