The Altman Code

Robert Ludlum, Gayle Lynds

On the docks of Shanghai a photographer records cargo being secretly loaded. He's brutally killed and his camera destroyed. Two weeks later, the US Navy covertly tracks a Chinese ship rumoured to carry chemicals to create biological weapons of mass destruction. The President cannot let the ship reach its destination: a rogue Middle East nation. At the same time, he doesn't want to jeopardise negotiations which have at long last yielded a landmark human-rights agreement that China is willing to sign. Covert-One operative Jon Smith is brought in to find proof of what the ship is ferrying. Then a fellow agent is murdered and vital evidence destroyed. In a race against the clock, Smith must find out the truth about the ship, a truth that could thrust the world to the brink of war.