Contacted by Dr. Valentin Petrenko, a Russian specialist in rare diseases, about a mysterious cluster of deaths in Moscow, American Dr. Fiona Devin becomes the target of the assassins who kill Petrenko, and Covert-One operative Jon Smith is sent to rescue Devin.

Former CIA agent David Webb leads a quiet life as a university professor until he becomes a target of an assassin and is framed for the murders of two close friends, and as he fights for his life, he finds himself under the control of his alternate personality--Jason Bourne.

Covert-One agents must trace the source of a deadly disease - and stop the outbreak of a Third World War. A once-great nation is determined to rebuild its shattered empire, and lightning military strikes against its neighbours are planned. But first they must sow confusion and fear in the ranks of their enemies. They turn to one of the world's wealthiest and most powerful men. He has control over an undetectable and incurable bio-weapon, the perfect assassin's tool. Created using a strand of each victim's own DNA, it is the ultimate precision-guided silent killer. Lt Col. Jon Smith and his Covert-One operatives take orders from the US President: their mission is to stop this murderous conspiracy - and thwart the leaders who are seeking to restore their country to her former power...

For over thirty years, Robert Ludlum has been acknowledged as the master of international suspense and intrigue. In 2000, Ludlum managed to raise the bar yet again with his widely acclaimed bestsellers The Prometheus Deception and The Hades Factor, the first novel in his exciting Covert-One series. Now Covert-One is back, in a novel that could only have come from the imagination of the world's greatest storyteller. "What they're going to do, I never would have believed it. It's insanity!" They were the final words spoken by Yuri Danko, an officer in the medical division of Russia's security service, before his body was ripped apart by a spray of assassins' bullets. In possession of Danko's classified papers, Covert-One operative Jon Smith and CIA undercover agent Randi Russell have unearthed a terrifying global conspiracy that threatens to unleash a plague of immeasurable proportions. A Serb terrorist has been dispatched from Russia to spirit hazardous vials of deadly bacteria into the United States. His mission: deliver it to an unknown American government agent-- a shadowy figure whose own motives for acquiring the bioweapon are made all the more unfathomable when both men are found murdered, and the strain is stolen. Now Smith and Russell must track it down, find the madman who possesses it, and stop him before he holds a defenseless world hostage with the power to render the human race extinct.

An excellent COVERT-ONE thriller from the bestselling writing team - Robert Ludlum and Gayle Lynds. A fiery explosion shatters a laboratory building in Paris. Among the dead is Emile Chambord, one of the leaders in the global race to create a molecular - or DNA - computer. Unfortunately, Professor Chambord kept the details of his work secret, and his notes were apparently destroyed in the fire. Then suddenly US fighter jets disappear from radar screens for a full five minutes and there's no explanation; utilities cease to function; and all telecommunications abruptly stop, with devastating consequences. This is not the work of a clever hacker - only the enormous power and speed of a DNA computer could have caused such havoc. Covert-One agent Jon Smith flies to Paris to investigate. Following a trail that leads him across two continents, he uncovers a web of deception that threatens to reshape the world for ever...

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.

Includes an excerpt from "The widow's strike."