A deadly virus has been stolen, and the thieves plan to use the hundred million pound ransom to fund terrorist armies. When the mission looks impossible, the world calls upon UNACO.

The Italian Red Brigades raid the US-owned Neo Chem laboratory between Rome and Tivoli and steal a vial of deadly DNA virus. They plan to trade the vial – which if opened could kill millions – for a hundred million pounds, to be paid to the terrorist armies of five European countries.

The deadline approaches: a summit conference in Switzerland, at which the terrorists threaten to release the virus into the atmosphere if their demands are not met.

UNACO agents Mike Graham, C.W. Whitlock and Sabrina Carver are summoned back urgently from leave. Their mission is to find and secure the vial before a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions takes place…

'A magnificent storyteller' Sunday Mirror

‘The most successful British novelist of his time’ Jack Higgins

‘Alistar MacLean is one of the few people writing today who has a story to tell.’ Daily Express

Alistair MacLean, the son of a Scots minister, was brought up in the Scottish Highlands. In 1941 he joined the Royal Navy. The two and a half years he spent aboard a wartime cruiser gave him the background for HMS Ulysses, his remarkably successful first novel, published in 1955. He is now recognized as one of the outstanding popular writers of the 20th century, the author of 29 worldwide bestsellers, many of which have been filmed.