During the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962, certain events went unreported by the American media as they were known only by a few select Soviet military leaders. As the U.S. embargo tightened around Cuba, a determined Soviet admiral within the Kremlin undertook a secret plan to deploy some of the nuclear weapons cargo destined for the Cuban missile silos already constructed on the island. Admiral Sarkov independently directed his fleet commander Captain Demkin to deploy two intermediate range missiles, with 10-kiloton warheads, through submerged hatches on the military transport vessels. Under the cover of night, the missiles were deployed in protective cocoons awaiting recovery later. Days after the missiles’ deployment, Sarkov dies suddenly from a massive heart attack. Fearing repercussions, Captain Demkin alters the ship’s log to hide the deployment. Unaware of Sarkov’s order, the Head of Soviet Naval Operations chooses to bury the incident and make no report to the Kremlin, fearing retribution by Khrushchev, following his humiliation at being stopped by the Americans. Rumors persist for decades about the cocooned missiles and eventually attract a Russian arms merchant, Yuri Tarasov, to pursue their recovery.

 

Naval Academy graduate Jameson Dalton Crusoe finishes his MBA at Wharton’s Business school and is recognized for his quick analytical mind, verbal and diplomatic skills at only twenty-five years of age. He is asked by mentor and friend Ed Kosko, head of the NSA, to assist in the interrogation of a retired Russian military officer seeking asylum in the U.S. for providing valuable information about the Cuban missile incident decades earlier. Dalton learns the retired naval officer, Sergey Kreftkova, was first officer under Demkin aboard ship in 1962. He produces files from the ship’s log which confirm Admiral Sarkov’s orders. Concurrently, Tarasov uncovers the personal lost files of Admiral Sarkov, documenting his orders. He is seeking Kreftkova for details to recover the missiles and their warheads. Following a meeting with Dalton in Cuba, Sergey is kidnapped by agents of Tarasov hot on his trail. The beautiful, yet deadly assassin Ivana Yenko joins Yuri in his bold plan to recover and use the warheads.

 

Dalton checks out the unbelievable story and leads an expedition of military and weapons experts to the Caribbean in search of the missiles. Dalton has to quietly locate, secure and retrieve the missiles before Tarasov discovers his intentions. Hours before Dalton can mobilize a Navy seal team from Guantanamo to intercept the missile recovery, arms merchant Tarasov locates and recovers the missiles. They quickly remove the warheads and hide them aboard Tarasov’s high tech yacht. The Tarasov group eludes Dalton and his team and navigates up Chesapeake Bay planting one of the warheads in a marina nearby Washington D.C. He is hoping to kill President Conner and his real nemesis, newly elected Russian President Blinikov, at their first summit.

 

Carolyn McCabe, Dalton’s love interest, is kidnapped when Tarasov discovers her relationship with Dalton. Carolyn is also Sergey Kreftkova’s lost niece. Tarasov uses her hoping to distract Dalton from his mission long enough to complete the attack. The first bomb is set to detonate, as the world watches, during the highly anticipated Labor Day sail planned on Chesapeake Bay for the two presidents, following their epic summit meeting.

 

Dalton uses clever tactics to trick Tarasov into revealing his location and is able to disarm the first bomb minutes before its scheduled detonation. The presidents declare Tarasov an international terrorist and authorize a worldwide hunt to capture him. Days later the second bomb, which has gone undetected, is positioned to explode the Russian presidential plane on its return to Moscow. A mishap in positioning the bomb saves the Russian president but destroys a support aircraft in flight. Tarasov becomes obsessed with Dalton and vows to eliminate him before his arms business is destroyed and he is caught and arrested.