When a Chinese cargo ship is rumored to be carrying tons of chemicals to be used by a rogue nation to create new biological weapons, the president enlists Covert-One Agent Jon Smith to uncover the truth. Available in a tall Premium Edition. Reissue.

New York Times Bestselling Series For three decades, Robert Ludlum's bestselling novels have set the standard in almost every country in the world against which all other novels of international intrigue are measured. Now The Altman Code is the latest volume in the series of novels featuring Robert Ludlum's Covert-One. In the middle of the night, on the dark waterside docks of Shanghai, a photographer is recording cargo being secretly loaded when he's brutally killed and his camera destroyed. Shortly thereafter Covert-One director Fred Klein brings the word to the President that there's a Chinese cargo ship rumored to be carrying tons of chemicals to be used by a rogue nation to create new biological weapons. The President cannot let the ship land and risk the consequences of a new stockpile of deadly chemical weapons. Klein is ordered to get the President solid proof of what the Chinese ship is ferrying. Covert-One agent Jon Smith is sent to rendezvous in Taiwan with another agent who has acquired the ship's true manifest. But before Smith can get the document, the two agents are ambushed, the second agent is murdered, the proof is destroyed, and Smith escapes with only his life, scant clues to mystery behind the cargo ship, and a verbal message---the President's biological father is still alive, held prisoner by the Chinese for fifty years. As the Chinese cargo ship draws ever closer to its end port, Smith must race against the clock to uncover the truth about the ship and its cargo, a truth that probes the deepest secrets of the Chinese ruling party, the faction in Washington working to undermine the elected government, and the international cabal who is thrusting the world to the very brink of war.

The novel revolves around a Chinese freighter carrying weapons-grade chemicals to the port of Basra in Saddam Hussein's Iraq. There are also a couple of neat subplots, including an elderly American being held prisoner in China who claims to be the real father of U.S. President Sam Adams Castilla, and the dirty doings of a giant international business combine called the Altman Group, whose members make Ian Fleming's old adversaries look like the operatives of a corner candy store.

On the dark waterside docks of Shanghai, a photographer records cargo being secretly loaded. He's brutally killed and his camera destroyed. Two weeks later on the dangerous high seas, the US Navy covertly tracks a Chinese ship rumoured to carry tons of chemicals to create biological weapons of mass destruction. The President cannot let the ship reach its destination - a rogue Middle East nation. But he doesn't want the navy to attack and board it either, because decades of negotiations with China have at long last yielded a landmark human rights agreement that China is willing to sign. Covert-One operative Jon Smith is brought in to find solid proof of what the Chinese ship is ferrying. Then an agent is murdered and vital evidence destroyed. Smith must find the truth about the ship, a truth that probes the deepest secrets of the Chinese ruling party...

Ludlum's exciting books of international suspense are enjoyed around the world while critics hail them as classics. Now comes the fourth volume in the bestselling Covert-One series. Racing against the clock, Col. Smith uncovers a terrifying international cabal whose diabolical plan thrusts the world to the very brink of war.

Robert Ludlum has been acclaimed as the master of .suspense and international intrigue. His many books have thrilled millions of readers, reaching the top of bestsellers lists the world over and setting a standard that has never been surpassed. Now, from the imagination of one of America's greatest storytellers comes Robert Ludlum's The Hades Factor--a thrilling new entry in the Covert-One series. A homeless man in Boston, an Army Major in California, and a teenage girl in Atlanta all die suddenly and painfully--each a victim of an unknown doomsday virus. For three days, a team of scientists is a U.S. government laboratory has been frantically trying to unlock the virus's secrets. When the leading researcher from that lab, Lt. Col. Jonathan Smith, returns from overseas, he barely survives a series of well-orchestrated attempts made on his life. By the time Smith eludes his pursuers and makes it home, he discovers that the virus has claimed its fourth victim, Dr. Sophia Russell--Smith's fiancee. Devastated and enraged, Smith quickly uncovers evidence that his lover's death was no accident--that someone out there has the virus, and the pandemic that threatens hundreds of millions of lives is no accident. But wherever he turns, Smith finds that some unseen force has blocked his quest for information. Not knowing whom to trust, Smith assembles a private team to search for the truth behind the deadly virus. While the death toll mounts, their quest leads to the highest levels of power and the darkest corners of the earth, as they match wits with a determined genius--and as the fate of the world lies in the balance.

An ancient bomber conceals a devastating secret - a stunning Covert-One thriller from the master storyteller. On a desolate island deep within the Arctic, a scientific expedition photographs the wreckage of a bomber. It seems to be a relic from the Cold War - but a handful of insiders know that it is a Soviet Air Force biological warfare platform, still armed with weaponised anthrax. Covert-One's Lt. Col. Jon Smith leads a team to secure the site. But on the island they find themselves confronted with a traitor from within their ranks. Gradually they become aware that the ancient bomber conceals something else: a secret so deadly that it could trigger a Third World War...