From the Back Cover...

Yuri Danko, a deep-cover Russian asset for Covert-One, is on the run. His last communication was a cryptic and urgent plea for extraction. With no hint of what sudden danger Danko encountered or information he uncovered that could have driven him to such extreme action, Covert-One operative Jon Smith is sent to the pre-arranged meeting place with instructions to bring Danko out. Ten days later, in Venice, Danko arrives breathless and bedraggled at Jon Smith's table at an outdoor cafe. But he barely opens his mouth before his body is ripped apart by a spray of assassins' bullets. Smith, eluding the hail of bullets, gives chase- only to witness the assassins themselves falling prey to a brutal execution. With only the scant clues left behind by Danko to go on, Jon Smith and Covert-One quickly conclude that someone is out to do the unthinkable- attempt to steal Russia's store of the smallpox virus. Now completely eradicated, smallpox is the deadliest of viruses and could well cause an epidemic of an undreamed-of scale should it be released in the general population. Smith and his Covert-One colleagues try to prevent the virus from being stolen. But their unseen adversaries are several steps ahead of them, and the virus is en route to the United States. Now they must unravel the complex scheme, overcome their powerful and invisible opponents, and recover or destroy the virus before the power of total Armageddon rests comfortably in the arms of a madman.