Vladimir Karpov has already opened a Second Front in the north against Japan with his bold invasion of Sakhalin Island. Now the battlecruiser Kirov has come upon a most unexpected challenger in the Pacific as the crew of Takami join Admiral Kurita in a daring attempt to sink the Siberian raider. The fast paced naval combat extends through the first six chapters here as two modern day warriors at sea duel in the waters of 1942.Then the action moves to the frigid Norwegian Sea where Britain launches one of its biggest relief convoys ever bound for Murmansk, PQ-17. The combined British and American covering forces are soon challenged by a powerful German battlegroup centered on the battleship Tirpitz and the newly commissioned carrier Peter Strasser.Meanwhile, General Dwight D. Eisenhower puts the finishing touches on the first joint US/British offensive of the war, Operation Torch, only this time, with the Straits of Gibraltar closed, there can be no landings at Oran and Algiers. Instead the British come ashore at Lisbon when Portugal joins the Allied cause, and Patton leads the entire US Torch order of battle in a much bigger landing at Casablanca. The objective of both forces is the long lost bastion of Gibraltar, where a dangerous secret lurks in the unexplored depths of St. Michael’s Cave.The invasion is well underway when Fedorov is alarmed to discover what he believes is an insoluble paradox looming on the near horizon. As the history of 1942 is re-written, how could Sergei Kirov ever come to power if Fedorov fails to warn him of his fate at the hands of Staliln? A mission to Ilanskiy is launched to attempt to shore up the history… But Karpov has other ideas….