A death-defying rescue of two drowning scientists plunges Dirk Pitt into a whirlpool of corruption and betrayal. Sinister criminals have traced a long-lost treasure-worth almost a billion dollars-from the Andes Mountains to a chamber on the banks of a hidden river that flows beneath a desert. Driven by burning greed, the criminals are racing to seize a golden prize...and to terminate the one man who can stop them: Dirk Pitt.