When the first note arrived, it was thrown away as the work of a crank. When the next note came - with duplicates to the U.S. State Department and the CIA - a routine search was made.

Nothing.

So file it and forget it. It's only a rumor.

The notes became more specific, mentioned things that only a handful of men in the whole world knew. So the entire northern coast of Europe was scoured. Again, nothing.

It doesn't exist. It's just a ragtag end of terror propaganda. File it...

Then came the proof. And filing it, forgetting it, dismissing it as propaganda, would mean the end of half the world if Durell couldn't find Cassandra within 48 hours.