Our top-secret weapon is missing. And America's top test pilot is missing too. Full of a fierce, obsessive will to live, Tom Darby is about to test-fire the USA's ultimate weapon—when something goes tragically wrong. His F-15 fighter explodes in a ball of fire. He ejects into the killing heat of Death Valley. Crazed by injuries, he becomes a wild beast running for his life from unseen enemies—and from his rescuers. Even from his beautiful wife. American teams want him. So do sinister East German agents, headed by an ex-Nazi. Because they believe he possesses . . . The Marcus Device