Ex-KGB agent Valeri Yernin, known as "the Surgeon" for the accuracy of his hits, is
supposed to be dead. But the National Security Intercept Center has identified a telephone call with
a ninety-eight percent voice match to Yernin. In the call, Yernin vows to finally get even with military
intelligence analyst Bill Lane.

When a Romeo class diesel-electric submarine disappears without a trace after a mysterious explosion,
the ship and its crew are presumed lost. Bill Lane, however, suspects something else is afoot. Following
a trail of subsea anomalies all the way to the coast of Morocco, he discovers that Yernin has masterminded
the theft of the sub to use it as a bargaining chip on the black market. Yernin is ready for Lane this time; and
by capturing Lieutenant Commander Francis Shipley of the British Intelligence Service, he may have finally
discovered Lane's Achilles' heel.