An Englishman of Ukrainian father, and a secret Ukrainian freedom fighter of fanatical convictions, battles to draw world attention to the Soviet suppression of nationalists in its republic of Ukraine. The first plot sees him successfully make contact with an escaped Ukrainian nationalist who was rescued nearly dead on a raft near the coast of Turkey. He then goes to Ukraine, meets up with the other nationalists and—with others—helps them procure hardware for an operation targeted at showing that the Russians were not invincible, the assassination of the KGB chief. This operation goes smoothly and the assassination is carried out. But the next operation, to give a news conference in Israel to shame Russia by announcing the assassination, does not quite succeed.
The president of the US has to make a decision when the Russians declare they won’t sign a nuclear disarmament treaty just negotiated if the terrorists’ demands were met and the two men were allowed to get to Israel. The Russians want to save face without explaining things to the US president, although the US president does discover their dilemma. Thedevil’s alternativesthe US president has to consider each would lead to deaths: Give in to the terrorists, and war with Russia—or at least more military spending—would be imminent. Give in to Russia, and the tanker would be destroyed with oil spills affecting England and several European nations.
Eventually a tricky solution is adopted. The oil tanker hijackers are made to think their demands would be met. The two men are allowed to Israel. But they were secretly drugged with timed poison capsules that were programmed to release the poison into their blood after several hours. The tanker hijackers are fooled, and once they see their compatriots safely arrive in Israel they bade goodbye to the tanker, and make to escape. But neither they nor their Jewish colleagues live to see the end of the day. The Russians are happy and the Americans too.
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