In Serpent, Clive Cussler introduced a hero for the new millennium in Kurt Austin, the leader of NUMA's Special Assignments Team. In previous encounters, Austin and his colleague Joe Zavala have battled eco-extortionists and mad empire builders, but they have never faced a menace like the one before them now. In the heart of the old Soviet Union, a mining tycoon has proclaimed himself czar of Russia. Claiming Romanov ancestry and backed by billions of dollars, he is determined to overthrow the already shaky Russian government and U.S. opposition doesn't bother him one bit. A little crisis of their own should distract the Americans for a while, and he knows just the thing ...