Dirk Pitt

The protagonist of the story and a member of NUMA, the National Underwater and Marine Agency. His love of the ocean and varied abilities underwater make him the perfect choice to help Jessie LeBaron try to track down her husband, believed to have perished looking for the Cyclops wreckage off the coast of Cuba. This act takes him on a collision course with danger, treachery, espionage, and adventure. They encounter a hurricane, the Cuban shore patrol, a dive on the Cyclops, and then a desperate landing on Cayo Santa Maria during the hurricane. Looking for help and medical assistance, they find instead a secret military installation built by the Soviets just two hundred miles off the coast of Florida.

Pitt's sardonic demeanor does not sit well with the Soviets, or the man they use to torture the prisoners into confessions. Deciding that staying on the island is...