If he hadn't needed the cash so badly, Nick Stone would never have messed with the Russian mafia. But the lucrative offer was one he couldn't refuse. The job seemed simple enough for a man of his particular talents: kidnap a ruthless, money-laundering mob boss from his fortified Helsinki hotel room and deliver him to St. Petersburg. But as the plan begins to unfold, Stone soon realizes that by no means has he been told the full story. Catapulted into the bleak underworld of the former Soviet republic of Estonia, where unknown aggressors stalk the arctic landscape, Stone finds that the mob may now turn out to be the least of his problems. Russia has embarked on a new Cold War offensive -- hacking into the West's computer systems and stealing their most coveted military secrets. As one bloody double cross leads to another, Stone finds himself caught between the suicidal schemes of the British and American intelligence agencies and the ruthless Russians who want to silence him.

Andy McNab is a former member of the British SAS, one of the world's toughest and most respected elite special-forces commando units. Involved in covert and overt operations on five continents, McNab worked alongside Delta Force, the FBI, and the DEA. When he left the regiment in 1993, he was the most highly decorated serving soldier in the British Army. He is now a sought-after lecturer on security and remains closely tied to the intelligence communities on both sides of the Atlantic.

McNab is the internationally bestselling author of two previous thrillers featuring Nick Stone, Remote Control and Crisis Four, as well as two nonfiction books based on his SAS experiences. Due to the extremely sensitive nature of his work with the SAS, Andy McNab is still wanted by a number of terrorist organizations. He is therefore forbidden to reveal either his face or his current location.