While sailing in the Caribbean, young Alex Hawke witnesses an act of unspeakable horror as modern-day pirates brutally murder his parents. It is a tragedy that will haunt him forever and shape his destiny. As a direct descendant of a legandary English pirate, Lord Alexander Hawke is skilled in the ways of sea combat - and one of Britain's most decorated naval heroes. Now, Hawke returns to the Caribbean on a secret mission for the American government. A highly experimental stealth submarine is missing. She carries forty nuclear warheads, and is believed to be in the hands of an unstable government just ninety miles from the US mainland. In a race against time, Hawke must locate the sub before a strike can be launched against the US - and, after a lifetime of nightmares, finally avenge himself on the mean who slaughtered his family . . .