For a European or an American, a Japanese, a Chinese, a Korean all look the same. Sometimes such a mistake can lead to tragic and unpredictable consequences, as happened in Seattle during the forensic examination of the bodies of a pair of hired killers. It would seem like a trifle, however, like a small pebble rolling down from the top of a mountain, it almost led to an avalanche-like development of events that threatened the greatest catastrophe in US history and the death of tens of millions of American citizens. But the incomparable Dirk Pitt, his fearless twin children and his constant partner Al Giordano again stand in the way of villains and murderers.