Countdown - Kirk McGarvey, Bk 2 Author:David Hagberg The U.S.S. Indianapolis, a submarine on training maneuvers off the coast of Italy, suddenly ceases transmitting - —then vanishes without a trace... A Pershing missile is hijacked from a maximum security installation at a West German Air Force base... — Two men are behind these fateful incidents: Colonel Valentin Baranov, the new head of the KGB,... more » and Arkady Kurshin, the ruthless assassin and Baranov's deadliest weapon. To disrupt the duo's sinister plans, the CIA must recruit "retired" agent Kirk McGarvey. Driven by a vendetta against Baranov, McGarvey stalks Kurshin through Europe, determined to find him before time runs out on a countdown to an act of terrorism so devastating it could alter the balance of world power forever.« less