1954. Vixen 03 is down. The  plane, bound for the Pacific carrying thirty-six  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 to sail a battleship  seventy-five miles up the Potomac and blast  Washington, D.C., to kingdom come. Only Dirk can stop  them.