Black Wind (Dirk Pitt novel)

Black Wind (Dirk Pitt novel)

Infobox Book |
name = Black Wind


image_caption = 1st Edition Hardcover
author = Clive Cussler & Dirk Cussler
cover_artist = Lawrence Ratzkin
country = United States
language = English
series = Dirk Pitt Novels
genre = Adventure, Techno-thriller
publisher = G.P. Putnam's Sons
release_date = November 30, 2004 1st Edition Hardcover
media_type = Print (Hardcover)
pages = 530 (Hardcover edition)
isbn = ISBN 0-399-15259-8
preceded_by = Trojan Odyssey
followed_by = Treasure of Khan

"Black Wind" is an adventure novel by Clive Cussler and Dirk Cussler. This book centers on a relatively new character to the book series, Dirk Pitt, Jr.

The plot involves a North Korean plot to launch a biological warfare attack on the United States, creating an opportunity for the invasion and annexation of South Korea. Dirk Pitt Jr., his father, and his sister Summer must foil the plot and expose the plotters before a deadly toxin can be spread in California.

The story’s historical prologue is set in 1945. The commanding officer of the I-403, a Japanese I-400 class submarine, is given orders to launch a mysterious attack on the United States, a mission involving Japan’s notorious biological warfare group, Unit 731. The I-403 reaches America’s northwest coast, but is sunk before the mission can be carried out.

The story proper begins in the present-day Aleutian islands, where a team of CDC researchers, including beautiful field epidemiologist Sarah Matson, are unexpectedly infected by a deadly mystery illness; they are rescued by Dirk Pitt, Jr. (hereinafter Pitt Jr), who is nearby on a NUMA research vessel. Pitt Jr, with friend and coworker Jack Dahlgren, return to the site to investigate but their helicopter is downed by gunfire from a mysterious trawler. They survive, eventually determining that the illness resulted from a toxic compound of cyanide and smallpox.

In Japan, the U.S. ambassador is golfing with his British counterpart when he is assassinated by a sniper, Tongju. Tongju later assassinates the ambassador’s deputy and a semiconductor executive, leaving clues that appear to identify him as a member of a Japanese terrorist group.

Investigating the toxin, Pitt Jr consults marine-history researcher St. Julien Perlmutter, who finds records of the I-403. Pitt Jr and Dahlgren find and dive on the sunken I-403, but its mysterious ordnance has been removed. Meanwhile in the Philippines, Dirk Pitt senior (hereinafter referred to simply as Dirk) and his friend and colleague Al Giordano are also discovering forgotten Japanese ordnance that is poisoning marine life.

In South Korea Dae-jong Kang, a multi-millionaire industrialist, is secretly a North Korean sleeper agent who has been using corruption to press for rapid reunification of the divided peninsula. Kang reviews his plans with his assistant; they include framing a U.S. serviceman for the murder of a South Korean girl to foment unrest, while Tongju retrieves more of the WWII toxin from a second sunken submarine. Learning of the interference of Pitt Jr, Kang sends assassins to eliminate him.

The assassins fail to kill Pitt Jr and Matson on Vashon Island; Pitt Jr is just able to jump his recently-purchased 1958 Chrysler 300-D convertible aboard the Vashon Island Ferry, while Kang’s assassins crash their black Cadillac CTS.

NUMA researcher Hiram Yeager has discovered that the toxic ordnance was also carried by a Japanese submarine lost in the South China Sea. Pitt Jr joins his sister Summer and father aboard a NUMA salvage vessel that locates the wreck, but Tongju and his commando team seize the vessel. After taking the recovered toxin and kidnapping Dirk and Summer, the North Koreans sabotage the salvage ship and leave the imprisoned crew to drown, but Pitt senior is able to help everyone escape.

Pitt Jr and Summer are taken to Kang’s yacht, where the multimillionaire taunts them with a general threat of infecting the U.S. with the hybrid toxin, then leaves them to drown. They are able to escape (with the aid of Clive Cussler) and make their way to the United States.

Unaware of the exact nature of Kang’s plan, the NUMA team coordinates with government agencies to search for cargo vessels that might be carrying the toxin. However the real plan goes forward as Tongju and his commando team pirate a seaborne rocket-launching platform, preparing to fire a toxin-laden warhead at a G8 summit meeting in Los Angeles. When Dirk and Giordano spot the launch platform from a blimp, a deadly countdown begins.

In the final showdown, Pitt Jr and a team of U.S. Navy SEALs infiltrate Kang's base as he prepares his final getaway aboard his luxury yacht.


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