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 mission: to sail a battleship  seventy-five miles up the Potomac and blast  Washington, D.C., to kingdom come. Only Dirk can stop  them.