Three British scientists at the Arctic Research Station come upon a cabin at first thought deserted but then found to hold a dying man, his body "disfigured by livid pustules" and suffering from convulsions. Soon it is concluded that Russia has been working on a new generation of bioweapons. Luke Carlton is sent by MI6 to learn the truth but after he endures arrest and imprisonment, he "discovers that they've been looking in the wrong place all along".