Searching for a treasure on the Nile, Dirk Pitt thwarts the attempted assassination of a beautiful U.N. scientist investigating a disease that is driving thousands of North Africans into madness, cannibalism, and death. The suspected cause of the epidemic is pollution that threatens to extinguish all oceanic life forms. In a race to save the world from environmental catastrophe, Pitt uncovers the truth behind two mysteries in the scorched desert--and makes a last, desperate stand in a battle he must win.